Accidental maternity-friendly crop top

Seated view of shirt - paired with a different skirt (the Shadi from Named)

A quick and dirty post/project! This lil crop top version of Frances was the last item of the Arima collection from Victory Patterns left for me to make up, and while I’m interested in a few of the variations, a cozy turtleneck croptop to wear with high-waisted items deeply appealed for me. Especially with the Esther Pants!

My major concern going into making this top was picking the right size for the 100% stretch cloud knit from Blackbird I’d bought for the project (well, that and that a nylon-polyester-rayon blend fits basically none of my clothing values…). I sized down to a six, and it works pretty well except for the shoulders which are too small.

Since I make a lot of knit kids clothes, sewing up this slinkier knit didn’t worry me much. I only turned to the instructions to double-check that a turtle neck essentially goes on like a regular neck band.

Closeup of the shirt for texture/colour purposes

Just brought out the walking foot for the entirety and it came together quickly, and I’m quite pleased with how the hem turned out, actually, as I got a nice wide and reasonably stretchy result with my double needle, with no notable tunneling! I turned the bobbin tension down two full turns to achieve this; I have a little mark on the case showing where it should be for normal tension and test from there.

I’m not sold on the finished result. I love the concept of a soft, cozy, turtleneck crop top, and have no regrets that way. It’s just way too cropped. I can’t wear it with my Esthers, or really any of my high waisted clothes, because they come up to my belly button and this only comes down a couple inches past my boobs! It’s a real shame. I considered adding a band at the bottom to lengthen it but I’m not in love with the idea, although I have the fabric to spare. I kind of don’t want to see how that process would affect the fabric, and I’m hesitant to overwork it.

It’s also a touch too small, especially in the shoulders. I don’t know that even if I lengthened it if it would feel quite right. Stuff to think about at least, as it’s very close to what I want.

Back view of crop top - the delicate knit does not hide bumps of any variety!

So instead, this has become a kind of accidental maternity top, since the thing I do own that works with this top is a handful of stretchy skirts that I wear well over my full belly when pregnant. Hopefully I’ll figure out how I want to fix the length issue once this whole thing is done, because it would be a shame to not wear (especially given the questionable fibre content)!

I’m 18 weeks pregnant in these photos, and my belly is measuring ~36 inches around. Not that this goes over my belly, but it might be useful knowledge to someone.

Pattern: Frances Shirt
Size: 6 - I measure an 8/10 (96 cm) in the bust and am normally a 10 (77.5 cm) in the waist; am currently a B-cup.
Fabric: Pink cloud knit from Blackbird
If there is a next time: Probably need more space in the shoulders, DEFINITELY need more length. 3 inches at least! For the shoulders, if this were less stretchy I’d just size up to a normal 8 (my history with Victory has made 10 a bit big for me), but I actually am pretty happy with the sized-down fit for this super stretchy knit otherwise… Hmmmm.

*Just noticed I served measurements in cm and inches. Well. I’m leaving it because I think in both, but belly in cm is 92 (ish).