DIY Cacharel Inspired Collared Midriff Top

As soon as I saw this image I fell in love with the gorgeous collared midriff top. I loved the fitted and rib grazing style. Only recently I worked out that it was by Cacharel - and decided I need to make a similar style in a bout of pre-holiday craftiness. Whilst I haven't jumped head first into the crop top craze for fear of not being able to pull it off, I found it easy to wear this style to death while I was on holidays in Thailand, and think I may have been converted!

 The Inspiration

The DIY:

You'll need a cotton/linen collared shirt (long or short sleeves, it doesn't matter), scissors, a sewing machine.

1. Cut the arms off the shirt - You can either cut from under the arms all the way to under the collar, or make the shoulders a touch wider like I did so you can wear a bra with straps. Make sure the shoulders are symmetrical.

2. Put the shirt on and mark with chalk where you want the bottom of the midriff crop to be - make sure to add an inch or so for the hemming. Cut the shirt straight across along your chosen length.

3. Now all you need to do is hem the crop and the shoulders. I used a sewing machine but you could easily hand sew. To make the shirt more fitted, I also put a number of darts in the back and front of the shirt, so that it was more fitted under the breast. Done!

Wearing in top photo - DIY Midriff Top, A Pair & A Spare shorts, River Island gladiator sandals.

Wearing in bottom photo - DIY Midriff Top, A Pair & A Spare lace shorts, rope bag from thailand, suede ballet flats.

So what do you think - to crop or not to crop?