So many people have asked me if the top I am wearing in my front page photograph (the yellow one) was one of my own that though I had better come up with something similar. I drafted the St Tropez Scoop Neck while I was away in France this summer (as the name suggests). It is pretty much a straight copy of the original yellow one, although perhaps the neck is a little higher.
It is one of those really soft and easy-to-wear tops that I live in. It has a scoop neck and small tucks all the way around the neckline. The tucks take a little time to sew in place, but once you have done that, it is really easy to put together. The fabric is a silky synthetic, one of many similar from Fabworks Mill shop.
You can alter the scoop of the neckline by making the tucks bigger or smaller. Shown here in my orange version I have taken the tucks exactly as marked on the pattern. I would say that the yellow version scoops a bit lower, so if you would like to go a bit lower with the neckline then make your tucks a bit smaller, or if you are looking for a higher neck then make then bigger. Easy!
If you look carefully at the detail of the neckline here, you can see that the tucks are folded from the centre of the chest towards each of the shoulders. The same on the back – tucks fold from the centre back towards each shoulder. There are arrows on the pattern to show you which direction to go in. It is easy to get confused and fold the wrong way so do check them once you have tacked them in place. It takes a long time to unpick them if you go the wrong way and sew the bias binding in place – I know because I kept doing it. I’m not actually sure than anyone else would notice but I couldn’t live with it.
Here are some instructions for you. It is easy but worth taking the time to get the tucks right.
• Tack all the tucks in place with a holding stitch. The arrows indicate the direction of the tuck.
• With right sides together, sew the back edge of the SLEEVE to the BACK aligning the green dots
• With right sides together, sew the front edge of the SLEEVE to the FRONT aligning the pink dots
• With right sides together, sew the sides of the FRONT and BACK together from under the arm downwards, and then from under the arm along the underside of the SLEEVE to the blue dot.
• Finish the neckline with bias binding
• Hem the sleeves and bottom with a small roll hem
[…] More details on the Scoop neck top pattern here. […]
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