Simple and elegant: Making a casual top for my everyday outfit + sewing tips

Hi, my fellow needleworkers, hope you're all doing great. I love to share with you a casual top I made recently. In pursuit of making my desired casual wardrobe, I decided to make this top. I got my inspiration on Pinterest. It has this neckline I'm in love with, so I had no choice but to make it.

For the material, I used a Lycra fabric given to me by my sister. She got it as a scarf but it was too much for a scarf, so she gave me the rest. Who would have thought I would later make a top from it?

Lycra is not an easy fabric to sew, so here are some tips that helped me while sewing. Since Lycra is a stretchy fabric, it is best to use an interlock or overlock machine, but I only have my straight sewing machine with me, so I had to manage it.

While sewing Lycra on a straight sewing machine, here are some tips that have helped me.
Tip 1: it is better to pin down your fabrics while cutting and sewing. This will make sure you don't have any slipping While sewing.
Tip 2: While sewing, try to drag or stretch the fabric to its maximum stretch. This will prevent skipped stitches and ensure your stitches don't break when you stretch them after sewing
Tip 3: depending on how stretchy your fabric is, you have to use a smaller measurement (for example, if my waist is 24 inches, I can use 20 inches).

Materials used:
1 yard of lycra fabric
Needle
Thread

The process:

I cut the front and back pieces. I took only a picture of the front piece; I forgot to take one of the back piece. The front is about 14 inches higher than the back because of the gathers.

The style has a slanted neckline—One side is normal while the other is off-shoulder. For the off-shoulder side, I went down by 5 inches.

I cut the sleeves; the off-shoulder sleeve is shorter by 5 inches.

I fold the front piece with 3 inches. Then, I used a needle and thread to make a running stitch on the sides of the neckline which is the armhole. This was for the gathers.