Two-Piece Summer Set

Lately it feels as though I've made a deal with the devil - all this weekend time to sew but nowhere to wear my new clothes to! Can anyone else relate? This particular outfit was planned for another wedding but, as you might imagine, it is likely many months now until I have a proper event to wear it to. Lately I've just been puttering around the house without even brushing my hair or putting on real clothes. To make myself feel better, this weekend I got dressed up and put on my new outfit just for me!

Patterns: based off of McCall's 7984 and 7789

Fabric: 3 yds voile

Cost: $40

I've been wanting to make a two-piece set for a while now, partly inspired by a dress my friend owned. I spent some time gathering my inspiration and finding the right fabric. Now that I've been quarantined, it was just a matter of time before it made it to the top of my sewing list. Without all this time it probably would have been a bit more rushed to get it done for its intended purpose - a casual outdoor wedding at the start of May (now postponed). 

Let's start with the pants. These are the follow-up to my quarantine jeans. The width of these is much more manageable so it was helpful to have worked the kinks out before cutting into this fabric. I still had some troubles with the crotch curve - the quarantine jeans' was too long but with this one I may have over-compensated and made it too short. I tweaked it though and eventually got the fit about right. I think the issue is that the waistband was too big so it wasn't sitting at my waist for my first pair, causing the pants to sit too low. 

From there it was a matter of finding the right top to pair with it. I wanted something fitted that showed just a sliver of skin at the waist. I finally found some inspiration and the right pattern in McCall's 7984. Somehow I even bought the same fabric as the envelope cover!

I did make some alterations though. My version is sleeveless. I also extended the ruffles both lengthwise to wrap around the back collar and width-wise to cover my shoulders. I also added a tie over the waistband. However, the real thing holding it closed are snaps - two at the waist and one at the bust. But the tie is a fun touch. 

One challenge with sewing wrap tops is that they can tend to stretch out along the neckline, which is generally cut on the bias. The pattern addresses this by having you rotate the pattern 45 degrees so that you cut the neckline on the straight grain and the rest of the top on the bias. I further stabilized the neckline with some elastic. 

So my neckline was fine. HOWEVER, because the rest of the top was cut on the bias it tended to unevenly stretch out lengthwise and width-wise toward the center of each pattern piece. This created weird bagging all over. Looking at the pattern envelope, you can actually see this happening on the model a bit, too. I aboslutely wanted a fitted top to go with the wide shape of my pants, so baggy would not do. I ended up pinning out the excess and taking it in at the waistband and side seams. Unless you plan to underline your top, I recommend NOT cutting it on the bias and just stabilizing the neckline. That is much easier to do.  

Once I got over that hurdle though I quite like my new outfit. And the beauty of sewing separates is that I know I can wear them together or with other things in my closet. The top will go nicely with my Deer & Doe Safran jeans and these pants will work well with some knit crop tops I have.

After that, all that was left to do was get glammed up and take photos on my roof. With heart-shaped sunglasses, of course. I look forward to the day I can wear these out on the town, but until then it was quite satisfying to have an excuse to play dress up.