The Greenstyle Elevate Crop Top and Overlay

For today’s post, I am going to show you my new *favorite* pattern, tell you a story about how it grew, and help get you started in sewing one too. I hope you love it as much as I do!

I made my first crop top two months ago when I sent Angelyn Bennet an inspiration photo of a top I wanted to make to work out in. She loved it, and within a few days, she drafted it and sent it to me! Let me show you the first top I made.

I used a cotton lycra scrap to test the fit, and it was SPOT ON. I was over the moon excited about this top. I felt good in it!

Next, I made one to wear as a swimsuit top. I made swim bottoms to go with it and blogged about that one HERE.

Then, I noticed after a few months of owning my crop top, I just couldn’t wear it out of the house.

I have 5 kids and seem to get enough looks and questions from complete strangers anyways. (Are you going to have any more? Wow, you brought everyone to the store with you today? Oh my! I would be so overwhelmed if I had that many kids… So many random comments!!). I have realized that people mean well and just want to strike up a conversation usually. I do live in the South, and I am one friendly person as well. BUT I really try not to go out of my way to attract random comments that just discourage me. 

So I told Angelyn (the designer behind Greenstyle) that what this crop top really needed was a layering piece that you can wear over it when you are not working out. I am sure you can sense my excitement as I tell you: She drafted the most PERFECT overlay that I feel absolutely confident and LOVE wearing!!

The resulting pattern is called the Elevate, and it just released today!! The pattern includes both the crop and overlay so it is definitely a steal.

So, this overlay is basically a genius pattern. You can wear it backwards or forwards. You can band or tie it. It works for any season – just use a chunky sweater knit in the long sleeved view for the colder months or use a light weight rayon spandex in the short sleeved option for the summer. If for some reason you don’t like the cross over or open back, you can just sew two fronts and have a closed back! One tester even wore the tie version open as a cardigan!

I do have to admit, I LOVE the cross over back, but I really don’t know if I like the cross over or the tie back more. The tie back can be tied tighter to accentuate my waist more.

On the other hand, the banded overlay has more ease in my waist and is hiding all the tacos I ate before this photos shoot. BTW those tacos were YUMMY. If you are in the Dallas area, you have to go to Beto & Son at Trinity Groves and try the chicken tacos. Add some queso and Jamaica, and you will be very happy! Better yet, let me know you are going so I can come with you.

The pattern includes a pattern piece to use as a strap to keep your back cross over in place, but I really liked the overlay without the strap so that I could wear it backwards (and as a cardigan!)

The Pattern

The Elevate comes in sizes B to M, which covers busts between 30 and 62 inches. The crop pattern has the option for a racerback or U back and bands or binding. The crop works best in so many fabrics – cotton lycra, supplex, athletic knits, swim, brushed polyester, etc.

The overlay needs fabric with a soft drape so it will flow next to your body and not tent out. Look for fabrics like sweater knit, rib knit, rayon spandex, brushed polyester, etc.

Video Resources

Are you ready to sew the Elevate? If you are doing bands on the crop top, I have a video HERE that shows me doing bands on the free kids’ slope tank pattern. The method is the exact same. Just make sure you grab the included pattern piece that is for bands when you are cutting out your project.

If you want to sew binding to finish your neckline and armscyes, I have two different ways to show you. You can watch my video for single fold binding HERE, and you can watch my video for double fold binding HERE. Those videos were recorded using the Staple tank but the exact same instructions apply to this crop tank.

I do not have a video yet of me sewing the bottom band on the crop top, so let me know if you would like to see that, and I would be happy to sew up another crop top to film that portion. I only have one in the racerback view, and I already am feeling like I need another..

On the overlay, the binding can be done either single fold or double fold as well, and you can use the videos I just linked for that. The only difference is that you will only stretch very slightly on the straight part of the back. If you stretch that part too much, you will have a lot of bunching.

I found that on one overlay I made the bottom of the top bunched up a lot to meet the band. I topstitched the seam of the band up and steamed it really well, and it looked so much better. This overlay was made in a thin cotton jersey that doesn’t have spandex.

Fabric and Pattern Resources

You can find the Elevate Pattern HERE.

For my charcoal pair of tights and crop top, I used the Inspire tights pattern and made them in Supplex that I purchased from Zenith and Quasar.

The white with grey specked tie overlay that I am wearing over the charcoal supplex crop is a very lightweight sweater knit. I found it locally on the remnant tables at Wherehouse Dallas.

The chunky dark red overlay that I banded at the bottom is now my favorite reversible sweater. I used sweater knit from Sincerely Rylee that was in a sweater knit box I purchased last spring.

My white pants are the Greenstyle Super Gs that I made from white brushed nylon spandex tricot, and I used the laser cut tricot for the lower pocket. LOVE this pair of tights. This is my first pair of white pants. Let’s hope I can keep them clean.

The strappy bra I am wearing underneath my crop tops is the Greenstyle Power Sports Bra. I blogged about this particular one here.

The flamingos were a cotton lycra scrap my friend Aimee gave me. The black leggings I am wearing with the flamingo crop are the Stride tights in Zenith and Quasar black supplex.

Since I only had scraps to use on my Supplex crop and flamingo crop, I had to put a seam in the back of my bottom band. I did this by adding seam allowance to the middle of the pattern piece.

Thanks for stopping by today! I would love to stay connected with you. You can find me on Instagram, or you may receive updates by liking my page on Facebook. If you want to take a look into the things that inspire me, you can follow me on Pinterest. You may also follow my blog with Bloglovin.

Disclosures

I received this pattern for free as part of the testing process so that I could give the designer feedback about the pattern. Also, this post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small compensation when you purchase via my link. This does not cost you anything, and I genuinely appreciate the support. Any and all opinions expressed are still my own.

XO