outerwear / Handmade Frenzy

Vero Beach Set // Sewing For Women

Thursday, July 23, 2020

This post contains *disclosed* affiliate links. All opinions expressed are honest and my own. If you make a purchase using the links, I make a small commission which helps support this blog. So, thank you!!

Hello friends!

I had the privilege of testing another Hey June pattern, but this time it wasn't just one pattern, it's a pattern SET. YES!! You get two amazing patterns together as a set! Trust me, you're going to want both of these, so grab it now and start stitching!! You can go HERE {aff link} to purchase.

Vero Beach Set // Sewing Patterns // Sewing For Women

In the testing group, we like to discuss how Adrianna seems to have this uncanny knack for designing and releasing patterns just as we are yearning for the exact thing she's working on! One step ahead of us, she's a good cookie!!

Well, to be honest, this was the pattern set I didn't even know I NEEDED, yet! But as soon as I laid eyes on it, I knew I indeed, did NEED it!! Talk about uber comfy, and so perfect for casual wear. Or pjs. I won't judge! ;)

But in my opinion, there is something a bit more elevated in dressing yourself in wovens, casual or not, than pulling on knit shorts and tees. Though those certainly have a rightful place!!

Funny thing, as I was working on this set, my husband proposed a quick weekend getaway to the beach which is just a few hours away. UH YES PLEASE. No need to twist my arm! So my newly finished Vero Beach Set will indeed, be used AT the beach in just a short time!

I wore this set the whole day yesterday, and I can see myself wearing this non-stop during this weird summer being mostly confined to our home. But I'm even more excited to wear it thrown over top of my swimsuit and enjoy the warm beach breezes!

I'm sorry if you're not a beach person, but I'm imagining wearing the set the entire day over my swimsuit. It will take me from the salty beach air and back to town; a bit of sight-seeing, as well as lounging at the place we're staying.

Hmm. I think I need to make another set for Day 2!! 😄 But talk about easy packing! It doesn't get better than that!

The Vero Beach top is a casual, loose fitting, long sleeve top, featuring a hood, a kangaroo pocket, and a split neckline with a placket detail.

I made a straight size 8 in the top with no modifications at all. My current measurements are; B:36.5,W:29.5,H:37.75, Height 5'3".

Sewing the Vero Beach top is quite simple; the placket, hood and pocket details add a little bit of time, but it's very doable, and straightforward. The instructions direct to finish off the seams with a serger for a quicker sew, but with 1/2" seam allowance included, you can easily use french seams for a clean finish, or if you'd like to use a very sheer fabric, like some of the testers did.

The fabric for my Vero Beach top was pulled from my stash, it is a Telio cotton/rayon voile and is so dreamy. It is still available on fabric.com, linked HERE. There are lots of other prints available as well, see HERE.

I was certain this print was called something super beachy appropriate like "Anemone", but alas, it is something super boring like "Retro Dot". LOL. No matter. I think they look like sea anemones and in my mind, makes the top even more perfect for beach wear!

The shorts are SUPER fun to sew! The entirety of the shorts aside from the waistband is finished with a bias binding, which is turned to the inside. I am in looooooove with the tulip hem!!

Alternately, you could wrap the seams/hem in double fold bias for an exposed look as well, that I think would be super cool. I also thought of using the same method included in the pattern but reversing it, so that the bias shows on the outside and a clean finish on the inside. So many possibilities!

The Vero Beach shorts are drafted from the same block as the Seaforth Pants (see mine HERE), so if you've sewn those, any alterations you may have needed to make can be applied to this pattern as well!

For my Seaforth Pants, I shortened the rise 1/2", but opted not to on these Vero Beach shorts. Mostly out of laziness, lol!

But I feel the fit is super awesome on both patterns, no matter the rise height. Which is just an added bonus to sewing easy fit elastic waist pants/shorts.

I did apply the same size grading to these shorts as I did on the Seaforth Pants. I cut a size 8 waistband, graded to size 6 high-hip and down. I used 31.5" elastic lengths for each pair I've made, and I like the fit so much!

The fabric I used for the shorts was also pulled from my stash, and is the past very popular Ikat (?) print in rayon/linen blend that JoAnn carried a couple of years ago. I only had a yard of it and this pattern is the perfect stash buster for those smaller pieces you have lying around!

I don't know if I've convinced you that you need these two patterns in your life yet, but I'll just let the photos do the talking now. 😉

Happy Sewing!!!

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Hi friends! Welcome back to the on-going series of "back-logged projects waiting to be blogged"! 😀

I am BEYOND excited about today's project, however, so even though it's totally the wrong time of year here in the US to be blogging about a winter coat, I had to share because I can't wait another 6 months to post about this make!!

A coat has been on my sewing bucket list for ages. I even bought the Grainline Studio Cascade Duffle Coat pattern {aff link} quite a while back during a sale because I thought owning the pattern might give me incentive to sew it. Hmmm... Turns out some gifted fabric with a deadline attached was the motivation I needed, lol.

I bought the pattern here in the US from the now closed, Indie Sew, but it is still available in plenty of other shops, including straight from Grainline's site of course. I'll put that link HERE. You can choose from the pdf version (which is what I used), or the printed.

The coating fabric was gifted from Minerva, and is this absolutely gorgeous Herringbone Tweed Coating in Bottle Green & Black. {aff link} I'll talk a lot more about this fabric in the post that will go live on the Minerva blog, soon. Stay tuned to Instagram as I'll let you know when that happens, there!

I decided to forego the traditional lining fabric, and opted instead for this super fun Telio Rayon Twill bee print fabric! I just couldn't get the image of how well these two fabrics would pair together, and I'm so happy I went for it! I purchased the Telio fabric from Amazon, but unfortunately it seems to be sold out everywhere that I've been able to find it.

I found the toggles at this Etsy shop, HERE. I absolutely love the quality of these! I thought the price was quite reasonable, and the shipping was really fast even coming from France! Just an FYI, if you are ordering these for this particular coat, you will only need to order *2*, a quantity of 1 is actually 2 sets of toggles. I found this out the hard way, haha. I should have just messaged the seller to be sure, but I ordered 3, and now I have enough to make another Cascade!

I'm having a hard time remembering where I sourced the zipper, but I believe I just went to Joann for that.

Having never made a coat before, I was also a little unsure as to what interfacing to use, but I trusted Tiahna's experience with coat making, and sourced the interfacing she talked about in her post HERE.

It was surprisingly difficult to find at a reasonable price, I thought, but I ended up ordering it from Walmart.com of all places (link HERE), because it was by far the best bang for my buck! I ordered a whole bolt of it, since it was actually the same price as ordering only a small amount from the other places that I was able to find it at. So, I guess you could say I definitely need to sew a few more coats with my extra supplies I now find myself with!

As for the sewing of the coat, I made a size 8, based on my bust measurement of 36.5". My height is 5'3", and I shortened the bodice 1" at the lower lengthen/shorten line, and shortened the sleeves 1/2".

I am SUPER happy with the length of the coat. I think it is perfect for me! Next time I wouldn't shorten the sleeves since I prefer my sleeves to be a little on the longer side, and these are the "perfect" length, but I wish they were a hair longer.

I also did a swayback adjustment on the coat, the same way Tiahna did on hers. I'm so happy to have had her expertise go before me! 😁 I took out about 1/2" around the center point of the back. It really did improve the fit for me personally, a great deal! It was a super simple adjustment because all that was needed was a center back seam along the upper back bodice and could be adjusted after the main part of the coat was assembled.

All in all, the sewing went really smoothly while making the coat! I ran in to a few hiccups, but it was all 100% my fault and just not "feeling" the sewing process for part of time. I know all (or I *hope* it's all and not just me 😉) of us face this from time to time.

The main fabric I used has a nap, and I was well aware of this and was super careful to cut all of my pieces correctly. But when it came to sewing the zipper in place with the zipper shields, I got a bit ahead of myself and also forgot to pay attention to the direction of the nap. OOF. I ended up sewing, unpicking, sewing, unpicking, sewing, that bit in the front THREE separate times. THREE times, y'all! I could only laugh, because by the time I was on the third round of re-sewing, I was feeling a little loopy, lol.

Other than that tail-chasing experience, it all went pretty smoothly! My machines handled the bulk of the fabric well, I made sure to use the proper needles in my sewing machine, and my walking foot, and it handled it like a champ!

I did reference the sew-along on the Grainline Blog for a few parts, just to help clarify things, and I would recommend that if anything seems a bit fuzzy in the instructions. The only sewing advice I have in addition to the pattern instructions is tacking the hem facing up by hand. Since I used rayon for the lining, I knew there was a possibility that it might grow or sag a bit. But what happened was that the weight of the lining pulled the hem facing down, so that no amount of pressing and understitiching was going to hold it up.

To remedy that I hand-tacked almost the whole length of the hem facing using essentially a blind hem stitch. That did work really well.

I can honestly say that I love this coat far more than I expected to!! I am legit excited to be able to wear it once the weather turns cold again! I mean... It can stay away for 6 months, FOR SURE, but when it does arrive, I'll be ready with my absolutely amazing coat!!

Don't forget, you can read more about the fabric I used in my Minerva post that will be posted soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by and reading about my "Labor of Love" this winter!

Happy sewing, friends!

~Heidi

LINKS:

Pattern: Cascade Duffle Coat - Grainline Studio (Minerva - aff link)

Fabric: Herringbone Tweed Coating in Bottle Green & Black - Minerva {aff link}

Toggles: Etsy

Tiana's Post with swayback adjustment: Click here

Interfacing: Walmart

Zipper: Joann {aff link}

WEARING:

Hey June Lane Raglan + Halifax Hoodie Kangaroo pocket {aff link}

Friday, September 20, 2019

This post may contain affiliate links. All reviews and opinions are my own.

Evans Blazer Pattern Review // Sewing For Women

I had the exciting privilege to test the newest pattern from Hey June Handmade! Please welcome the Evans Blazer!

So many of Adrianna's patterns are staples in my wardrobe, and this classic blazer pattern for knit fabrics is joining those ranks as well!

The Evans Blazer pattern includes two views, View A as you can see here, is a very classic blazer style with darts, welt pockets, and a front button closure. This view is intended for sturdy and structured knits, such as ponte, sweatshirt fleece, and double knits.

View B is more of a cardigan style blazer, with a cascading front lapel, no button closure, and is intended for much more drapey knits.

The sewing went really well during this make. Adrianna's instructions are clear and easy to follow, as always. She guides you through each step and you just need to follow along with confidence to produce a lovely end product!

The only time I needed to pull out my trusty seam ripper was during the under-stitching of the collar facing. I just got myself turned around, since you have to switch sides at the break point where the collar folds back onto itself. Totally my fault, and not the instructions!

For sizing, I graded between 3 sizes. My upper bust put me in a size 10, my bust and waist in size 8, and my hips a size 6. Hello, inverted triangle. 😏

I decided to grade between all of these sizes for the best possible fit. I made the size 10 in the shoulders and sleeves, since I was most concerned about it being too snug in those areas. In the end, I could have definitely gone with a straight size 8 down to the hips as the shoulders are a bit wide and the sleeves have plenty of room. Overall, though, I am super super happy with the fit! I can't believe how tailored a knit blazer can look!

I did the tiniest sway back adjustment using the center back seam. A center back seam is so nice for this reason!

This fabric is Mini Diamond Quilted Jacquard Knit that I purchased from Raspberry Creek Fabrics. I don't know the exact contents, but I'm pretty sure it's 100% polyester, which makes this a very warm blazer that will be perfect for this winter!

The fabric was quite easy to sew and pressed surprisingly well. I was a little worried about how the welt pockets would turn out with such a lofty knit, but they turned out absolutely perfect! I did edge-stitch the top of the pocket to keep it from falling down onto itself, but otherwise it was not a problem at all.

I also was undecided about adding a button since I will probably wear it open most of time. However, in the end I decided to add it, and chose a very fun herringbone patterned, faux wood button.

I did manage to sew the buttonhole to the wrong side of the jacket, but I'm hoping no one will notice! 😂😆

Sweater blazers are a hot item in fashion right now, and I love that I have the option to make my own with this pattern! I would love to make a menswear inspired blazer next!

Between this and the Fulton Sweater Blazer pattern, all of my fashion dreams are coming true! 😄

Have you sewn a sweater blazer yet? I definitely recommend! It's not as tricky as you might think.

SLIDER

Vero Beach Set // Sewing For Women

Thursday, July 23, 2020

LINKS:

Cascade Duffle Coat // Sewing For Women

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Evans Blazer // Sewing For Women

Friday, September 20, 2019

This post may contain affiliate links. All reviews and opinions are my own.

Links: