A Polly Top and a Shorts Set

When I made my floral tap shorts last month I immediately had the idea to make matching tops for a vintage inspired shorts set. I just love how back in the day the ladies shopped for whole outfits which were more often than not completely matching. Obviously now days we are more into versatility and a wardrobe that mixes and matches with itself. The fun thing about making a set is that you can wear it together for a fun little out or separate. Keep reading for details on this duo.

The unfortunate thing about my big plan is that I didn’t have as much of this floral fabric leftover as I would have liked. So I had to get creative. I made the Polly top by By Hand London a while back and knew that it was the perfect pattern for color blocking. Also I saw Marcy of Oona Balloona‘s cropped polly top a million years on instagram and I thought it was genius, so I decided to give it a try! Luckily I had plenty of the fabric I used to make the piping on the tap shorts, so I knew that would be perfect for the main body of the top.

I was not 100% happy with the fit of my last polly top, so I made a few adjustments here. Mostly I felt that the top was too wide, the straps were always falling off my shoulders. So I cut about 1″ out of the center back on the pattern before I cut the fabric. I still wanted the overall fit to be boxy but I wanted the straps to stay up so this definitely helped.

Honestly, I’m still not a big fan of this pattern. This will definitely be my last Polly top. I’m just not a fan of the fit. I can’t really put my finger on it, but it just seems boxy in the wrong way.. if that makes sense. Maybe it fairs better in lighter, more drapey fabrics. Luckily, the pattern was free! So no harm done there. Now the question is, what to do with the top now? As cute as it looks with these shorts, I don’t see myself wearing it that often… but I do have a brilliant idea!

I still have PLENTY of this light denim colored cotton… so I think I’m going to throw a gathered skirt on the end of this top and turn it into a dress! An awkwardly fitting top will not get worn. But I feel like adding a skirt will fix some of the awkwardness and a fun loose fit dress will definitely get worn (hello closet staple). I even think I have enough of the floral to do a cute patch pocket. We shall see how it goes… stay tuned!

Have you ever had a project not turn out quite right, only to turn it into something great?