McCalls 6172 Wool blazer version 2 in Shetland wool from Britex in SF

This jacket shows why I like to make a pattern more than once. When you find a good pattern and get all the fit adjustments worked out, then why not make it multiple times? After all, our wardrobes consist of a lot of basics, be it button front shirts, or a pencil skirt, a fit and flare dress, a knit t-shirt. It's the fabric that makes things look completely different, and also the small details like stitching, pockets or even length that change up the look a lot. I find myself less interested in buying new patterns, particularly for items when the patterns are often so similar. But fabric, I have a lot of restraint but I could find endless pieces to add to my stockpile.

Fortunately my friend and muse Heather usually knows exactly what she is looking for, and when we make a trip to Britex we always find it. How could you not?  their selection is amazing. I grant that you don't go there for bargains or bulk buys. Last time we went shopping we selected this wool as well as 3 silks for coordinating tops. (I say we, because she lets me have a veto which I do exercise against really tricky plaids and stripes).

We took these photos early on a Sunday morning when we were both free. She was on her way to her office to get in some quite-time work undisturbed by clients or her employees. So it was a jeans and t-shirt day but perhaps that shows the versatility of a nice blazer jacket - you can toss it on over just about anything and look put together.

I have a lot of photos of the construction on this jacket - far too many to post but as I was constructing this jacket I took pictures and video which I uploaded to my Instagram Story and saved to a Highlight.




A lot of people have viewed as I've posted this over the past months and I appreciate all the comments and direct messages 😊. The whole series is there and I'll leave it up so it will be a reference.
But for those of you who like to see the insides of garments - here is a sampling of what I included in the Highlight.



Jacket front. I do my own thing when it comes to interfacing, and it all depends on the weight and structure of the fabric. Let's get a round of applause for this pattern which has the collar and lapel roll lines marked on the pattern. You can see that I mark the angles on corners which makes stitching so much more accurate and it goes faster as well. Also I always want to make sure the two jacket fronts are exactly the same so more markings help with that.



Above, collar attached and now clipping, trimming and grading seam as needed, prior to catch-stitching it down with silk thread.






Somebody is liking their pockets!
Since I did a fair amount of fit adjustments to the front pattern pieces I had to decide where to place the pockets and I'm very happy with how they turned out. Here's a look at them in progress. Again the color of this fabric is so different in every picture.



By the way - as I mentioned above this is the second time I've made this pattern, both for Heather. The first one was a solid navy blue that was really a test version - here's the blog post on that one which has a lot of the info on making fit adjustments on this pattern as well as some other info.








Lining sewn in by hand, and a small pleat at the bottom edge so that the lining has space to move and not tug on the bottom edge of the jacket when worn.



Side view and you can see how a two-piece sleeve curves nicely to follow the shape of the arm. Also in the background is a jacket I've sewn for myself, another version of the Pauline Alice Saler jacket in wool with a velvet collar. I started Heather's jacket the week after Christmas and since I had already made one version I just needed her to come by for a final fit check on this one. But she had the bug that was going around so it ended up being postponed for several weeks - but I was still in wool jacket making mood so I decided to do that one. And have already worn it a couple of times. It goes so nicely with a couple of silk shirts - a blog post on those items next.
Also in view is my sewing room table, which is not the most beautiful worktable you can see on the web but it is really functional. I got a few questions on that so in my next Random Threads post I'll show some details and tips on how I made it.



I love this picture! It really shows how well the lining color and the buttons complement this. Which should be credited to the lovely salespeople at Britex who know what they have in stock.

Here are the 3 silks we also found that day which will be tops to go with this jacket. Not sure which fabric will be used for what top pattern I just got Vogue 1412 so that will be for at lease one of these.






Someone really likes that fancy lining :)



So that's a wrap on this wool jacket. Is it spring yet?  Although last week I traced a couple of distinctly wintery patterns from the recent Burda mags so I will have to get to those quickly.

Update on classes at Hello Stitch Studio:  Classes are filling up quickly - so if you want to register I suggest not waiting. I do have a fitting class on a weekday coming up, on Thurs. March 14. After that we still have some spots open in the Wrap dress class (Sat. Mar 23) and in April we have a Lander pants class (always fills up fast) and the Bondi dress class. Tessuti patterns has come out with a really nice new dress pattern, the Coni dress so if the sleeveless Bondi dress is not for you perhaps the alternate one will be just the thing.

Jacket making is in the air - have you seen the sneak peeks of the new Closet Case pattern? which will probably be available to order when you read this. I'm starting to plan for a Jacket Making weekend workshop in October, as I've had a few people from out of town ask me if we are doing that this fall. Since we have a bit of time I'm open to suggestions and questions. It will definitely be a Sat. and Sunday class, but possibly we could add a shopping day and a dinner together. All kinds of possibilities. Message or email me if you want to make a suggestion or with questions. By the way - tentative date, the weekend of October 19.

Happy Sewing, Beth

today's garden photo, this camellia which has big sticky blooms that the bees and hummingbirds love, but if you look closely at the photo above you can see that they fall in a messy heap creating an unintentional red carpet. That red/yellow combo though, so striking.