Hello Internet friends!

Continuing in my theme of summer separates today I’m sharing with you my yellow linen Hadley top and denim Maritime shorts, both patterns by Grainline studio!

I’ll start with yellow linen Hadley top as if you’ve been lurking my Instagram you’ll have spotted this top back in May when I finished during Me Made May but since my pledge this year was to only wear me mades already in my closet I vowed to wear it on June 1st (which I did!) but of course I didn’t get around to photographing it until now haha (#sewingBloggerProblems)

I really like the way this Halley top fits, which is good because it’s my 3rd iteration! The first one I made shortly after the pattern came out I went with my full bust measurement to pick the size and it was MASSIVE, like the arm holes were way too big, the straps were pretty much sliding off my shoulders and the neckline was way way too low....I was just swimming in it! (Luckily I had a friend I could gift it to whom it fit perfectly!)

Prior to taking the fundamentals of fit class at Blackbird Fabrics I had never considered performing an FBA because based upon my full and upper bust measurements (full of 37.25” and upper of 36”) I should fit into the B cup sizing the pattern drafts for. One of the things that the fabulous Alexandra Morgan who taught the class instilled is looking at the bust ease between the bust measurement for sizing and the final bust size as given in the pattern. I did this for the Hadley pattern and found that if I went for the size 35, which is closest to my upper bust measurement, I would be lacking in about 1.25” of ease. I made a quick muslin in a straight size 35 and sure enough it didn’t fit quite right, the straps and arm holes were better but now there was a ton of pooling in the lower back (I swear I took pictures but now I can’t find them, again #sewingbloggerproblems) in the class we discussed how pooling at the lower back may not necessarily mean that you need a sway back adjustment, rather it could be a bust fitting issue which is pulling fabric from the side seams which in turns pulls fabric from the back. With all of this information I decided to do the world’s smallest FBA of 5/8” (so a total of 1.25” added) and make up a muslin and voila! Fitting issues disappeared! No excessive pooling of fabric at the back, and the armholes and straps all fit! I did end up raising the neckline of the V neck by 2.5” since I have too much cleavage for that low of a v neck (and I wanted this top to be work appropriate) I quickly whipped up a lovely full sleeve version in a viscose from blackbird which I promptly wore to death but still haven’t gotten pictures of! (Again #sewingbloggerproblems but I will hopefully get a few more pics of it this fall!)

Now that I had all the fitting issues sorted this pattern was ready to enter the ever coveted ‘repeat pattern’ section of my closet, waiting for the next ‘perfect fabric’ to enter my stash. This pattern was on top of my list of fabrics to shop for while I was in Japan and when I saw this lovely medium weight linen I knew I had a winner. These photos don’t quite do this fabric justice, it has this very subtle heathering, with tiny hints of white and brown. The feel of the fabric post washing is also so, so nice, it’s not scratchy in the slightest and has softened wonderfully with repeated washings. I love how top turned out even with the slight mistake I made.,....in both versions that iv’e made post FBA I’ve had issues with attaching the front hem facing, I kept getting lots of tiny puckers. I thought I was just having a repeat case of bad luck when it finally dawned on me that I hadn’t made the facing wider along with the FBA! So I’ve added notes for future me for the next version lol

Finally let’s get to the shorts! These are a pair of maritime shorts a long long time in the making! I cut and sewed all the way up to needing to hand stitch in the waistband facing and then just never finished them. They sat with the waist and facing fully pinned in place, for around 2 years before I finally got around to finishing them! I really could have used another pair of shorts last summer so I’m a bit peeved at Becca of the past for not finishing these sooner, lol but I have them now and they fit great! I’ve previously made the maritime shorts in a very light weight linen and while I love them my ‘hungry thighs’ tend to ‘eat’ the shorts fabric as I walk....while this is mostly fixed through the use of a thicker fabric in the form of denim I think I’ll lengthen shorts by about an 1” next time as I find having slightly longer shorts helps prevent my hungry thigh syndrome.

Wow that was a long post but I wanted to share with you guys how even a tiny FBA can have a huge benefit! And that just because it may not be the first fit adjustment that comes to mind when you fall within the drafted cup it’s worth considering before jumping to things like a sway back adjustment.