If I craft non set items and increase the material use to increase the level of the item, this works fine at a standard crafting station. If I try it at a Hunding's Rage or Ashen Grip station (the two I happened to try) then increasing the material use does not increase the level of the item. All the items I tried used the additional components but the resulting items were still VR9 and not VR14.
Again, running the Mac client.