Making Bias Tops from 2 squares from pattern in July 2009 Threads magazine.
Read the “Get Biased” article in the July 2009 issue of Threads and it captured my attention immediately. I am busy now making a third top for myself. I have done a lot of sewing before, but I always bought a pattern, so this was new for me.
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These look great! Thanks so much for showing them off in the gallery.
I am very interested in trying this. I found some beautiful gauze fabric and so I'm a little afraid to try it. Have sewn all my life but it's always tricky with tricky fabric. Have heard that spraying starch on it will keep it still (it isn't all that unmanageable). You said your daughter's came out too small - was the hip measurement not a reliable guideline?
To Ciela, The hip measurement was fine, bit we had only added one inch on the sides of the squares for the seam allowances like the article said. We just didn't realize how much that particular fabric would ravel. So we ended up doing the seams wrong sides together and then again only right sides together. Not planning on doing that from the beginning meant we did not add enough extra on the sides of the squares to allow for the double seam allowances.
I read that article and wanted to try it myself. I have the page bookmarked so that I can try it. Yours are great.
I need some help if you can please. I made this top tonight and it is like a tent! Very east to construct and I even followed the corrected info in the editorial section of the following magazine. My top goes down to my knees (I'm 5'1') and the underarms are at my waist!
My total hip measurement is 45 and that is the number I've used for the big square per the corrected instructions. I used 22 1/2 for the small square. It was very easy and fun but does not look anything like the tops above. Can anyone help? Jackie
I made the corrected version and it was gigantic. I cut it apart on the seams and took in each seam one inch thus eliminating eight inches. It's better now. I had to cut a couple of inches off for the hem. Another person in our ASG group used the original pattern and added a couple of inches and hers fits much better.
It's a neat idea, but why don't either of the versions work?
To Knitnut: Figuring out the sides of the 2 squares is a little tricky, but remember in Algebra I that C squared = A squared + B squared. So in the big square the side called C, (which is the hypotemuse of a right triangle) is 45 inches (your waist measurement.) So you need to square that (45 x 45 = 2025.) Then for the first step of figuring out the side measurement you need to figure half of that (2025 divided by 2 = 1012.5) Now you need to find the square root of that number which is 31.819 (lets just call it 32 inches.) I think the article said to add an inch for the seem allowance so that would make the large square 33 inches on each side. The sides of the small square is equal to half of the sides of the big square (in this case half of 33 = 16.5 inches.)
Ha, you sound like my twin, I'm also 5'1" and have a 45 inch waist.
Hi,
After my first muslin I too resorted to my algebra. The smaller square from corner to corner should be half the hip measurements. I added for ease and seams (24 inches). That measurement represented the hypotenuse. To get the square sides I divided the hypotenuse by 1.41421 (square root of 2)=(17 inches)based on this formula:
Perimeter of square triangle
Formula n(side1) + n(side 2) + n √2 . (hypotenuse)
To clarify, I already knew the hypotenuse so the sides = that divided by 1.41421.
For the larger square I measured myself from the desired front hip length around my shoulder at the neck edge to the desired back hip length (50 inches). I also added a little extra for hem. Using the same formula I determined the large square sides (35 inches).
To finish my shirt I designed a square neck line with facings.
It was worth doing two muslins to get the pleasing results.
All that math is making my head spin. What were the original measurements?