Wilder Top with Lace insert hack - By @SewnbyEle

Hi, I'm Eleanor or Ele - a sewist, knitter and embroiderer over on @SewnbyEle on Instagram. In this blog post, I’m going to show you some inspiration and ways to make your Wilder Top a little bit different as well as a project step-by-step showing how to insert lovely lace ribbon into the top. Keep reading to find out more.

Wilder Top Inspiration

The first step is to find inspiration - I love using Pinterest for finding images and seeing what inspires me. For my Wilder, I wanted a vintage Edwardian vibe, it’s what the high collar of the Wilder reminds me of. Click here to see my full Pinterest board of ideas.

Another place I find inspiration is on Instagram, I loved Jenna (@theladywholunches)’s Sagebrush mash-up with lots of lace too here. 

Whilst looking at inspiration, I was deciding how I would hack the Wilder pattern to make something a little different. One option was to use my embroidery machine to embroidery the project. My favourite top growing up was a blouse my dad brought me in Hungary, covered in beautiful colourful embroidery - it’s what started my love affair with embroidery! I love how the embroidery would look around the tie neck of the gown. (images above from Pinterest)

The Wilder has lots of space to add your own personalised details. It’s worth looking at the different stitches on your machine, how about adding a couple all around the hem for a bit of extra detailing. I’ve seen Nicole from GBSB doing some fab examples:

Image - https://www.instagram.com/nicole_akong/

The element I liked most about the inspirational images was the eyelet lace inserted into the top. I found some lovely lace on eBay - I got 14 metres for £7! There are lots of different types of lace, but I went for a simple style with the lines.

I found this blog by Sew Historically with lots of different ways to insert lace. I'd never heard of fagoting before, it gives a really lovely finish that I’d like to try in the future.

 

Making my Wilder Top

For my top, I went for the classic placement with right angle on the bodice for the full Edwardian vibes. The Sew Historical blog talks about the fact that Edwardian blouses were never exactly symmetrical, so I pinned my lace down but did not do it with measurements, I placed the lace where it looked right by eye.

I did the straightforward hem process:

1. Sew the lace on to the right side of your fabric, right side up down both sides
2. Cut the fabric between your two line of stitching, being care to avoid the lace!
3. Iron the cut fabric away from the lace
4. Topstitch the lace again, sewing down the cut hems
5. Final press and enjoy!

And here’s my final top!

 

I added some decorative stitching on my ties to give them a bit more texture. I loved styling this as both an Edwardian librarian with hair up and high neck, and then a dashing romance novel hero with hair down and tie loose. This top looks great with jeans, or tucked into a high-waisted skirt -  I can wear it as a part of cottagecore or dark academia outfit. And in the future, I might dye it another colour! So many possibilities. I hope this sparks some ideas in your brain to make your own me mades, your own.

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Check out Ele over on Instgram here & shop the Wilder pattern here, now available in our extended size range XS-7X