Hey everyone! So I recently finished the Blanca Flight Suit by Closet Core Patterns. I love my flight suit now – but whew, I didn’t think it would ever leave my unfinished projects pile.
Let’s start at the beginning. I hope you brought snacks.
I originally started this project in October of 2022. When Fabric.com was still around, I picked up this mauve twill from them with the intention of using it for this project. I actually didn’t have enough so I had to buy more and it delayed my project for another week and a half.
While I waited for my fabric to arrive, I started getting inspired by all the other Blanca’s on the internet. There’s probably thousands, to be honest. I saw a running theme – everyone had patches on theirs. I thought that was so cute and such a personal touch that I had to add patches too. I kept thinking, what’s something that resonates with me. And it was the Bees. It’s a running theme in my life. I have Queen Bee pillows, mugs… it was perfect. I bought my bee patches on Amazon. (side note: the original pack I bought is no longer available. Here’s an alternative.)
Back to the fabric… the twill fabric is good quality – but whew it’s thick. So I credit this project with being the catalyst for my investment in electric scissors. Because if you know anything about Closet Core – the pattern will have 1,000 pieces. My poor hands were not going to make it, literally. The electric scissors cut my sewing down to about 10 minutes for the entire suit. By the way, I cut a size 14 in this pattern.
Once I got started on sewing the project, it was fairly smooth sailing. Sew. Serge. Press. Top stitch. Repeat. It was tedious but I was having fun. And one thing about CCP, they give great and incredibly detailed instructions, so even though the project is not a quick sew, I felt confident in my progress.
I had made the front panels with the pants attached, the back panel with the pants attached. And I remember looking at the zipper step like nah, maybe later. As much experience as I have in sewing garments – even I don’t like to install zippers all that much. My nerves!
I stopped making my suit in November when I needed to focus on vacation outfits for our annual December trip. And I wanted to pick it back up in January – but I would look at the pile of pieces and the unattached zipper and get discouraged.
Fast forward to March 2023, and my husband mentioned to me that he might need to go out of town to Birmingham for a series of tournament games for work. One of my good friends lives in Birmingham and when we link up, we know we’re going to take pictures. And like clockwork, she told me, make something cute! I looked around my sewing room. Sure, I had cute stuff but I wanted something NEW! So I courageously took out the pile of Blanca pieces and took a deep breath and got back into it.
I had two days to install the zipper, connect the front to the back, sew up the sleeves, attach the sleeves, sew up the collar, attach the collar and then hem up everything. I documented this part of the process on my Youtube channel. You can watch it here:
I made my deadline. But the teams lost so we scrapped the trip. The irony was just hilarious. So I still wore my suit on Saturday and wore it to brunch at our favorite restaurant, Elvie’s in Jackson.
Not even 5 minutes in the restaurant, someone complimented me on the suit. Mission accomplished.
Until next time, xo.
RAVEN MAUREEN 