Itch to Stitch Blog Tour Anza Top

Hi! I'm delighted to participate in the September Spotlight, this year's Itch to Stitch Blog Tour. Thanks to Crystal for her outstanding organization skills and the fun theme! Bloggers were given the opportunity to select an Itch to Stitch pattern to highlight and share. We were encouraged to choose a pattern that could use a little bit of extra attention (anyone else find that your most recent makes are the new favorites?!) or to look at a pattern in a different way.

Kennis, the designer extraordinaire of Itch to Stitch Patterns, has graciously offered a 25% off discount code for all of the patterns highlighted each day. Today's code is 917itsblogtour25. The code will be valid for 24 hours 8am-8am Eastern Time. If a code is used outside the 24 hour period, it will reflect a $0 discount on the order. Today's featured patterns are Busan, Anza, Emily, Jacqueline, Liana, Nottingham, Sequoia, Medellin. Be sure to follow along to see the beautiful makes of the other bloggers on tour: (the sneak peeks I've seen are swoon worthy!)

Here are the Bloggers for the ITS September Spotlight Itch to Stitch Blog Tour

September 16th 

Sewing Vortex, mahlicadesigns, Katie Sews Things, Sewing with Sarah, Flaxfield Sewing

September 17th 

Sewsewilse, replicatethendeviate, Needles to Say, Sewing with d, madebymanagir

September 18th 

Jot Designs, Auschick Sews, itsewcolorful, Sewn by Lone

September 19th 

Prairie Girl Knits, happilysewnafter, Back40life, MeMade, La Casa Cactus

September 20th 

Sweet Mama Life, Sewing Scientist, The Petite Sewist, Liviality, Buttons and Bobbins

Make sure you enter the sweet giveaways at the bottom of this post!

I chose the Anza Jumpsuit and Dress pattern to highlight. I remember when this pattern was first released and I feel like it was ahead of the jumpsuit/romper popularity. I really loved the design (and the cup sizes!) but hadn't ventured into jumpsuit/romper territory since second and third grade and then got distracted by new patterns. When I was perusing the Itch to Stitch website, I suddenly realized this was exactly what I was looking for/exactly what had been missing in my wardrobe all these years- a button down woven top with a v neck! It turns out I'm not the only one with such a genius idea (check out the #anzajumpsuit and #anzadress and #itchtostitchanza hashtags on instagram or search in the Facebook group) so I'm not claiming originality or anything like that but I am extremely pleased the Anza fills a hole in my wardrobe!



I sewed a quick bedsheet muslin of size 10D. The instructions say to use your normal cup size and I wasn't sure if it meant sewing cup size or bra size so I split the difference and sewed a muslin. The fit of my muslin was exactly what I hoped for! I arbitrarily added about 5.5 inches to my muslin and straightened out the side seam near the waist. After sewing the muslin I decided to add a curved hem to the bottom of my final version. I also omitted the cuffs when making my muslin and decided I liked the slim sleeve and that it would be less fussy under layers in the cold seasons. I chose to raise the dot under the arm 1/2 inch since the cuff wouldn't be there and so the bottom of the sleeve fit closer to my arm. In hindsight I probably could've raised it only 1/4 inch but it the sleeve is still very comfortable and doesn't restrict any arm movement. I also chose to omit the chest pockets because I wanted a slimmer silhouette/slightly dressier look. Sewing is the best because we can customize endlessly for our preferences!

My serger is still broken so I used french seams for the shoulders and on the side seams I sewed them with a 1/2 inch seam allowance, pressed them open, and folded and pressed the raw edges towards the center seam then topstitched along each side. I feel like this type of seam finishing has a proper name but it escapes me at the moment. The sewn down facing is my current very favorite way of finishing a neckline! I love how everything stays in place and the facing that stays put! I also made some single fold bias tape from the scraps to finish the curved hem. I chose to use black kam snaps because they matched and were handy from other projects.



I used some cotton sateen from the Gertie line at Joanns a few years ago. I had been saving it for the perfect project and I am thrilled with the results! It was easy to sew and press! And it is lovely to wear! I styled my Anza Blouse with a ready to wear wrap skirt from The Limited that is over a decade old. (And maybe the skirt shrunk over the years....) I think I prefer the tucked in look or the knotted look at the bottom. I had my daughters take a few pics of the blouse untucked so you could see the split hem but my oldest said it "looks weird" and I don't disagree. I have worn my Anza Blouse untucked with jeans and it looks better with a bottom that is slimmer through the hips. Which one is your favorite?

Tucked:







Untucked:







Knotted:







How would you style this Anza Blouse?

We have had some generous sponsors for this tour. I have been fortunate enough to have tried fabrics from almost all of our sponsors over the years and have been very pleased!

Visit our Sponsors and enter our Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win one of 2 amazing prize packages:

Prize # 1

Itch to Stitch: 3 PDF patterns of choice

Raspberry Creek Fabrics: $100 Store Credit

D&H Fabrics Co: $50 Store Credit

Simply By Ti: Prize of $20 Store Credit

So Sew English Fabrics: Prize of $40 Store Credit

Sly Fox Fabrics: $25 Store Credit



Prize #2

Itch to Stitch: 3 PDF patterns of choice

Beautiful Textiles: $100 Store Credit

D&H Fabrics Co: $50 Store Credit

Surge Fabric Shop: $20 Store Credit

Knitpop: $50 Knitcoin Credit

Rafflecopter begins Monday September 16th and will close at 11:59pm ET Sunday, September 22nd. 2 winners (1 per prize package) will be drawn and announced Monday, September 23rd.
Rafflecopter HTML:
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Rafflecopter LINK:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6395adad4/?

Thank you for stopping by!