Hello Internet Friends!

Quick blog post today on a head to head comparison of my top two sleeveless tops, the Victory Tank by Chalk and Notch and the Hadley Top by Grainline Studio. Both are patterns I’ve made before and both are part of that core set of patterns I know I’ll return to time and time again! For today I thought it would be fun to compare them head to head in the same fabric. If you want to read more about each pattern and the modifications for fit that I’ve made head here for the Victory and here for the Hadley.

Before we talk about the two patterns, I’ve got to tell you about this fabric first! This is some of the Urban Leo Printed Viscose Twill that I managed to snag from Blackbird fabrics earlier this year! I had originally planned on making a dress out of this fabric but since I had managed to get both colour ways of this print and I had already begun to cut a dress out of the other colour way I decided to make two tops instead 😁

So! Let’s talk about similarities between these two patterns (other than the obvious that they are both sleeveless tops lol)! Both of these patterns offer a bunch of mix and match options which is great as it means once you get the fit right you can make a lot of ‘same same but different’ versions. In terms of difficultly both of these are probably around the confident beginner stage, with the Victory being just a bit more tricky due to the way the lining is attached.

Now for differences! Off the bat the biggest difference is the presence of a full lining on the Victory vs. facings on the Hadley. This also means that the victory does need more fabric than the Hadley, although if you were super short on fabric you could perhaps do a half lining on the victory to save! Another major difference is how these two patterns drape on the body, the Victory has a more loose fitting ‘swingy’ vibe to it while the Haldley is decidedly more close fitting (though still lots of positive ease, it’s just more close fitting than the Victory. Because of this body draping difference the Victory is best suited to fabrics with a good deal of drape, like this viscose twill, vs the Hadley which can work with both drapey fabrics and those with a bit more structure.

In terms of which of these two I like more I really can’t say! I’ve worn both with equal frequency since I made them and I can see both as being wardrobe staples for a long time to come! Do you guys have a fave out of these two? Let me know in the comments!