Two Rectangles

August 30, 2026

This is a piece of fabric that I’ve had in my stash for ten years or longer. I could not resist it when I saw it. Even with my new policy of not buying fabric without a specific project in mind, I would have had a hard time passing this one up.

The fabric is a machine-embroidered cotton voile. I loved all of the different greens and the illustrative style of the flowers and leaves. The print was just too good to break it up with style lines so I had a hard time envisioning what I wanted to make with it. Because of that, I bought three metres to be on the safe side.

I almost made a dress with it. I even did a test. Then right before cutting into the fabric I changed my mind. I saw the pattern for the Rectangle Top by Sewing Therapy and I knew it was the one. The pattern is really clever. Using only rectangles, there are three distinct options for this top. I chose View B with a couple of modifications.

I’m not kidding when I say that this pattern is just two rectangular pattern pieces. It’s so simple, why make a test? Over the years, I have found that I gather important information from every test I make. This was no exception. I quickly realized that if I reached up my arms, the bottom of the shirt went with it exposing a lot of my midriff. I’m not opposed to a little bit of skin occasionally seeing the light of day but that much non-sun-kissed skin could blind a person. I also felt like I had to constantly encourage the elastic back into place. I probably had the test on for ten minutes and I was already thoroughly annoyed. In the end, I decided to make the elastic fit fairly loose and make the top longer so it would blouse over the elastic. Then it could accommodate a good reach without risking any indecent exposure.

Once I finished the top and tried it on there was one more problem. Because the fabric was so sheer I lined it with white cotton batiste. Cotton batiste has less heft than a Kleenex but combined with the voile it made the shoulders a little stiff. It had the over-sized padded shoulder look of a bad eighties blazer. Small things like this are the difference between me wearing a garment to shreds versus never wearing it at all. I was showing it to a friend and without batting an eyelash she suggested adding some elastic to cinch the shoulder in a bit. With the elasticated waste to complement it, this was the perfect suggestion.

And since I bought three times as much fabric as I needed for this project, I can easily make two more when this one wears out. (Insert eye roll.) Just another reason not to stash fabric.