Sewing Detour for the Jacket Express

Sewing blogs are like a wonderful magazine subscription that magically appears every morning, something to dip into with my coffee and blueberry muffins. The other day I thought, where are the new posts from my favorites? It must be summer vacation time and the posts are getting a bit less frequent.  Perhaps a bit of a summer blogging slump going around. Then I looked at the date of my last post and realized it was more than two weeks ago. So guilty as charged, with my own lack of contribution to the sewing blogosphere. Despite the minimal blogging I have been sewing like mad, doing some stuff for sewing clients as well as playing around with some ideas for knit t-shirts that may come to nothing.

However I did take a detour from my July plans when I saw the "Sew Better, Sew Faster: Garment Industry Secrets" Craftsy class taught by Janet Pray of Islander Sewing Systems. Who doesn't want to sew better? I always figure if I learn a few tips or new to me ideas then books, classes etc are worth the investment. In this case I would say I did learn a few things and she has a very nice teaching style. Also I wanted to get the pattern which is included because I knew that it would be perfect for my mom as she loves this type of casual jacket.

The pattern comes in size XS - 5X and the measurements don't really correspond to any other pattern companies so I decided to make a version for myself to check the sizing AND test how "Express" it was using the techniques from the class.

I made the size Small which is mostly roomy all over. I probably could have made the XS and then just added a little at side seam hip. The style is very boxy and not really to my taste but now I have to confess that I have worn this so many times in the last few weeks. Probably because it is not blue! It is just the thing to wear with a blue denim skirt (as opposed to my dark blue denim jacket which I love but looks weirdly suit-ish when worn with a denim skirt) Also it is...gasp...very comfortable! 

The fabric is kind of odd but ideal for this jacket. Not something I would have picked out in the store, but I bought a great big piece of it at a thrift/antique/junk shop that was liquidating for a move. Got all kinds of good stuff that day for about $ 10 so of course I like this result even more.  This photo below is a better representation of the color and you can see all the topstitching which I did in white because I am lazy and didn't want to change the thread in the machine. 

So how Express was this jacket? From cutting out to sewing on buttons it was 9 hours. I am not sure that is so speedy, I guess considering it has 2 welt pockets and 2 other hidden pockets plus collar and cuffs and plenty of topstitching it is OK. 

Why I shoved my hands in the pockets and buttoned up the front I do not know, but you can see the shape here. 

And for comic relief I include this picture below. Now you can see why I have the sleeve cuffs rolled up. Yes, I should have checked the sleeve length but it did not occur to me at the time. Oh well. 

To be continued in another post with some further details on this jacket and the Craftsy class. 

I hope all your sewing detours turn out well, Beth

Now it's time for the most summery of summer garden flowers. Grown from random seeds and I always love it when one of these bi-color ones pop out with a touch of red.