Let’s go over how to sew a cami top or camisole today. You may be asking “why are you showing me how to make a cami in the winter?!?” Valid question; For me, camis and tank tops have always been a great first layer, especially in the wintertime. They’re a fantastic base layer and do not typically add much bulk while helping to keep your core warm. I also like to use undies and camis as stocking stuffers.
Peek-a-Boo Pattern Shop has great cami and underwear sets for girls (classic camisole and undies pattern) and women (uptown undies and camisole pattern). Both are similar to sew-up ( the women’s version does have an optional shelf bra that can be added ). Today I’m going to show you how to sew up the girl’s version.
How to Sew a Cami Top for Girls
Let’s get our supplies together.
Camisole Supply list
- Knit Fabric with 4-Way Stretch
- Scissors or a Rotary Cutting Tool
- Cutting Mat
- Ruler
- Sewing Machine or Serger
- Thread
Cutting out the Cami Top
Once we’ve gathered our supplies we can go ahead and cut out our pattern. Today I’m going to be sewing the girl’s cami, but as I mentioned before the women’s basic version will sew up the same way.
We will have binding for the top front, back, and straps as well as the front and back pieces for the camisole. You can use premade bias binding or make it with the fabric you are using. When you have everything cut out you should have a pile similar to the one pictured below.
Sewing the Camisole
Now we’re ready to get to the fun part. We are going to grab one of the small binding pieces for the front neckband and pin it in place. Because the binding for the neck is smaller than the neckpiece on the bodice I like to clip the centers to each other and then ease in the sides.
Once it’s all pinned or clipped, it should look similar to the picture below.
I like to run this through my serger with the blade off. I find the 1/4” seam that is made with the serger is nice to fold the premade binding over to get an even binding band. This is not necessary and a sewing machine with either a zigzag or stretch stitch will work as well.
We will do this to both the front and back neck pieces. The pictures below are what the serged piece looks like.
Next we will fold the unsewn side to the middle of the binding.
And then fold and clip it over our seam to enclose the stitching.
Then clip it in place.
You can use a cover stitch to finish this. I do not have one so I run it through my sewing machine with a stretch stitch. This is what it should look like when the neckpiece is sewn on.
Now that we have the front and back neck binding sewn on we will take both pieces and lay them right sides together.
Once we have the side clipped (as pictured below) we will sew the sides up.
Once’s the sides are done we will grab the binding for the arm and shoulder straps.
For the arm/strap binding we’re going to open the binding all the way and sew the ends to make a circle.
I like to nest my seam from the armband and seam on the top together.
Next we will go ahead and clip the binding to the top.
As with the neckband, I like to run this through the serger with out the blade on. Keeping a little tension on the binding we will sew this up.
Your armhole should look similar to this when you’ve run it through your machine. Again, if you don’t have a serger it is perfectly fine to do this on a regular machine.
Like with the neck binding, we will fold the unsewn end towards the middle.
And then fold over again to enclose our sewn side.
When it’s all pinned/ clipped together it should look similar to what’s pictured below. You want to make sure that you fold over the arm binding covering the edge of the neck binding as pictured below.
Now we are ready to sew the binding down. I like to loop it around the bottom of my sewing machine.
We will do this same process for both arms/straps. Once done you should have something similar to what is pictured below.
Because I do not have a cover stitch I like to run the bottom of the cami through the serger before the final hem on the cami. I think it gives my garments a more finished look but is not necessary to do.
Then we will go ahead and run the bottom through the sewing machine to get a mixed finished hem on the cami.
When you are done, this is what the completed cami should look like. I like to make matching undies to go with the camisoles and if you’d like a step-by-step on how to sew up underwear, visit this other post that I wrote HERE. I included a few pictures of some of the sets that I’ve done so far.
We love these sets of underwear in my house and use them year-round! I hope learning how to sew a cami top was helpful for you and thanks for taking a look. The pattern that I used was the classic camisole and undies pattern for girls. Don’t forget there is the women’s version as well called the uptown camisole and undies pattern.
As always, if you see something good in others, let them know, you just might make their day!
Miah
Other Sewing Tutorials & Patterns
A big thanks to Miah for showing everyone how to sew a cami top. If you enjoyed going through this step-by-step tutorial, you might also enjoy some of these other patterns & tutorials.
