Summer Style Blog Tour: Hacking Our Way Through Summer

July 14, 2021 • blithe • button front • button up • button up tank • flutter sleeve • hack • journey • lace • new pattern • new release • open back • pattern hack • pattern sale • Sewing for Women • sleeves • summer • summer dress • tank • tank top • tutorial • women • Women's Pattern • womens • y back tank

All right, we are half way through our week which brings us to day 3 of the Summer Style Blog Tour!!!

Today we have two guest bloggers joining us and a hack from me for the new Summer Dress...yep, brand new pattern and I'm already hacking it - HA!

First, let's give it up for Rachel Reece of Violet and Jewels who is here to share her hack using the Journey & Blithe Tops. Yep, I think you guys are going to notice a favorite pattern on this blog tour, Alyssa used the Journey yesterday, and we've got at least one more blogger sharing another hack soon! But seriously, if you don't have the Journey in your pattern arsenal yet, you need to give it a serious look - this is woven versatility at its finest. Rachel wanted to recreate a inspiration top and knew just the patterns to get her there. This is one of my favorite things about sewing, using patterns as a base to jump in and create anything and everything. You'll have to head on over to her blog to see all the images and how she pulled it off - you'll find me over there because I want this top for me!!!

Next up we have Ilse of Sew Sew Ilse. I'm just going to put it out there - this woman can do ANYTHING!!!! I found this adorable top online and knew I didn't have the time to make it, so I posted it in my blogger group and instantly Ilse was all - 'I can do that'. And OMG - not only did she pull it off, but it is stunning and so flattering, and I desperately need at least 20 more hours in the day because I WANT IT!!!! Ha, you all think I do these inspiration blogs for you, but really it is for me, all for me, bwahahahahahaha. No but really, her top is gorgeous, the hack isn't really all that hard, and you HAVE to go check out her blog so that you can make one for yourself with the Y Back Tank.

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All right - now on to my hack of the brand new Summer Dress. This new pattern was just released and you can get it for 40% off right now during our new release sale!

I was inspired by a few images that I saw online that had vertical back openings. I found it alluring and a little bit sexy and loved that there was a bit of skin showing, but skin that I am comfortable showing - because I'm not into showing my belly, but I've always liked my strong back.

I'm calling this style 'Casual Elegance' - the white burn out faux lace Jersey is from Boho Fabrics was the perfect easy to wear but elevated fabric for my vision. I lined the front with a plain white jersey but left eh rest to show off the burnout lace. This top is perfect to wear with jeans or skirts and can dress up or down easily depending on what you pair with it...and yes, this is coming in my ONE carry on bag on my unexpected adventure.

So now that I've shown you what I made, let's show you how to make one for yourself.

Step One - Print out the Full Back pattern piece and find the center (the center is marked with notches on the pattern). Decide how wide of an opening you want in the back. It is good to consider how wide your lace is and account for that. I went with about 2 inches off center, for a 3 inch total opening once the lace was added. Draw a vertical line and cut your pattern apart on this line. You are going to keep the side with the whole side seam.

Now I wanted to have a solid vertical strip of opening, and that meant that I needed to get rid of the opening. Simply place a blank piece of paper behind your pattern and use a straight edge to follow your existing lines to complete the bottom of the back piece.

Cut 2 mirror image back from your new pattern piece. Attach your lace to the inside edge. I overlapped the lace on top of the fabric and used a zig zag stitch to apply.

Follow the rest of your construction according to the instructions until you come to attaching the neckline and attaching the skirt. You are going to use the binding method for the neckband, make sure the seam of the binding is at the shoulder, not the center back. Make sure that the edges of you back attach to the neck and the skirt the amount apart that you intended when you designed your piece back in step one. In my case that was 3 inches.

Finish sewing up your garment and fall in love!!! Now I will say a top like this requires a cute backed bra or a backless bra....I opted for a backless stick on bra from Amazon. I'm not super busty so it worked great for me. Now don't forget to go get the Summer Dress for yourself for only $5.95.