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Ruched Scoop-Neck Tank

Ruched Scoop-Neck Tank

Shirred before cutting, with straps cut in one with the front

XS–XXL · Intermediate

$12.00 Instant download

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Delivered instantly. Your download link arrives by email the moment you check out and stays in your order confirmation. Print at home on US Letter or A4, or take the A0 file to a copy shop.

A shirred scoop-neck tank with narrow straps cut in one with the front and three bound edges. Five pattern pieces, six pieces of fabric, four seams in the whole garment, and no shoulder seam at all.

Pattern specification

Size range
XS–XXL
Skill level
Intermediate
Recommended fabric
Light and drapey. Silk crepe de chine, silk habotai, rayon challis, cotton lawn or a fine jersey. Anything stiff will look corrugated.
Colours shown
Black.
Yardage
2.0 m of 150 cm wide fabric for XS to M, 2.4 m for L to XXL. Most of it disappears into the shirring. Keep half a metre back un-shirred for the binding strips.
Notions required
Elastic thread for the shirring. One reel is enough, two is safer.
Stretch required
No. The shirring is what gives this top its stretch, so the fabric itself does not have to stretch.
Seam allowance
1 cm on the side seams and the strap tips. 0.75 cm on all three bindings. Hem 1.6 cm.
Format
PDF — print at home or copy shop

Size chart

Size Chest, relaxed Hem, relaxed Length
XS 14.0 / 35.5 14.6 / 37.0 14.1 / 35.8
S 15.0 / 38.0 15.6 / 39.5 14.5 / 36.8
M 15.9 / 40.5 16.5 / 42.0 14.9 / 37.8
L 16.9 / 43.0 17.5 / 44.5 15.3 / 38.8
XL 18.1 / 46.0 18.7 / 47.5 15.7 / 39.8
XXL 19.7 / 50.0 20.3 / 51.5 16.1 / 40.8

Finished garment at rest, measured flat. Chest and hem are half the measurement all the way round. Length is the back point to the hem. Inches / centimetres.

Key details

  • The fabric is shirred before anything is cut. Rows of elastic thread go down a flat panel, the panel shortens by 35 to 45%, and only then does the pattern go on it.
  • The pattern is drafted at the finished size and carries no ruching lines. Shirr after cutting and the top comes out several sizes too small.
  • Wind the elastic onto the bobbin by hand, gently, with no stretch. Machine winding stretches it and it will not gather.
  • The workflow gives a per-size table of how long the flat panel has to start out at a 40% take-up, and the sum for recalculating that from your own test panel. Take-up depends on your fabric, your elastic and your machine, so it is a figure you measure rather than one anybody can quote.
  • Some machines shirr with the bobbin tension untouched and some want the screw loosened a quarter turn. Find out on a scrap.
  • The four binding strips are always cut from flat fabric, never from the shirred panel.
  • Sizing is not the usual rule. Pick the size whose relaxed chest is 8 to 12 cm under your own, because shirred fabric stretches a long way and springs back.
  • It is a short top. Underarm to hem is 34 to 35 cm on every size and the ruching pulls it shorter in wear. The hem is the only edge that can safely be lengthened, and that has to happen before you cut.

Pattern pieces

  • Front (cut 1, straps cut in one with it)
  • Back (cut 1)
  • Neck binding (cut 1)
  • Back binding (cut 1)
  • Armhole binding (cut 2)

In the download

  • A0 copy-shop file — 1p
  • US Letter / A4 print file — 26p
  • Construction workflow — 11p

This is a digital pattern. Nothing ships — your download link is emailed the moment you check out, and stays in your order confirmation.

Licensed for personal use only. Files may not be resold, redistributed, shared or used for commercial production without written permission from Kissing Parasites.