Drop shoulder top/dress with shoulder slits – Free sewing pattern

This is a very easy to sew  drop shouldered top with shoulder slits which give a peak of the shoulders and small slits at the side seams at the bottom edge.

Take two pieces of fabric of dimensions – length of the top you want and width is 5 inches more than the half of hip round. ( if it is a dress you will need more width)

I joined two pieces together for the bodice panels at the top edge as the printed cloth on its own looked too busy. A 3.5 inch piece wide fabric was added to the top edge of the main fabric pieces for front and back. 

I decided to do some embroidery on the blue pieces.I did  Kantha work . Beautiful and fast to do. Made a template (freehand) of the Mango shape and traced around it .

Then did simple running stitches all over

Mark the pattern on the fabric pieces

A-H is the length of the top + 2″ 

A-B = 3.5 ” This is the neck width
A-L= 2″ ( this is the back neck depth)
B-K = 6.5″ -7″ (this is the front neck depth)
A-M =1/2 of shoulder measure ( This is the measure from one shoulder tip to other shoulder tip)
M-C= 4 ” ( I took 5.5″ which was a little too much drop; it is your call)

E-D = 1/4 of bust round + 1.5″

F-G = 1/4 of waist round+ 1.5″ 

H-I = 1/4 of hip round + 1.5″  ( increase the flair if making this longer than hip length)

go up 2 inch from I and mark bottom edge in a slight curve

Cut the back pattern first and then the front bodice . Cut out the necks.You also need a lot of bias strips to bind the necklines and armlines and the shoulder seams . Infact 10  numbers. 

The front bodice

The back bodice

Bind the front neckline and back neckline with 2 strips of bias strips

I joined the strip right side together and then turned to the inside and whip stitched the strip to the back. You can stitch by machine as well.

Now bias bind the armlines of the front and back bodices. You need 4 bias strips for this . Bind all the four sides – Bind the length of the armhole length ( as per the table) + 1/2 inch

Now take two more bias strips for joining the shoulder seams ( 4 bias strips total for both shoulders). Keep them on top of the shoulder edge and stitch the edges of front shoulder edge and back shoulder edge like this

Turn the strips to the back .

Keep two of the shoulder seams together right sides together

Stitch the ends like this in the picture.The red line shows the stitching line. Remember to join under the seam allowance .

You will get the shoulder seam joined in the edges.

Turn under the bias strips and stitch in place. You can hand stitch or machine stitch

Now join the side seams till 3 inches to the bottom edge

Ensure that you back stitch at the end so that the stitches donot unravel

Turn under the side seam allowances and stitch .

From the top it will looke like this

Now stitch the bottom hem. Because it is a curved hem you will be better off with a faced hem, especially if the material is synthetic ; a narrow hem would work for cotton 

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