When my niece sent me a message requesting some sports crop tops I immediately went to my Jalie patterns to find one. Not only would it be one of the few patterns I have with kids sizing, they also just work. No faffing about, no issues they just go together and fit really well.
Digging through my athletic fabrics I found some suitable small pieces and got to cutting. The fronts are all double lined with the same moisture wicking fabric. On many printed athletic fabrics there is a white panel along the side (normally where the fabric is wider than the sublimation machine) I use this section of lining to reduce waste.
Everything was overlocked together before encasing some wide elastic in the bottom which was finished with a triple needle coverstitch. I debated if I should add elastic to the neck and armholes, in the end I didn’t and I’m really hoping that decision doesn’t come back to bite me later on.
On the pattern I raised the seam allowance of the neckline and armholes to allow me to turn the fabric back and topstitch it down and an additional 1cm to lower hem to account for the wider elastic I had on hand.
Pattern: Jalie 3247 size 10
Fabric: Moisture wicking athletic spandex from Pitt Trading
Alterations: check and see how the wash and wear went and then decide if it didn’t need additional elastic or not