Hello! Nikki here, and at this rate my blog is going to be all about Greenstyle Creations Patterns.

It’s not, really, but I seem to be on a real GS kick lately, and I have absolutely no problem with that. No, they do not pay me, but if you click this link you’ll save 5% off any pattern from Greenstyle Creations and I’ll earn points towards more patterns. 

This post may contain other affiliate links. Any purchases you make may earn me a small commission that helps keep this site alive at no additional cost to you. 

Let me start this post by asking you this: Have you ever felt emotionally connected to an item of clothing? I often form these weird attachments to certain garments. I’ve even donated a top because it reminded me of a terrible night I had worn it. And also, I’ve had a few items that were just so painful to let go of.

We all have a favourite shirt. Right? Even if you don’t think you do, there is probably one you reach for first when your laundry is clean. Well, for me back in my very young adulthood, that was this top:

And long story short, I didn’t hand-wash it as was probably recommended, and it got wrecked. Irreparably wrecked. 🙁

Fast forward to 2021. Greenstyle Creations released the Corset Top and Bra PDF pattern and my eyes nearly popped out when I saw it. The cut was almost exact to the top I had ruined those many years ago. The bottom of the front was more straight and the length was not as long, and it was lacking some elastic trim between the front pieces, but otherwise, this was nearly the same tank I had thrown haphazardly into a laundromat washing machine never to wear again. And best of all, it has a projector file as well as the standard printable pattern files.

I love using my projector for sewing because it saves so much time, ink and paper, but the paper ones are also great. I use the Apeman LC550 which is only available from their site, but there are also great projectors on Amazon available.

(Note: Not all are projectors are ideal for sewing due to things like resolution, distance/throw to/from your cutting table, etc. If you use Facebook I strongly recommend joining a group called Projectors for Sewing. If I link to a projector here, as I have below, it has been tested in the group and is most often determined to be ideal!)

So… back to the story. What did I do?

I bought the pattern, of course! Then what did I do? I bought some very similar fabric and lingerie elastic trim from Fabricland (which is the only fabric store that’s local anymore), fabric as close to the original as I could remember without having dug out old photos yet.

Then what did I do?

I waited a bunch of months to make it. As one does.

Then finally, I got up the courage. And sometimes I think it’s meant to be when you wait to do something, and this time that seems to certainly be true.

Let’s talk fit.

It fits like a glove should!

I measured as I normally would and graded from a size F for the top half of the pattern out to the size G for the bottom half.

This PDF pattern offers three different lengths: Bra, crop and top. This one is the top length.

Because my torso is longer, and because Greenstyle drafts their Curvy patterns for (I believe) 5’7″ and I am almost 5’10”, I decided to extend the length on all pieces by 1 inch at the bottom. This was easy to do with a clear acrylic grid ruler and a projected pattern that I used, and equally easy to do for the patterns printed on paper. All the extended pieces fit together perfectly without a hitch.

My original top was a bit longer, and I might have been more comfortable with that length, but the bit I added worked well enough and covers all that I want it to.

The contour of this top is very flattering and I feel it would work for anybody. 

And the feel?

It’s very comfortable! It feels almost exactly like what I remember my OG top feeling like. It’s stretchy and amazing. I think the eyelet fabric (the main fabric seen) was a teensy bit less stretchy than the Greenstyle pattern recommended but it still worked perfectly well in this case. The liner fabric was a couple of shades darker than the white — just because that’s all I could find in a solid knit fabric at the time — which worked out better than expected. (I expected it might look more natural than another stark white behind the main fabric, but I wasn’t 100% sure.)

Ohhhh, and it is nostalgic. The feels, when I put this on. I truly couldn’t believe I made it. Especially with the trim between the front pieces (which are each top-stitched — maybe edge-stitched — down to face the proper directions). It really adds something special and reminds me a lot of the tank I lost so long ago. I didn’t think I could make that part work, and it may have been part of the reason I waited so long to sew this up. I pulled my serger blade up while sewing the elastic between each of the two fabric layers at a time. Not doing that would likely have resulted in more cursing and less overall satisfaction with this project as the elastic would likely fall apart.

Anything else?

I love it so much that I’m worried I’m going to ruin it. Hah! It’s white, which is always a concern for me, from food to drink to armpit stains. But I’m going to try my best to be careful.

I rarely match all my thread cones to a project (hehe) but in this case I had to. In the case of white, always try to match those threads.

• I used a white cone in the left needle (which is the thread that will show through your seams if the fabric is pulled apart, this is the most important to match normally)
• I used off-white in the right needle and loopers, because I figured off-white stitching might look more natural under a white slightly sheer fabric (think skin-toned bra under a white shirt — that was my logic anyway and I’m glad it worked out)

I also want to mention that Greenstyle’s pattern instructions are usually very clear and for the most part this was true for this pattern. There was one part where I had to YouTube the “burrito” sewing method, but my head might have been fuzzy that day. Here’s the video that helped me, in case you end up having a fuzzy head when you get to that step too.

OK. Let’s see them side-by-side to compare:

Very similar lines, which was the most important part for me. I find the cut of the Greenstyle Creations Corset Top to be so flattering, and so reminiscent of that tank I sadly washed into destruction those years ago.

Slightly different fabric but what’re you going to do? They were made 18 years apart. I’ve always loved eyelet fabric and I’m happy I got to incorporate it into this redux. I’m surprised, actually, that I was able to find two newer fabrics, main and liner, that — despite being different — had such a similar stretch, weight and movement to how I remember my old top feeling. The elastic lingerie trim sandwiched between the front pieces adds just that little bit of extra emphasis that the old top had within its lines. (I know that’s hard — if not impossible — to see in the old pictures.) 

This is a project I had wanted to complete for months and I’m just so glad it’s made and that it turned out so well, and so similar to the what I’d hoped to recreate. What do you think of how it turned out?

So there it is!

Another beautiful and comfy pattern from Greenstyle Creations, sewn up and posted about on my blog that I swear is not all about Greenstyle patterns but so far may appear to be. Haha.

Have you sewn this pattern? You can follow this link and then save 5% off this or another Greenstyle PDF pattern of your choice! And once you’ve made your project, come on back and let’s talk about the process, the final result, anything!

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Thanks for reading!

-Nikki