DIY: Mesh Top

Here are the steps to how I made this iridescent mesh top, with extra notes on areas where I would have made revisions. Thank you for watching!

materials

1.5 yards of mesh or chiffon
2 sets of hook and eye closures
1 shirt you'd like to copy for fit

steps

1. Folding your shirt in half to show the front, align with a folded edge of the fabric and cut a front piece with an extra 1.5 cm
2. Folding your shirt in half to show the back, align with a folded edge of the fabric and cut a back piece with an extra 1.5 cm
3. Cut the back in half down the middle to split into left and right
4. Create a paper pattern for the sleeves, tracing with an extra 1.5 cm all the way around
5. Cut 2 sleeve pieces from the pattern, making sure they are symmetrical instead of identical (add a clip on the back edge to remember which is left and right)
6. Sew the shoulders of the front and back together with a straight stitch (typically this is done with right sides touching, but for a French seam that hides the raw edges it is the wrong sides touching, then trimming down the raw fabric, before sewing right sides touching)
7. Sew the sleeves to the armholes (again, option to do this right sides touching or as a French seam)
8. Baste down the middle edge of the back pieces (this helps to add stability)
9. Sew back together from the middle down, 1 cm away from the basting stitch
10. Hem the raw edges along the entire middle back (here is where I would have benefited from some bias tape)
11. Trim the bottom and sleeve openings of the entire shirt to be even
12. Hem the bottom and sleeve openings with a straight stitch on the fabric folded in once, then using the first stitch as a guide to fold a second time and sew with a straight stitch (this has been the best way I've found thus far to hem mesh/chiffon fabric)
13. Measure the neck hole and cut a collar rectangle from the fabric, mine was 24 cm x 50 cm
14. Fold the collar in half and sew the collar to the neck hole from shoulder to shoulder (again, option to do this with right sides touching or as a French seam)
15. On the open ends of the collar rectangle, flip the edges to sew them right sides together, then flip to restore the right side to the outside (the previous step helps to make sure the collar length is perfect, since mesh/chiffon can have an annoying stretch to it)
16. Finish sewing the collar to the shirt now that the ends are hemmed, they should line up with the opening on the back
17. For additional stability, I folded my collar down once more and sewed it to the neckhole with a straight stitch, then ironed the folded edge to keep it sharp (before doing this I could have darted the collar on the left and right to shape it more like an upside down funnel, which would have helped it stand better)
18. To close the back at the top, I hand sewed a pair of hook and eye closures at the top of the collar and the base of the collar