Made By A Fabricista: Summer Separates in White Eyelet

To me, eyelet fabric suggests warm weather and sunshine.  I can envision myself sipping lemonade, while swaying on a porch swing with a gentle summer breeze on my face, all while wearing a lovely eyelet dress. 

Hello Sewing Friends! It’s Sharon with Sharon Sews here sharing my latest Fabricista make with you.  This time I sewed some separates using a summer staple, eyelet fabric.  

A quick search online revealed eyelet being used in more than just dresses this season, ranging from romantic dresses to flirty tops to wide-leg pants and matching camp shirts.  I even saw a man’s white eyelet top on a high-end shirt designer’s website.  There are so many options for using eyelet fabric, but I liked the look of eyelet pants with a matching top.

Both fabrics were designer fabrics – I LOVE that section on the website! A white 100% cotton geometric floral embroidered eyelet lawn, and a baby pink/white 100% cotton embroidered pinwheel floral voile.  Both are so, so lovely!  I also took advantage of the thread matching Fabric Mart provides and ordered pink thread for the pink fabric. 

The pant pattern I choose is McCall’s 7786, view B.  To date, I’ve sewn a dozen pants from this pattern.  A few years ago, I put a video on my YouTube channel showing this pattern sewn seven ways to show how easy it is to change the look by simply using different fabrics. And we all know Fabric Mart Fabrics is the perfect place to shop for all those fabrics! 

For the tops I used the Style Arc Porter Woven Pack and Vogue 9257, a design from 2017. As much as I love the latest and greatest patterns, I do reuse patterns that I’ve sewn before when I know I like the design and fit.  

Many of the inspiration eyelet pants I saw were lined only to mid-thigh.  While I liked the open look on the pant leg, I decided to use the technique in my pattern providing a full lining.  

I cut out the pattern pieces in both my lining (I used a lightweight cotton batiste) and eyelet fabric, then basted the two together.  I used a silk thread and hand basted just inside the seam allowance. I then treated the pattern pieces as one. Once the seams were sewn, I removed the basting stitches.   I used a light-yellow silk thread, that way if I would happen to miss a stitch or two it won’t be too noticeable.  

I had planned to sew a coordinating camp shirt but made an error calculating how much yardage I needed, and I didn’t have enough after I cut out my pants.  So, I just shifted gears and sewed this adorable sleeveless, button front, cropped top.  Now that it’s sewn, I think it will be more versatile than an eyelet camp shirt.

I lined it using the same technique as the pants.  The vintage buttons I used were ones I found at an estate sale a few months ago. 

The pattern did not have the location of the button loops marked, so I used an expandable sewing gauge to evenly mark where to sew the button loops.  

To keep the loops from shifting before they were stitched in place, I used fabric glue then a clip to hold them securely until the fabric glue dried.

I really like the final look of the top and pants together! 

Here is the other top I sewed using the pink voile fabric. Out of all three pieces, I have voted this one as “most likely to be worn the most” as I love off the shoulder tops such as this one.  

If you shy away from tops that are worn off the shoulder because you need/want to wear a bra but don’t own a strapless one, here’s a tip I learned years ago from a bra fitting specialist.  Just tuck your bra straps into the side of your bra. This works if you have a well-fitting bra, as the support is from the band, not the straps.

Normally at this point in the blog post I would share a picture of me with my big dog, aka the photo bomber.  However, it was rather hot the day I took photos, and she picked the air conditioned inside versus the sunny heat outside.  

Now if you’ll excuse me, a gentle summer breeze is blowing and I’m headed outside with my lemonade to enjoy the sunshine. 

Until next time, Happy Sewing!

SHARON  | @thesharonsews

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Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following categories: EYELET, VOILE, & COTTON.