The Accidental Crop Top

Apparently, when life gives you lemons you search the internet for appropriate ways to wear a crop top that doesn’t make you look like you just stepped out of Clueless. Which is what I did to convince myself that this shirt could be saved. (Seriously, how annoying is this girl??)

I haven’t worn a crop top since the mid 90s when I was still in elementary school (and back then shirts in general were shorter so this shirt would probably have been considered a regular top). But even when you think something is woefully out of date – wham! it comes back with a vengeance.

Which is lucky for me because otherwise this former UFO might have hit the toss pile.

Originally I planned for this fabric to be a normal tank top (with a fancy exposed zipper that was all the rage about 2 years ago when I started, are exposed zips still in style?) but then quickly realized I didn’t buy enough fabric.

So then I thought I’d latch on to another hot trend a-la 2009 – the thick elastic waist dress! You know, the kind where the fabric is stitched to a wide band of (usually) black elastic and commonly combined with different colored skirts and tops. Yeah, you remember that. I bet you even still have one.

I bought some red fabric for the skirt but when trying to attach everything to my elastic all hell broke loose and resulted in a zig zag stitch that resembled a Richter scale graph after a major earthquake and its subsequent aftershocks. It was a hot mess of crazy. (I wish saying “hot mess” was still in style…)

I scratched that idea.

And then it hit me – crop top! Now, I know you want to say it’s not that short of a crop top but don’t steal my thunder! Sure, it’s slightly too long to wear with a high waist skirt (then it just looks like I should have tucked it in, which I could do) but with normal jeans I’m almost on trend! If it was any shorter than this I’d probably feel like an awkward hipster at an overpriced summer music festival. Even as it is I feel a little awkward in this style, hence the small amount of photos.

Granted I doubt this trend will last through to next year at least I have plenty more months of Texas heat to rock the crop before the 90s calls and demands it’s fashion back. And if I had to indulge in a trendy piece of clothing I’m glad it could result from an otherwise unwanted sewing project.