Sleeveless Victoria Blazer

We've all done it. Made a pattern that we loved, plotted 50 more versions, then instantly moved on to "ooooo shiny!" and neglected the tried and true. I made my first Victoria Blazer almost exactly two years ago...eep! I LOVE that blazer, it's one of my favorite things I've ever made. For all that time, I've been wanting to make a second (and third...) and I finally did!

The Victoria Blazer pattern, from By Hand London, has three views. This is View 3, a long sleeveless blazer. This is also, apparently, the least-popular view, because I couldn't find any photos of it made up when I did a search. Probably because a sleeveless blazer doesn't have a ton of utility. But I'm pregnant, and my internal body temperature is cray-cray and all over the place, so a sleeveless blazer will get use around here!

The amazing fabric I used is from Organic Cotton Plus. It was sent to me for free in exchange for this review. This is the first time I've done a review for them and made something for myself! (See previous items here and here.) Originally, I wanted some of their yummy linen to make an even slouchier blazer, but it sold out, so I went with this grey twill that had a bit more body. The lining is a pink batiste. Both of these fabrics are SO NICE. Lately I've been sewing less frequently, but with higher quality fabrics, and it really makes a difference. I could easily finger-press both of these, they didn't fray after cutting as much as a poor quality fabric, and they washed up like a dream.

This is the smallest size, US2, and as you can see it's oversized on purpose. I made no alterations to the pattern, though I did construct it in a different order so as not to switch thread so many times. Additionally, I clean-finished the armholes using the Colette method that I recently used on a sleeveless dress. The tutorial is for a knit dress, but I can attest that it works just as well on a woven jacket. It's fiddly, as I said before, but you can't beat the effect.

The jacket lining was finished by hand at center-back. Somehow I found the time for that with two kids running around. And I tell you what, sewing a jacket completely from woven fabrics was much easier than the ponte and stretch silk charmeuse I used before!

The more I look at these photos, the more I like this blazer. When you're pregnant, you tend to feel like a lumpy baby factory, without much shape (even more so in my case since I've been pregnant the last 16 out of 20 months). This unstructured blazer doesn't have any shape, either, but it LOOKS classy. Which means I feel classy.

The last blazer I made had issues with the lapels and collar flapping around. After a good press, it's not so much of a problem. I attribute that to a fabric with less bulk. The ponte from the previous blazer was pretty thick. You COULD topstitch those lapels, or hand-tack them, but I think they're fine.

This is another area where you COULD topstitch to keep everything in place, but I don't think it's really necessary. This pink batiste is so soft, I can't wait to use my scraps for pocket bags. And maybe the twill for some sort of baby jacket?

I love this version as much as my last one, and I know I'll be reaching for it as much as I can. The grey and pink fit into my wardrobe, and it's just fun to wear high quality fabrics. Thanks so much to Organic Cotton Plus for providing the fabric and giving me the push to sew this pattern again!

Victoria Blazer: tips and tricks

Even though the Victoria Blazer pattern is a simplified blazer, without too many challenges, I found as I was sewing that there were a few tricks to making the project go more smoothly. If you're about to embark on this pattern, I hope some of my advice will be helpful! You can read my original review here.

Victoria Blazer, with my new Tonic Tee

As a reminder, my Victoria is made with a cotton ponte for the shell, and a stretch silk charmeuse for the lining (both fabrics from Mood). The pattern is intended for wovens, but a stable knit like ponte will work. I made a size 2/4, which is the smallest in the envelope. There is a GENEROUS amount of ease, so please check the finished garment dimensions before choosing your size. The sleeves are fairly fitted but the bodice is meant to be oversized. There are no closures so the blazer will be open when worn.

Order of construction

I used a totally different order than what is detailed in the instructions (which, by the way, are VERY good). I wanted to sew as much as possible with the ponte before sewing the silk. The first reason was laziness, I didn't want to switch my needle back and forth a bunch of times. The second reason was practice. The shell and lining are constructed the same way, so I wanted to work out any kinks with the ponte and be that much more prepared for the silk. The third reason was efficiency. I think the directions make sense the way they are written, but they aren't that fast. For example, there are many rectangles on this design (the sleeve cuffs, the collar, the lapels) which are all sewn the same way. It's much faster to make them all at once, then go over to your iron and press. Just make sure to mark your pieces so you don't lose track of which rectangles are which!

Baste cuffs together before sewing to sleeve.

The cuffs are sewn to the sleeve using French seams. The instructions and sewalong are great, but I found while sewing my first cuff that I had a hard time keeping everything in place.

Above, you can see that on the right-hand cuff, the ends don't exactly stay together. They're supposed to be butted up against each other, but while sewing they moved around. For my second cuff, I basted the ends together using silk thread.

Silk thread is amazing for hand-basting, now that I've tried it I won't go back! It's smooth and pulls out easily. With the cuff ends basted together, I was able to keep everything in place while sewing the French seams (the left-hand cuff in the photo above). Looks much better, right?

Machine stitching the entire lining

Everyone hates slipstitching linings, right? In order to avoid that, I set my sleeves into my jacket dead last (more on that below). The benefit to that was that I was able to bag the lining, leaving an opening at the center back, turn, and then pull the seam allowances out through my armscythe (which had no sleeve attached). It was a nice big opening which gave me plenty of room to maneuver and finish bagging the lining with no hand-sewing. Clear as mud? How about some photos!

WS lining, stitching ends at white dots, leaving an opening.

Turn right-side out through opening, press.

Reach into armscythe and pull out the unsewn portion.

Unsewn portion/opening, which has been pulled out of armscythe.

Sew unsewn portion along previously pressed line.

Stuff everything back in through armscythe. Press.

No handsewing required!

Set the sleeve into the lining

I had another, more brilliant (if I do say so myself) reason for working out a different order and setting the sleeves last. Sally at The Quirky Peach had mentioned in her review that the lining had a tendency to slip down. She recommended tacking the lining to the seam allowance of the sleeve to keep it up. I thought to myself, why not baste the armscythe of the lining to the armscythe of the shell, and then set the sleeve in to both at the same time?

Frankly, I don't know why the instructions don't have you do it this way. I might be missing something obvious, but it worked amazingly for me. I pinked my seam allowances but you could easily serge this whole area and finish it neatly.

Topstitching lapels

I mentioned this in my initial review, but my lapels were flopping all over the place. My ponte was fairly thick and the seam allowances were causing some rolling. I'm not sure if it will happen with every fabric, but if your lapels are driving you nuts, consider topstitching them down.

I also saw one blogger who topstitched UNDER the lapels and collars, which helped her.

In case I didn't say it enough before, I LOVE the way this blazer turned out. The colors make me happy, the silk makes me happy, it's great! I highly recommend this pattern if you're looking for a beginner blazer project. Questions about these methods? Hollar at me in the comments!

Pink! Ponte! Blazer!

All the titles I could come up with for this post were lame, but somehow lots of exclamation points seemed necessary. Why? Because this post contains all of my favorite things!

Pink, of course. A new pattern (By Hand London Victoria Blazer). Knits. A success story. And a new favorite thing, silk!

So let's get right to it shall we?

A pink ponte blazer has been weighing on my mind for quite some time. Pink is one of my colors for my spring/summer wardrobe, and I own exactly 0 blazers. I managed to find the perfect fabric and then mysteriously only ordered one yard. I tried Butterick 5926 which ended in a failure (in a BLAZE of glory you might say). It seemed like the project must be doomed. But I couldn't get it out of my head.

I searched for an easy blazer pattern, and I found it with the BHL Victoria. There is a thorough sewalong here, and I dare you to read it and not immediately order the pattern. If you can! It was on backorder...I got just about the last one in the States from Sweet Little Chickadee, who sent it in this lovely package:

A partial lining (the sleeves are unlined), a simple collar and separate lapels, an oversized fit, three-quarter length sleeves, and a clever dart; the pattern has all the things that will make sewing a blazer easy. And trust me, it was  as easy as it seems in the sewalong.

The fabric is a 100% cotton ponte (try finding THAT online!) from Mood. It's the perfect weight for a blazer. As I said, I accidentally ordered only one yard, but I managed to order another and make my blazer from two 1-yard cuts. The pattern is intended for wovens but ponte or another stable knit should work as well.

And just look at that lining! It's a stretch silk charmeuse, also from Mood, which was one of their 50% off daily sale fabrics a few weeks ago. I had been agonizing over what to use as a lining (another knit? a woven? no lining? what color?) and as soon as I saw this beauty on sale, I knew it was meant FOR ME!

The internet is surprisingly quiet about what to use as a lining when using a knit for a shell. Due to the oversized fit, the stretch factor wasn't terribly important, and I found that these two fabrics worked really well together. I had never sewn with silk before, and was VERY nervous, especially since it contained lycra. All I could hear was Dimitry from Project Runway saying that charmeuse was the hardest fabric to sew and all your mistakes will show. Well, one of my mistakes certainly shows, I accidentally clipped a damn HOLE in the lining near the armscythe. Cue copious weeping. Anyone know a good way to fix that?

via Instagram

I did prewash my silk using this method. When the silk was almost dry I tossed it in the dryer on low for a final fluff. I doubt I'll be washing this blazer but I wanted to be prepared. Also, I used pins in my silk and not just in the seam allowances. As I said on Instagram, I hope the sewing police don't come to get me.

via Instagram

I found sewing the pocket bags to be the most difficult. Two pieces of charmeuse on a curve? No fun. I had to use tissue paper to stabilize the area while sewing. But they look cool peeking out of the side seams.

I have a lot of tips for sewing this up, enough that I thought it warranted a separate post. So stay tuned for that!

Action shot: "hey AB come here!"

Now for my only negative comment on this pattern. The lapels and collar flap around. A lot. Here's a photo:

You can see that the lapels are twisting and pulling the blazer open. It's a complaint I found in other reviews, and the instructions recommend that you tack them down. I tried that, but it was hard to sew and wasn't working and looked stupid anyway. I decided that flapping lapels were going to drive me batty and that it would be better to topstitch everything down.

You may not have this problem if you work with a thinner fabric. The ponte is fairly thick, and the seam allowances in this area are bulky, which caused the lapels to roll a bit. After topstitching, my fabric looked a bit stretched out, I'm not sure if you can see it in these photos or not but it's something to consider. Do what makes sense for your fabric.

I made the smallest size in the envelope and it's pretty loose on me, although the sleeves fit well. The pattern is easily the most expensive one I've ever bought, but with 3 views I think it will be worth it. I particularly like Sally's cropped one, and a sleeveless version would be fun as well. Next time I might try to curve the side seams for a little more definition/shape. I imagine you could also add fisheye darts to the back for the same reason.

I finished this blazer just in time for the 90 degree weather to hit our area, but I'm taking it with me this weekend to the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo anyway. This time of year, you have to go from extreme heat to extreme air conditioning pretty constantly, so it helps to always have a cardigan or jacket around. Wish me luck at my first sewing convention and I'll be back next week with all the details!