Vogue 8503

The floral print was a piece, among many, given to me by my Mother. It is a pretty, drapy fabric. I'm not sure of the content. It is definitely not a polyester as the burn test proved that. SB in her book "More Fabric Savvy" says that cotton, linen, and rayon: "Burns quickly with a yellow flame and continues burning after flame is removed. Leaves soft gray ash. Smells like burning paper." That is exactly what this fabric did. I suspect that it is a blend. The pants are a poly/linen blend from Joann Fabric and matched perfectly.

The pants were easy to make. Just typical straight, slightly wide leg. I lined mine so you could not see through them, and put an invisible zipper in the back. I cut a size 14 in the hips and tapered to a 12 at the waist. I added an inch and a half to the length. If I make them again, I will scoop out the crotch a little deeper. They are okay to wear now, but I think would just feel better if there was a little more room.

The pattern for the top was fine except for the following:

Can you tell that the side back facing is not drawn properly? The back facing is drawn larger, therefore if you sew to the large dot for a size 12 on the front, it would match up to the 14 on the back. If you turn under the facing as marked on the pattern, the facing hem would obviously be wider than on the front. They should be cut the same. The picture on the instructions show them to be the same. I had to double check just to be sure I was not missing a detail.

I added a skinny piping using the pants fabric along the front facing around the back. I stitched it to the facing first, as it was interfaced, and then applied it to the top. I stitched the facing with the top on the bottom so I could follow the stitching line left by stitching the piping to the facing. I also covered four 1 1/8" buttons using the pants fabric. The pattern only calls for three broadly spaced buttons, and that did not seem like enough to me.

The fabric did the slippy/slidey thing, so I had to take my time, used lots of pins to hold things in place.

Here is the finished outfit. I really like the way the top fits and drapes. I like the tailored look of the whole outfit. I'm sure I will wear the pants with other tops I have as well.

I have to take a short break from sewing for me, so I can alter a wedding gown, flower girl's dress, and mother of the bride. I hope it doesn't take too much time. I have soooo much I want to do for me. It is all about me - Isn't it??? Of course, without that little bit of side money coming in, there wouldn't be much sewing for me after all. I am really not complaining. ;)