Here is my version of the Plantain top from Deer and Doe. Deer and Doe are a small independent dressmaking pattern maker from France. The Plantain top pattern is free! You download it as a pdf, print it out then stick all the pages together and voila, you have your pattern. Plantain tops, complete with their elbow patches, were popping up everywhere on the internet and if you look here, you can see the best!
I am an avid follower of the Minerva Crafts Blogger Network. Oh! How I wish I lived nearer to this wonderful shop! It is in Harrogate in the north of England and looks like heaven with all kinds of fabric from dressmaking to quilting, every kind of crafting tool, papercrafts, paints, inks etc. The blogger network showcases makes from some of the best sewers and crafters in the country. They each make one thing per month, and Minerva Crafts offers a kit for sale to make the item.
When Kathryn who blogs at Yes I like that came up with a leopard print Plantain top, I just knew I had to have the kit! The kit came with 2m of fabric, matching thread and 1m of stretchy black binding for the neck. And it was so easy to make! The fabric is a Ponte, so a bit stretchy, but quite thick – lovely and warm! After reading Kathryn’s blog post I decided that I too would like a higher neckline, so drew it in about 1.5” above the pattern. I cut the hips a size bigger than the top, and even flared it out a bit more than that. I love the finished shape! It fits, but not too snuggly, and doesn’t look too big on the top. The only thing I struggled with was joining the neck binding, and if you look closely you’ll see that I stretched the neckline a bit in that area.
So you’d like to see a picture, huh? Well, here I am, wearing the new top with bootleg jeans and black ankle boots. I have to say that I don’t normally wear these colours, my colour palette is much more autumn. But I do love my new top! (And the best accolade… my 22yo daughter says it doesn’t look handmade!)
!) Over the years we’ve tried crafting with yarn, fabric and paper. This year we have decided to do a yarn based project. We are going to crotchet squares from this book:
