Who’s up for a hack?

This is the Penny Dress from Sew Over It – well, kind of!

Whilst loving the end product, I had some issues when I sewed the Penny Dress so it’s taken me a couple of years to come back to it. But, in the end, the fact that the simple one piece collar sits really nicely and that the pattern is readily adaptable into that summer wardrobe staple, the tie-front shirt, got me sucked in!

Plus, you can even have your hand held throughout the entire hack because Sew Over It themself have a tutorial as to exactly how to do turn your Penny Dress pattern into a tie front shirt.

In other words, no challenges required!

Silk Cotton blends forever!

This fabric is a divine silk cotton voile from the Fabric Store which has left me thinking that, well, all my shirts should be made of silk cotton blends really! I made this one last summer, however, so I don’t think this specific fabric is available anymore.

You can’t really tell from these photos, but it is a very fine blue and white stripe, which, obviously, I cannot resist!

I did find that the fabric was slightly too sheer to use as a single layer on its own, so I made my Penny Tie-front top fully self-lined. This meant dropping the facing pieces entirely and just placing interfacing directly onto my shell pieces. This means, however, that I feel that in some places, it is a little bit too bulky (e.g. around the shoulders) and I’ve lost some of the magic drape of the fabric!

Talking about solving one problem to create another.

My Penny Tie Front Shirt

If you’re interested in turning the Penny Dress into a tie-front top, the most important thing to figure out is how much you want to lengthen the bodice. I wanted a fairly cropped top/shirt to pair with high-waisted garments. So, I decided to add 8cm to the length of the Penny Dress bodice and I think it’s a pretty good length.

I obviously also added in the decorative pockets (which, I can see clearly from this photos are placed too high – don’t know how I didn’t notice that until now!) and I also opened up the arm hole a little to give me some extra room in the bicep. The latter step probably wouldn’t have been necessary if I had actually taken my current measurements and cut the correct size. But, instead, I just used the size 12 bodice I had cut out from two years ago, because I couldn’t be bothered to reprint!

Technique wise, since I was fully lining my Penny Tie From Shirt, rather than using the facing, it felt really easy to construct. I first connected the shell to the lining along the centre front, all the way down the tie, around the hem and then the same thing on the other side. After turning and pressing that all out nicely, I then pulled the lining and shell of each armhole through the neckline to attach them with an entirely clean finish.

Then that just left the simple one piece collar for a clean finished tie-front shirt!

A Story of Growth

I really like this tie-front top and it fills exactly the little wardrobe gap that needed filling. But I’m also quite proud of it for what it means about the growth in my sewing practice.

Two years ago, when I sewed the Penny Dress, a missing notch on the pattern piece and poorly worded instructions left my utterly bamboozled and frustrated.

Now, I put together this hacked version without even looking at the instructions. It’s amazing how much two years sewing practice can teach you without you really noticing it.

So, moral of the story, we are all improving each and every day, even if it doesn’t always feel like it!!

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.