Materials

- Harley Top PDF Pattern

- 1/2 yard swimwear fabric

- 1/4" swimwear elastic

- OPTIONAL: 1" swimwear elastic or nonstretch stabilizer fabric (to stabilize straps)

- Cutting tool like scissors or rotary cutter

- Loop turner

- Seam ripper

- Overlock machine OR zig-zag stitch on a regular sewing machine

Cutting

Assemble your pattern and cut your desired size.

Then, cut 2 of each pattern piece in your swimwear fabric. 1/4" seam allowance is included. If you're making your top with two different fabrics, cut 1 of each pattern piece in EACH fabric.

At this step you will also cut your 4 straps required for this top, and the exact measurements for those are provided inside the pattern.

Step 1

Match all the pieces with right sides together. Sew and attach elastic to the marked areas.

For more information on how to sew elastic, click here.

Take all your straps and fold them in half lengthwise, right sides together. Sew along the raw edges. You can either use an overlock stitch or a zig zag stitch. For the thin shoulder strap, attach your 1/4" elastic.

Note that on the wrap straps it is marked that you should sew ONE end closed. This will give you a clean finish, there is no need to have both ends of the strap open.

If you're electing to use 1" elastic or stabilizer fabric, you can attach that to your thicker straps now. This step is optional, it is fine to choose not to add any elastic to these straps.

Make sure you're sewing your elastic as evenly as possibly to prevent any bunching or wavy application. You do not need to stretch the elastic for any of these seams.

Step 2

Once the straps are done, take your loop turner or safety pin and turn all the straps all the way to the right side.

Then bring out each of your bust pieces, and keep them still inside out. Insert their corresponding shoulder strap into the upper opening and insert the wrap strap into the lower opening. Do this for both bust pieces.

Using a straight stitch or an overlock stitch, sew down the straps into place.

Step 3

Now it's time to attach the bust pieces to the back pieces together.

To do this, take the bust pieces all the way to the right side.

Insert them inside of the back piece, making sure right sides are together. Match up the sides of the bust pieces with the sides of the back piece. This can be a tight squeeze, so use lots of pins as needed!

At this point the entirety of the bust pieces should be encased inside the back piece, with nothing poking out. Make sure the connections at the sides are fully aligned and then sew across all four layers of fabric to secure them all down. You may use a straight stitch or an overlock stitch.

Another helpful tip is to sew closed the inner two layers of the bust piece, this way when you sew across all four layers it's made much easier.

Step 4

Everything is now inside the back piece so we now need to take the top to the right side. To do this, seam rip a hole somewhere where you plan on putting the other end of one of the shoulder straps.

Through this hole, take the entire top to the right side.

Step 5

Our last objective is sewing in the other end of the shoulder straps. There is a thick strap and there's a thin strap. We seam ripped one hole in the previous step, so now seam rip another hole that will be used for your other strap.

Step 6

Now you have a two different options to finish these straps up.

(1) Use a straight stitch and sew right on top to sew the straps into place. This will complete the top.

(2) If you're wanting more of a "seamless" look, you can seam rip a third hole located in a more discrete place. Then, sew down the straps from the inside. Finally, finish off that third hole either with a top stitch or a hand stitch.

That completes the Harley Top!