DIY Reversible Crop Top – McCall’s M7740 Pattern Hack

I have 2 new tops! But I have to wait a wash cycle to wear them both 😀

When I spotted a tutorial to turn the bodice of McCall’s M7740 dress into a reversible crop top, I knew I had to make it. The genius behind this idea is Denesha of Classyfied Life and it’s so practical for my jetsetting life – light on luggage but major on style. I hate buying boring lining fabric so I love turning it into a second wearable layer.

I had just enough of these two fabrics in my stash to line up the prints perfectly and cut the pattern. Ordinarily when I buy fabric without a project in mind I go for 2+ yards so I have some flexibility with what I’ll make. I only had 1 yard of 45″ fabric for each because these were total impulse souvenir purchases bought on a Black culture finding expedition in Brixton this past January. (My friend Onome and I went to the South London neighborhood in search of jerk chicken and dancehall in the historically Caribbean community.) These small cuts were slotted in my sewing queue for separate head wraps but work out for this top because I took the time to find ankara that can handle pattern mixing – they’re both in the same color family and don’t clash because the scale of the print is so different.

I’m beyond excited to style this top in different ways. The floral print is lovely and I can see myself wearing it with skirts for dates. The graphic side is bold and attention grabbing. I love that its pattern is like a super basic chevron but it has so much more texture from the oval shapes and interest from the more extreme angles. I took extra care to place the triangles and I think the print is the perfect size to line up with my boobs and shoulders at really flattering points. Expect to see me wearing this side of the top for weekend brunches and summer festivals where I want to stand out (hello, Afropunk!)…even more than I do at 6’2″ ha!

Fabric

• Wax print cotton from a shop in Brixton Village, London
• 1 meter each at 45″

Pattern

• McCall’s M7740, View D Bodice only
• Modified to be reversible by following a tutorial by Denesha of Classyfiedlife via Instagram
• Sewing difficulty – 2/5
  • Mostly easy but I found it really hard to sew the underarm curve and the side seams which is almost the last step
• Fit difficulty – 1/5
  • No darts in the bodice front make this a quick sew and the ties in the back help it to fit perfectly to your frame
• I would love to make the crop top again and I want to make a few different views of the dress

Fit & Modifications

• I added 1.5 inches to the bodice at the lengthen and shorten lines for a #sewingtall adjustment
• To make this top reversible, Denesha advises to stitch the ties to the right side of the fabric in step 4. Also, the bodice bottom is folded in and topstitched to form a neat hemline.

Tips

• You should always wash your fabrics before cutting, but it’s extra important here to make sure the dyes in the two fabrics don’t bleed into each other.
• These fabrics both have a symmetrical pattern with clear vertical lines. To cut the front straight and have the print aligned with my center front, I carefully found the center point and ironed a tight crease down the middle. When I lined the pattern front up with the fold line, the alignment was perfect.
• To save time and paper when lengthening a pattern, I mark the added length directly on the fabric with chalk. Here, I used the cut fabric to cut the “lining” to be the same without having to remark the fabric.
• After you close up the neck and back you won’t be able to understitch the sleeves. Instead, press everything into place and make top stitching the sleeves your very last step so the two layers do not balloon and distort.
• I strayed from Denesha’s instruction a little bit at the end by completing the last few steps in the following order:
  1. Stitch the full side seams and arm curves 
  2. Trim down the side seams so there is less bulk before you turn it out
  3. Fold in and press 1/2″ along the hemline on both layers of fabric
  4. Topstitch the hemline to close the final garment
  5. (As mentioned above) Topstitch the end of each sleeve

Tutorials that were helpful:

• Denesha of @classyfiedlife’s sewalong tutorial on Instagram