Flare out Discovery Tee Hack

Flare out Discovery Tee Hack

Hello! I’m Aimee, also known as the Sewing Scientist, here to bring you a new blog post for Ellie & Mac. This blog contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I will receive a small commission for which I am very grateful.  

Today, I want to show you a simple hack for the Discoverer Tee

I always make my mom a few tops for her birthday. This year she brought me a t-shirt that a friend had given her and asked me if I could make it  into a cute top. My mom is not one to wear a t-shirt – ever. 
I took the Discoverer Tee lower bodice and added a bit of width to the bottom hem. I then drew a line down the side to create a side “wing”. I had to measure the t-shirt to see how much width I had to fit onto my pattern piece and drew that line accordingly. I had to draw that line slightly narrower than what the “normal” Discoverer Tee body is.  I also added some length to the body as my mom likes to wear her tops with leggings ans prefers to keep her booty covered.
I cut the “wings” from a coordinating fabric and sewed them to the front and back lower bodice pieces before sewing them onto the yokes. I used the same fabric for the yokes, sleeves, and “wings”. My momma loved her top and could not wait to send me photos of her wearing it. Here she is! 
Here is a look at the the side seam. When hemming, I hemmed the front, then hemmed the back.

I couldn’t stop at only one top for my Momma, so I made another. This time I used the Discoverer Tee pattern as is, but I added length and I added a godet to each side – My momma always asks for her tops to be flowy. 
My mom’s favorite color is yellow and she loves tie dye. She also loves lace and I used a lace for the yoke, sleeves, and godet. For the godets, I just free handed a triangular piece.
Here’s a look at the side seam with the godet. Since this lace had a decorative edge, I carefully trimmed the excess netting to leave the pretty scalloped edge. I hemmed the front and back body pieces first. I then sewed the godets to the front body piece starting at the hem and working my way up. I then sewed the back body pieces to the godet in the same manner, but this time continued to where I met the front body piece and sewed them together up to the armhole. 
Since I was on a roll, I decided to make one more Discoverer Tee for my mom. This time I used the same technique as the one above, but this time I needed to hem my godet. For this one I used a poly spandex print and a poly spandex eyelet knit. 

This time I sewed all the pieces together and then hemmed. I hemmed the front, then the back, then I hemmed the godets. My mom’s birthday was at the end of March. I had to mail these to her as we were ordered to shelter in place right before her birthday. My plan was to make her a few more for Mother’s day, but I haven’t done it yet. Hopefully I will get to see her in the next few months and will have a few new tops made for her.  

If you want to see more of my makes, follow my Blog The Sewing Scientist. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook. Thank you for reading!

(written by: Aimee Wilson)




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