DIY Weekly – Cut Out Back Shirt

30th November 2010

As I mentioned last week, I got a bit crafty recently and made my own version of the cut out back top, a la Christine Centenera’s top from her ‘My Favourite Things’ shoot with Tommy Ton. It was amazingly easy to do and looks pretty sexy on.

 Inspiration:

I had a khaki silk collared shirt that I rarely wear so I used this as the basis for my top. Sorry there aren’t any pics of the process, my camera was on the blink when I did this.
What I did was:
1. I put the top on and in the mirror I worked out where I wanted the cut out to sit. I tried to mirror roughly the location of the cut out on Christine’s top.
2. I then cut open the shirt dreicttly across borisontally in a slightly rounded way – a bit like a very shallow eye shape. Once the cut was made the fabric drooped down really nicely so I didn’t have to cut too much out.
3. I then tried on the top again to check the cut out and adjusted the cut out accordingly.
4. I then sewed the edges of the cut out with a very fine stitch, making sure to turn the edge over a couple of times so that any fraying was underneath. I made a pleat in the top running vertically down because the top flap was sticking out a bit.
5. Finally I ironed the edges of the cut out so that the stitching was less noticeable. Voila!
Might wear it with a little triangle bra next time, was alittle bit chilly with nothing underneath.

Before:

After: