Review: Simplicity 8891 - A Summer Suit with Baby Lock Aventura II Decorative Sewing!

I'd always wanted a sewing machine with the embroidery feature and lots of good decorative stitches. I had a lower end, big box model in the past. But it just wasn't advanced enough for my liking and I never gave it more interest than adding a design or so to my linings in coats and jackets. When I got my Baby Lock Aventura II a few weeks ago, I was determined to learn about embroidery from the ground up... starting with the decorative sewing. I did my research because I wanted to use decorative sewing and embroidery in a sophisticated and polished way. I want my garments to look high-end and not like a craft project.

I wanted an easy-to-make summer suit, one that I could wear together or mix the pieces into my wardrobe. I picked Simplicity 8891. The thing about "easy" is that it can possibly mean painfully plain. And that's how I felt about this pattern. It's simple, but it has good details. I knew it needed some zhushing up.

My fabric is this incredible Italian Canary and Moonstruck Double-Faced Stretch Cotton Twill. This fabric is super soft and has a real comfortable amount of give. It feels like a double knit and it has a really good bottom weight. Really good for a body con dress or fitted pants. I pre-treated the fabric in the washer and dryer. It came out pretty wrinkled. But after a good pressing, it was beautiful.

For the jacket, I cut the size 14 and graded out to the 16 at the hip and added 1 inch to the length. I decided to use the decorative stitches instead of basic topstitching.

I picked this diamond looking 7mm satin stitch which I felt would really pop using embroidery thread.

Using the Edit/Stitch switching key and selecting the elongation key to make the pattern shorter and the single/repeat key to indicate that I wanted this to be a continuous stitch and not just a single pattern. I pressed the memory key (the pocket) to save it, so I wouldn't have to go through all of these adjustments each time, because I was going to be using this stitch throughout this project.

I'm really loving the detail that it added to the jacket.

I used the decorative satin stitching to tack down the pleats in the front and the back.

Additionally, I created a belt. I'm not the biggest fan of self tie belts, so I wanted to make a real belt. I interfaced with weft fusible to give it body and carried out the decorative stitching too.

I've seen the eyelet stitch before, but I never thought to actually use it or what it was for. 

The 7mm width is perfect for stabilizing metal eyelet installation.

For the shorts, I cut the size 16 and made a 1.5 inch full butt adjustment. I really like the length that they are straight out of the envelope.

This is how I used the decorative stitching on the shorts.

I really love both of these pieces and I can't wait to work them throughout my wardrobe.