Faux Leather/Lace Print Pants and a Peek-a-Boo Top: Vogue 1411 and McCall's 8003

"Wow! You look hot!"

My hubby is not one to toss around insincere compliments, so when his eyes lit up as I modeled this  outfit I knew I had a winner.  

I'm calling this a peek-a-boo top as I have no idea what the correct terminology would be.  Drop me a comment if you know and I'll update this post. The top pattern, McCall's 8003, is a close-fitting knit top with a cut out on the upper chest.  I choose to sew that portion in a stretch lace remnant I had purchased from SR Harris.

Boy, was that a poor choice of fabric for the contrast!  The instructions have you hem the lower portion of the contrast. Well, that looked crappy in lace. I ripped out the stitches and tried turning it under once stabilized with clear elastic. Well that looked even worse! I settled on using a purchased binding, and I think it's just right. I used the same binding for the neckline instead of using the pattern piece provided. Not my best work, but I'm okay with that because I sewed this black top to finesse the fit of the pattern. 

The top is described as close-fitting. If you've read my blog for any length of time you know I don't like to wear really tight clothing, so I cut the top out one size larger than I normally would.  I also did about a 1" FBA (full bust adjustment).  I basted the side and shoulder seams and discovered it was still tighter than I would like. I ended up increasing the FBA (resulting in a dart), adding some width to the back just below the armhole, and adding more width to the waist/hip area.  The fit in the bust/back is pretty good but the top pulls up in front around the bust which tells me I need a wee bit more on that FBA.  I will decrease some of the extra I added to the waist/hip area on the next top also.

I should have removed most of the seam allowance on the contrast lace piece when I finished the edge with the knit binding. Because I didn't the chest opening is smaller than depicted on the pattern envelope.

I'm okay with that, as I was a concerned the opening would be so large that I'd be uncomfortable wearing the top for anything but date night with hubby.

As is I'm comfortable wearing this just about anywhere.

Now, let's chat about the pants! The pattern is a Sandra Betzina design, Vogue 1411, issued in 2014.  It is currently out of print (OOP), but Vogue Patterns occasionally puts the OOP patterns on sale so sign up for their sale notifications if you're interested in purchasing the pattern.

I sewed these in 2015 using a stretch woven with a lace pattern, and used a faux leather contrast to show off the seams on the legs. I found the pants to be a bit short and never wore them as I intended to taper the legs to more of a legging design.

I'm glad I didn't as cropped pants have been in style for some time, and these now look to be the right length.

Side note: I tend to purchase a number of the Sandra Betzina Vogue patterns when they are on sale, as I've found she is sometimes slightly ahead of trends. There have been patterns I've passed on, and then a year or two later the design is all over the place. This pant pattern is one that I'm glad I hung onto as it fits me well, is still in style, and will fit my new lifestyle beautifully.

Here's a pic of both of the patterns I used.

I'm curious, do you sew Sandra Betzina designs?

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 Thanks for stopping by. Have a blessed day!