The Nessie Top Pattern by CINO

Can we just start out by saying that Jess is awesome? I've known her since forever. We played together as kids, most often while her mom was cutting my mom's hair into the perfect 80s wedge. A wedge my mom rocked for two decades. I digress. Anyways. Jess runs the uber popular CINO blog and has ventured in pattern making. I am so happy she has started creating patterns! This girl oozes talent.


Jess's latest pattern is the Nessie top, an adorable knit shirt that sports a mullet hem and a bazillion ways to customize it. I made two - one with the color block option and one with the collar option. My serger is constantly on the fritz, so both tops were made completely with my faithful Bernina 800 sewing machine. I use a small zigzag for all seams and hems, and a long straight stitch for overcasting. A double needle does look more professional, but I hate taking the time to switch needles and get a second spool of thread out.


Miss E's sweet friend Scout let me rope her into a photo shoot after school one day. (Don't mind the apple eating) These two are the best of friends, but getting them to sit still is herding kittens! So, the shoot didn't go quite how I envisioned. Sit still for a tea party? Never! Ah, such goes photographing children.


When you get shots like these, it's so worth the dashed visions and bazillion bribes. At least I didn't have to bribe them to actually wear the tops. Both girls loved the easy going, comfortable fit of the Nessie top. E wore her color blocked top to school that day, with her beloved boots, and new jeans. I pretty much threw the collared version to Scout, and told her to put it on, with no thought as to styling. Her's is my favorite, by far. Leopard print leggings and red star boots for all little girls!!

Lets get down to the nitty gritty and talk about each top.

First up, Miss S, sporting the collared version of the Nessie top (both tops are size 5, which was just a tad short on my super tall girl, but perfect on Scout):


Isn't this floral rayon challis collar amazeballs? Melissa let me have a bit of her scraps when I visited her last August. (side note: Melissa is just as lovely and cool as she seems. Adore her!) I've been trying to figure out what to use the fabric for and when I saw the Nessie collar, I knew it was a perfect match. And it is. Especially with a yellow and white stripe knit and orange duck buttons.  I had a lot of trouble getting that collar to fit on the super stretchy knit. So a word to the wise, if you want to go the collared route, don't use a 4 way stretch knit with bad recovery and a slippery, tightly woven fabric like rayon challis. It was a match made in sewing hell. But the results were totally worth it!


I added my own twist on the Nessie sleeve: instead of hemming, I took some extra neck binding and tossed it on the sleeve. Yes, I hate hemming that much. I also like the smidge of length the binding gives the 3/4 length option. Can you believe this yellow stripe was once a night gown? It was meant to be a Nessie top.


When I first showed Dave the shirt, pre buttons, he wasn't impressed with my stripes and floral mash up.  He doesn't always get my artistic vision at first, but that's ok. Getting my little duckies in a row made the all the difference for him, though. Those buttons are from my mom's plastic button stash. I remember playing in her art studio/ sewing room with those buttons as a kid.

Onto Miss E, in the color blocked version:


A while ago, I found a 1/4 yd of this adorable scalloped knit at JoAnn's in the remnants bin. I think I spent $1.50 on it. This is one high quality knit, so buttery and soft that it was a dream to work with. Luckily, I had an old tank waiting to be re purposed that was just the right shade of pink to match. Knit is so hard for me to justify buying that I just end up using my cast off shirts 90% of the time. I did, however, place an order with Girl Charlee last week for *gasp* new knit. After seeing Jess' stash of their knits, I knew I had to buy some.


There wasn't enough left of the pink tank for sleeves, so I ended up using the same scallop knit on the sleeves as the color blocked bodice. I love that it creates a continuing line from the bodice to the arm, sort of like a faux dolman or kimono sleeve. Next time I might get fancy and curve the sleeve hem, to follow the lines of the bodice down on the arm.


Again, I put binding on the sleeve instead of hemming it. The short sleeve is a great length on their own, but since our weather is finally getting cooler, I wanted to have a little longer sleeve for my warm blooded girl. I also love the more finished edge the binding gives this sweet top.

All in all, I loved the Nessie top pattern so much, I made a third. A fourth and fifth are in the works, too. This is a great pattern for beginners and even those afraid to sew with knit. Jess has included a  knit tips section that is fantastic. So, go, buy, and make the Nessie top!