Pattern Review and lengthening tutorial - Little Lizard King Raleigh Top

The Raleigh from Little Lizard King was a new-to me-pattern recently. You can tell I liked it, because I made two the first day I found it! It's really a very quick make. It has nice clear instructions, and comes in sizes 12 months to 14 years. However (as I'm afraid I so often do) I amended it somewhat to suit my granddaughters (and their mothers). But my alterations have been so admired I thought I'd write them up. 

To find out how I did it, read on.

The Raleigh pattern is a woven fabric crop top. If you love crop tops on little girls, you can make the pattern as it is, it's easy. I think on babies they can be cute, with a pair of shorts or jogging bottoms underneath. However, neither of my daughters like their kids to be showing their navels all the time. And mostly, their shorts and pants tend to slide to hip level, as they haven't got waists. So there would be an even bigger gap around the midriff.

But I do really like the overlapping apron back style. I made lots of these reversible tops for the girls when they were little, using the Smashed Peas and Carrots pinafore free pattern and tutorial. That pattern however only comes in a 6-12 month size (which I did size up and down a bit).

And now the girls are older, it's a styel that is easy for them to get on and off by themselves. So I couldn't have been more delighted to find the Raleigh top, albeit shorter than I wanted.

I printed it off, and traced the two sizes I needed (7 and 3). But I then extended the hems of each size to give a more hip length top.

First, I tackled the front of the pattern. You can see below that I've traced the size 7 and size 3 exactly as the pattern. The orirignal hem length, I've marked as 'original' / 'crop length'.

It may not be very easy to see on the picture, but I've extended the size 3 in length by 2 3/4", and the size 7 by 3 1/4". (That's about 7 cm and 8.25 cm if that's how you work.) I marked these lengths on the centre fold line and the side seam. I followed the curve of the existing hems, by marking the relevant length at several points  below the hems, and then joining the the dots in a smooth curve. I also continued the side seams down to join the new hems.

I then measured the new side seams, since I needed to make sure that the back side seam would match. These were 10 1/2" for the size 7, and 9" for the size 3. (26.6 cm and 22.9 cm.) I also made a note of the shoulder seams, though I hadn't altered those. (Co-incidentally 3 1/4" and 2 3/4", the same as the additional length I'd added to the side seams.)

The side seam on the back is the long vertical line. So I started by measuring the new side seam length. (For both sizes.) I used a flexible curve to pencil in a new curved hem (with a bit or trial and error until I was happy with the shape I got).

Armed with my revised pattern pieces, I was ready to start cutting out. 

Because I'd already used some of the lovely Egyptian design to make a skort for another granddaughter, I was fractionally short of fabric for the size 7. Nothing daunted, I added a tiny wedge of fabric to the side seam. Though I say it myself, I'm pretty pleased with the pattern matching of the insert.

In fact, I was pretty happy with all my pattern matching! 

Once you have cut out the pattern pieces in both fabrics, the first step is to join the side seams of both inner and outer. (As it's a reversible top, it's a moot point which is inner and outer!) You can see this on the Egyptian fabric, above, after pressing.  Then the two are laid back to back (otherwise known as right sides together), and they are sewn together, along all the curved seams. But not the shoulder seams, which are the only straight seams.

I find the trick with these curved seams on a reversible top, is to clip all the curves, and press everything very well.

On a convex curve, you need to clip V-notches. Once the garment is turned the right way out, there is too much fabric on the seam edge, so you need to reduce it's bulk to make it lay flat nicely.

On a concave seam, just take little clips. There isn't enough fabric at the seam edge once turned the other way out, so you need the fabric to be able to splay out. You can do V-notches as well, but it's not necessary. Some people swear by just trimming the seams with pinking shears, which is another option. My pinking shears are old and stiff, and not made for a leftie like me. So I go with the notches!

So having pressed all the seams nicely with the top still inside out, now comes the fun part: turning it the right way out.

Now, it has to be said, this is the most fiddly part. I did follow instructions on this first one, by turning out through one of the shoulder seams. Here's stage one, where you have lots of fabric to force through a little gap in the shoulder. Then you just keep gently tugging.

And here's stage two, where it's almost all through and will now just come out in a rush.

My favourite tool to help with turning things right side out and poking into corners, is a slim wooden chopstick. Much safer than trying to poke scissors into the corners. And once it's all the right way out, it's time for another good press to get all the curves nicely shaped.

The final stage is to poke the front of the shoulders into the back and slip stitch them together.

However, I have to admit that when it came to make the smaller size, with even smaller shoulders, I 'cheated' a bit. I left a small gap (about 3-4") in the hem at the bottom as well, as an easier place to turn it all right sides out. 

Pictures of the finished size 7: The front

The back (See, I've even got a pretty good match on the two sides of the back!)

 And the reverse side - front .....

....and back.

Before I treat you to pictures of the girls wearing their new tops, just a few words about the size 3 version. This was entirely made out of Aldi fat quarters. I thought the lighter side was very pretty, but I wanted to pretty up the other side a bit as well. I had some double-sided bias tape with a lace edge left over from another project. So I trapped it in between the two layers as I sewed them together.

This, in itself, was easy enough to do. However, in order to tuck the shoulders in to each other, I had to taper-fold the lace to nothing at the top edge. (I'm not sure whether taper-fold is a word but I'll hope you understand what I mean!)

Finished back ......

...and front.

How did the Raleigh tops go down? It's fair to say they were an unqualified success, and have been worn on numerous occasions.

So finally, thank you to Lillte Lizard King for the Raleigh Top pattern, which they generously share for free. you may like it as it is, as a crop top, but if you prefer the slightly longer version, I hope my notes here will have helped. 

Hope you also like the Grandma-made shorts! But those will be on another post.