Meet the Marine Breton Top, our August Pattern for Crew!

Few things are more infinitely wearable than a *perfect* striped mariniere knit top, and we are delighted to finally put our spin on this iconic style with the Marine Bretop Top! Our August pattern for Crew (our monthly pattern + sewing membership), Marine is an elevated basic that you'll reach for again and again.

Join Crew starting at $10 USD a month to get Marine in sizes 0-32!

The Design

I am obsessed with striped knit tees and have collected them for years - when you open up my t-shirt drawer it's basically all you'll see. In particular, I love a classic Breton or marinière style top, which is an icon of chic, insouciant French style. For that reason, I was very excited to finally draft our own version!

Marine has a slouchy, slightly oversized fit with a dropped shoulder, although you can easily size down for a more fitted look. My favourite design feature is the slightly belled sleeve, available in 3/4 or full length - I think this looks incredibly chic while you're wearing it and puts a subtle twist on this classic style. Marine also features a split hem and a wide boat neckline finished with a topstitched facing. We couldn't decide so we gave you two options: a traditional round facing, and one that continues across the shoulder and into the armscye. I love the look of the neckline topstitching dying into the shoulder, but for very thick fabrics you may prefer to go with the traditional facing to reduce bulk.

All in all it's a quick and easy pattern to put together, and something you'll want to wear again and again!

Marine is available as a PDF pattern in both our 0-20 and 14-32 size ranges - you always get both with your monthly download!

Marine Design Story

Still have questions? Learn more about the design of Marine as I walk you through all the design features in the video below.

Suggested Fabrics

Marine is designed for stable knits, such as mid to heavyweight cotton jersey and interlock, French terry, sweatshirt fleece, Ponte, and double knits. While you can certainly choose drapier knits, we think it looks best with a bit of heft. We obviously love this pattern in stripes for that classic marinière look, but solids work just as well! I think a lovely solid fleece or terry would make this a very pulled-together alternative to a sweatshirt.

Like always, we've created exclusive Marine kits at Core Fabrics that include absolutely everything you need to make your own! We used a gorgeous organic cotton baby rib for all our samples, but you can also check out our curated collection of additional fabrics if you're looking for more fabric inspo.

How to Get Marine

Like all Crew patterns, Marinw is only available when you sign up for Crew! Subscribe at the monthly level with Essential or Plus to get it (you can cancel at any time), or sign up for our annual Unlimited plan and get Marine along with the other seven Crew patterns we've released this year so far, plus 11 more months of patterns!

(Please note that if you are signing up after August 2023, you'll only be able to access Marine at the Unlimited level).

This Month in Crew

With a Crew membership, you get access to so much more than just a pattern. Each month, we curate a theme page with an inspiration board and curated resources to help you assemble your pattern. You also get access to our private forum, whether you're looking for fitting or sewing help, or just want to chat about sewing with like-minded folks.

For our Plus and Unlimited tier, we are offering our first full video sewalong for Marine! Monsie will walk you through sewing this pattern from start to finish, along with sharing some tips on perfect stripe matching. For those tiers, we also have a live event! Cassie and Ama are talking all things craft! From knitting and crochet to quilting and colouring books we have a LOT of hobbies at Closet Core Patterns and we can’t wait to chat about them. Grab a WIP and come have a hang, or watch later when you get a chance.

We're so excited to see what you do with #ClosetCoreMarine! Join today to get sewing!