1. NECK
Prepare your neck binding by joining each end together with 1cm/0.375” seam allowance, press the seams open. Fold the neck band in half all the way around, wrong sides together and press. Stitch together the raw edges 5mm down all the way around.
Pin the neck binding onto the right side of your neckline, with the raw edges of the binding along the raw edge of the neckline. The join of the binding should match the centre back neck facing and centre front notches should match together. The binding will need to be angled out slightly at the shoulder points so that you do not create a tuck here. Stitch your neck band on with 6mm/0.25” seam allowance, then press the binding away from the body and under stitch on the binding close to the seam line, securing down the binding to the seam allowance.
Lay your garment flat and from the inside press your neck cut-out (A) down into the back, wrong side to wrong side, and pin in place onto the back body. Top stitch your back facing down along the curved line of the binding on the outer edge, all the way around the curve, through all layers, then continue around the front neck, stitching the binding down to the inside of the neck. The binding will not be visible from the front of the garment when you are done, only the stitch line. Take particular care at the shoulder points. Once the neck binding and back neck facing are stitched down lay your garment flat and press again using steam to flatten your binding and back facing so the neck sits flat and neat.
2. SIDE SEAMS
Place your front and back bodies right sides together lining up the side seams/hems. Mark a vertical straight line with chalk or a dissolvable pen starting 1cm / 3/8” away from the UA notch point and 5 cm / 2” away from the side seam at the hem point. Make a second mark horizontally measuring up from the hem (refer to template B in your size), this is the finished height of your split. Sew along the vertical line between the UA notch and the second mark you made.
Snip into the UA notch all the way to the stitch line and press the seams open continuing all the way down to the hem along the vertical al line you have drawn. Repeat for the other side seam.
3. SPLITS
Press the outer raw edges of the side seams to the wrong side by around 8mm / 3/8” starting at the UA point and continuing down to the hem. Press and pin these split facings in place and top stitch down through all layers to hold down.
Finish with an additional horizontal top stitch measuring around 1cm/ 3/8” long, to secure the start of the split, for extra strength.
4. SLEEVES
Fold the sleeve in half, right sides together, and sew the underarm seams with 1cm / 3/8” seam allowance. Overlock the seams together and press towards the back (so you have one pair of sleeves).
Gather the sleeve head in (the curved end) to fit the armhole size (around a 60cm / 23.5” finished circumference).
Attach the sleeve into the armhole with a 1cm / 3/8” seam allowance, matching the shoulder notches and the underarm seams together. Take particular care at the underarm point so that the side seam allowances are not caught in (they will need to be angled out so that the sleeve has free movement at the underarm point and is not caught in at a strange angle).
5. HEMS
Press the front and back body hems to wrong side 1cm + 1cm / 3/8” + 3/8”, pin in place and top stitch down close to the fold line through all layers.
Repeat the same process for the sleeve hems. Keep in mind that the sleeve length is based on the fabric width you have used so if you prefer a shorter length then press up 1cm/ 3/8” and then press up to a second time to your preferred finished length and then top stitch down close to the fold line.
*If you are doing the gather sleeve hem hack then skip this this and go straight to the next step EXTRAS.
EXTRAS: GATHER SLEEVE HEM HACK
If you are doing the gather sleeve hem hack for this top then instead of a turn and turn hem you will gather the sleeve hem to fit the attached band.
1: Sew each pair of bands together on the sides, right sides together, with a 1cm / 3/8" seam allowance then press the seams open.
2: Gather the sleeve hem to the same size as the hem band.
3: Sew one end of the hem band to the sleeve hem, right side hem band to wrong side hem. Press the hem band down then fold to the right side twice to cover the first stitch line (a bit like attaching a binding). Top stitch the band down close to the fold line through all layers to finish.
