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.

McCalls 6172 Blazer jacket, including fit adjustment details

Is it just something I notice because I like them, or are blazer jackets everywhere right now? Particularly when I see features on fashion-y websites with the title of "Is it really fall if you're not wearing a (plaid) blazer?" Sounds good to me, and plaid, even better. For some reason sewing a piece that includes a collar and lapel is my happy sewing place. So back in October I had a jacket class on the schedule at Hello Stitch, and also I had a pattern that I thought would work for Heather. So to combine 2 projects in one, I decided to test out this pattern and adjust it to fit her, and then sew up the jacket in my weekend class to demonstrate all kinds of techniques like welt pockets, pressing, interfacing choices etc.

Which meant I wanted to make it wearable - but not invest a lot into it. Also I would be toting it back and forth to the studio so I didn't want to use some precious fabric and have to treat it carefully. Enter the stash sale find. I bought a big piece of mystery fabric (like 5 yards of 60"wide) at the ASG stash sale in early October. It's navy blue, most likely some wool content, but slightly thinner and lighter than I would ordinarily use for a jacket. However it pressed really well, didn't wrinkle and ended up making a not too bad lightweight blazer jacket.

So here is the finished jacket.  By the way - keep reading to see the exact pattern piece adjustments for fit.



I almost felt like this was a proof of concept jacket for Heather - as I just wanted to get the fit right, and see how the length looked, the size of the pockets etc. All in all it turned out well enough to continue ahead with some wool fabric we bought at Britex, for considerably more than I spent at the stash sale (I think $ 6 for the big piece).

Here's the pattern envelope, it's McCalls 6172 which might still be available, or you can find a copy on eBay. It's one of the Palmer and Pletsch patterns which has all the info on fit adjustments, as well as the lines pre-marked on the pattern pieces to do a full bust adjustment, swayback etc. I have found these patterns to be really easy to use and I think if you were trying to get a grip on pattern fit they are a really good place to start. Manju in the UK has used this pattern and wrote "I think I have found my perfect blazer pattern"and hers fits really well.



When it comes to blazer patterns for myself I have an older Vogue one that I've made I think 4 or 5 times, so when you find a nice one with the classic details it pays to get it to fit perfectly and then sew in different fabrics which change the look entirely.

The photos on Heather are not my best, it was late afternoon and I didn't take into account difficulty of photographing dark garment on sunny day, all the details are lost but you can see the fit and proportion are good. She's wearing it over her silk wrap dress and it became an unintentional yet feminine business look. I actually think she will get more wear out of this jacket with a t-shirt or casual cotton top, plus jeans and flats for running around town.




Ok, here's the info many of you are interested in.  I did a full bust adjustment on the jacket front, which gave more circumference as well as added length.
To start I usually trace the pattern piece that I'm altering in case it goes awry and I can start again or have it as reference for measurements. This is particularly helpful if you make adjustments on top of initial adjustments, you need to get the pattern pieces to join together and if you've chopped it up a lot  it starts to get very confusing.

On the left, original jacket front. Note that this is an armhole princess seam jacket, so it has a center front, side front, and then side back and center back.
I wanted to add about 1" at the bust, and the pattern has the lines for doing both a standard FBA as well as the "Y" FBA, which you can see is what I did. Either way you end up with a small dart (I think called a Dior dart) in the princess seam which actually gives some nice shaping. So note that there is a bit more room above the bust due to the FBA, and then more length down the center front (the red lines indicated between the marked buttonholes. I also moved the vertical dart over, or at least left the dart leg closer to the side as it was and just moved the other side nearer it. I remarked the end of the pocket as well (since this adjustment added across the front but the pocket doesn't need to grow).




Here's a close up view on the pockets - always the most stressful part of any jacket! and you can see this isn't the most luxurious fabric, but it was fine for this test version.




I put lining on the inside of the pocket flap, I just like them to be a bit thinner than two layers of the wool fabric. Every little ridge and bump can show with this type of fabric, particularly as it is a solid color. My next version is a shetland wool with many different color wool fibers and it hides everything :)

Gratuitous inside construction shot!  With some white basting thread on the back princess seams as the fit was still being worked out there. For you serger maniacs - note the serger will never touch anything I make that is fully lined - oh no - I think it just makes extra lumps of thread on the seam allowances and is totally unnecessary. A few unravelly bits - learn to deal!




Another quirk of my jacket making - I never use the lining pieces. Too much trouble to get those out of the pattern pieces, I just use the jacket pieces and adapt as needed.

So for the front lining, I overlay the front Facing on the adjusted jacket front, which shows me where the lining would join to the front facing, and then trace a lining piece. Which includes our nice little fitting dart for the win.



In the interest of speed and also it seems to match a classic blue blazer, I did keyhole buttons on my old Singer sewing machine. (Singer 401 if you're interested, the very best buttonholes). Up close and personal here with the attachment, I think I went around two more times and used a wider stitch for a more substantial buttonhole. That's what I like about this attachment, you can go around multiple times in the exact same place to build up the stitches for a really nice buttonhole.






And then I posted the above image on my Instagram and whew - quite the interest in this gadget. Which I call a button sewing gizmo for lack of a better name. You can see it kind of holds the button in place and raises it up various heights so you can achieve the thread shank which is so necessary on outerwear.

When I first started blogging I did a lot more posts with sewing and fit details. Lately with everything on my plate I find it a bit difficult to take all the photos as I sew and then sit down and write a lengthy post. In the interest of documenting the 2nd version of this pattern I decided to do an Instagram story along each step of the 2nd version I am currently making. And then saving each story to create one long Highlight on my Instagram profile page. It has basically turned it into a somewhat dry movie/slide show that will only appeal to serious sewing nerds - my people! So if you don't do Instagram or have a humongous IG feed and haven't seen any of this but are craving more jacket sewing details, including some of my late night narrations you can see the whole thing. (eek, does anyone like to hear themselves recorded?) The jacket isn't quite finished but it's getting near the home stretch.
I hope I won't regret putting this here - there are some serious weirdos that follow on IG - which for the most part I block.  Anyway, go to my home page on IG, it's the Wool jacket highlight.

Forgot about this one - back view. I used the mid-length view on the pattern and didn't change the length at all. I did take it in a bit at the waist in the side back princess seams, probably the same about as I added in the front for the FBA, which then retained the waist shaping.





I might have to try this pattern for myself!

In other sewing news - this upcoming weekend is my Copy Your Garment class - I love this one, where you make a pattern from an existing garment, without taking it apart. Or as Stacey at the studio says "clone your clothes". I think there are just a couple of spots available.
The following weekend is Make Your Own Jeans - 1 pattern/4 styles. I am really impressed with this Megan Nielsen jeans pattern, which I showed in my previous post. 
And then lots of other classes in Feb and March - all listed on the Hello Stitch Studio website. Then I need to think about Frocktails in Feb. with Bay Area Sewists. Because I need something to wear, ha ha. Might have to do a deep closet dive to find something that hasn't had many outings.

it's a very rainy here all week so ideal for staying in and finishing up so many projects.
Happy Sewing,
Beth

summer throwback - is it spring yet? I see a few of these petunias in my yard that are surviving and may live to bloom another summer.

Ash jeans from Megan Nielsen Patterns and Quilted Vest McCalls 7695

The last few weeks I've been sewing quite a mix of different items. I've sewn some holiday-wearable items for myself, such as the sparkly knit top in my previous post. I have a few things for Heather in the works, including her wool blazer. By the way, for that jacket I'm trying to post daily various aspects of that jacket construction in my Instagram Stories, but also saving a lot of photos with captions and info in my Highlights there - so they will be viewable in the future.
That means the third category of my recent sewing is items I'm making in anticipation of an upcoming class at Hello Stitch Studio. Later in January we're doing a weekend jeans making class (Jan 26-27) so I've sewn up a couple of pairs. At the end of February we have a quilted jacket class scheduled - which will be great for the Tamarack jacket pattern or any another quilted jacket/vest pattern.

Plus worn together they make the perfect weekend wardrobe choice :)  I decided to start out my quilting with a vest, so this is McCalls 7695. It is similar to the Grainline Tamarack jacket but has a zipper closure and also the vest option. It has a collar but it would be quite easy to add a collar to the Grainline jacket and I will cover that in the class.

Those are the Megan Nielsen Ash jeans in the slim version. They have 4 options, skinny, slim, wide leg and bootcut.

Vest details first.



I had this piece of plaid wool which wasn't enough to make much of anything, perhaps a skirt but it was just the right amount for this vest. The intention was to cut it a bit longer but late night cutting had me follow the pattern markings, and I'm ok with the length. In fact since it's shorter I can wear it under other coats. Now is the time that I will confess I have an inexplicable fear of separating zippers. Well not a fear exactly - an aversion. I don't like to wear things that have them and I really don't like sewing them. So I decided to go with plaid, ha ha, because I want extra stress of matching.
Actually thought it wasn't bad at all. I did have to shorten this zipper which mean some work with a pliers to crush the plastic teeth so they would come off but it was a good way to get out some aggression.

The fact that I chose this plaid means that the quilting lines don't really show, you can barely see them, stitched also in a rose pink. I used a very thin cotton batting, I think it's called Warm and Natural Cotton (whatever was on sale at joann's that day) so it was easy to sew but didn't add a lot of thickness.



The pattern has patch pockets and a lot of bias binding. It looks ok but a little too much to my eye, and I didn't like the pockets outlined in the bias. Plus more plaid matching, ugh. So I decided to do some welt pocket with bias,.



So they're not as good for putting your hands in your pockets but I like the way the look. The trick to doing bias welt pockets is to stretch the fabric before making the welt so that the edge doesn't sag or stretch once it is sewn.



I bagged the lining all around the upper edge, the hem and the armholes, leaving the side seams open, so I could trim all the seams and then pull it through. Ok now I see one benefit of a separating zipper :).
Then I stitched up the side seams of the wool and about an inch of the lining, and then closed up the lining side seams by hand stitching. I did all the quilting only on the wool so the lining isn't quilted. I kind of looked at the pattern instructions and it seemed that's how they are doing it in the McCalls pattern. The multi color linings is me using up some scraps of jewel tone lining fabrics, yay for using up scraps!! and then the collar facing is a thick satin lining which I selected because it felt nice and the color was perfect. I did put batting on the wool on the collar, and then some interfacing on the satin facing so it would have structure and stand up.






I believe I made a size 12 (my usual size in McCalls/Vogue etc) and it's roomy - in a good way so it can be worn over a sweater layer. The one change I did make was to do the swayback alteration which is marked on the pattern. I prefer to call this the "shortening the back length" adjustment but in this case I guess it did give a bit of shaping there. If you can picture it with more length then the back would have floated out more at the waist. It's a boxy style but intentionally so.  I didn't realize until after that I took only photographs with it zipped all the way up, which is not really the way I will probably wear it. So you will have to use your imagination on that.

Onto the Ash Jeans.



I've mostly steered away from sewing jeans as I already have so many pairs, I have no trouble fitting into ready-to-wear jeans and while I wear them all the time in fall and winter once the weather warms up they are not really my go-to item. So for convenience sake and in the interest of devoting my sewing time to things that interest me more (jackets and summer dresses) I never really got all that interested. However this pattern intrigued me and also we wanted to schedule another jeans class at the studio - so I gave it a try. I've made 2 pairs so far and had great success with this pattern so I think it's a winner. Plus it has the various leg styles in the pattern, with different pattern pieces for each style so you can play around with size on one style and still have the other pattern pieces not touched. The description says "comfortable rise" which I think is kind of a mid or high rise on most people, depending on your body shape. I have a very long rise and the first pair I made fit quite well, the waistband landed at just the right spot in the front, although they did need more length over my backside. Which I kind of figured going into the project but I wanted to sew them exactly as designed to see the result.

I sewed a Size 32 which is for a person with Waist 32" and Hip 42" which is almost spot on for me. The finished garment measure says it is 40.5" for Hip and since they are stretch jeans that worked out perfectly.
Here's a couple of pictures of the first pair I sewed (which are on display over at the studio).  I look mildly stunned but I had just finished these and walked outside at 4pm, set up the timer on my camera and clicked. Not bad for zero fit adjustments. The denim was at the minimum of the stretch requirement which actually I think works well as it has a "hold you in" effect. It was something I got at a Bay Area Sewists Fabric swap. Which you will see is a theme of my jeans sewing to this point :)



Same jeans, different day, and a slightly goofy pair of photos I extracted from a dark grey background, so the jeans are more visible. But maybe not much of an improvement. In any case the fit worked out well. They are a bit short at the back waist, pull down somewhat especially for sitting which makes me feel like I needed about 1 inch more length at the back rise.



Back to the second pair, I think if you make more than one pair with different denims you can really see how the fit changes just by changing the fabric. The second pair feels slightly more tight even though this denim I thought had more stretch, and I lengthened the rise both front and back 1/2" and then another 1/2' on the back.



When it comes to pants, I have a lot of drag lines on one side due to a spinal curve and and a notably lower left side. Not noticeable in dresses, it's an issue from my hip bones downwards. Anyway, all clothes have some lines when you are wearing them, moving, walking etc since hopefully none of us stand still like mannequins. So I don't let it bother me and just hem each leg as needed.

That denim is very comfy and has a nice weight. For some reason it doesn't seem like a winter wear denim - maybe because of the tones of white threads in the blue. I like dark solid denim for winter jeans. So I will see how these work in the spring with t-shirts.

The other change I made is to do a front pocket stay. The pattern is designed with a pocket that folds back and just creates the pocket but I like jeans where the cotton pocket lining continues all the way to the center front. It keeps the pocket flat against the body.



I am not the neatest topstitcher, that's for sure. And topstitch designs don't give me a thrill - to each her own as regards to sewing details as I know a lot of people making jeans really enjoy all the stitching details (now a lovely welt pocket, that is a different story).

Here's the side view and you can see the extra height or length that I added in the back, which is taken up by my long backside.





I have to buy some jeans buttons over at Stone Mountain so until I get over there to buy some I put a hook plus a button on the outside.

As mentioned - not really pockets in this vest for putting your hands in. But will work for carrying my keys when on the go. I'm glad I went back to the store for the pink zipper - the color makes me smile.



So that's the latest on my jeans sewing, and now I will return to the other stuff in my sewing queue. Such as a number of dreamy things in my latest Burda magazines, a new Vogue dress pattern I don't need but want to make, and something for Frocktails later this Feb. Today I'm working on the wool blazer and it's a good day to be inside, blustery rain and so cold. OK cold for us Californians, down to the 30's ℉ at night here.

As mentioned above, lots of classes on the schedule at Hello Stitch, some of which are filling up fast or are already sold out. I am constantly delighted at the great people who come to my classes, mostly women but a few men, and people who are so interesting! Interesting to me and to one another, the discussions as we spend the day sewing and learning are part of the pleasure of doing the classes. Don't be shy, join in!

Happy New Year Sewing,  Beth

today's garden photo - under my friend Alice's orange tree which is absolutely covered with fruit. Her tree is a navel orange variety and they all seem to ripen at once. My orange tree is a Valencia, so the fruit stays on the tree practically year round. But my tree is not in a very photogenic spot. There are so many fruit trees in the neighborhood as the climate is just right for plums, figs, and citrus. And rose pruning might be next week - when we have a dry day I should get out of the sewing room and into the garden.

McCalls 7549 color blocked cropped jacket in double sided fabric

When it comes to planning what to sew, to summarize, I don't. Meaning I don't really plan, I just go where my mood takes me. Sure I have a vague idea that I might need some new knit tops, or want a certain color of denim skirt. But mostly I just go with what fabric I find or a pattern that catches my eye. I suppose I do have the luxury of sewing for a good long time, so I have plenty of coats and jackets to wear as well as all the summer dresses a person could need. But desire for an item, that is a different story. There is always something fun to discover around the next sewing corner, an inspiration from the web or another stitcher. So while I sew according to my whimsy, I am very strict with myself when it comes to two things. 1) finishing projects and 2) blogging things I have sewn in the order I sew them.

Kind of goofy, huh? If I have sewn something, and then completed something else, I have to blog items in the order they were sewn. Even if I have been wearing both all the time. A strange self-imposed order to my typical sewing abandon. So today I am doing a blog post on an item that I am really happy with but was as yet un-blogged. Despite finishing it ages ago - before other stuff that I have recently blogged. To the point that it was like a pebble in my shoe! Silly but there it is. Perhaps because I actually took quite a while to finish this. I started it around Thanksgiving and finally completed it in March. Only because so many other obligations pushed it aside. And now a wool jacket that will be put away until fall!



Stay tuned if you like sewing details, pattern matching and design changes because this project had it all. It started with this wool which I bought at Mood Fabrics in NY back in Oct 2016. I really love the color and the fact that it is actually two sided, so it is one fabric which appears as dots on one side and then lines on the other. But I wanted to sew a jacket that could use a lot of both sides of the fabric, not just a small amount like edging of one side and the rest as the other. I saw this pattern from McCalls and strangely I have seen very few versions sewn up. If you look in Instagram there are a few (very cute) versions and a couple of people made it more than once. It's a really easy pattern and a great choice for a first jacket - not hard to sew but a lot of interesting options.

Back to the beginning, when I saw this pattern I figured it would work for the wool, and started playing around with the fabric placement. Here's the pattern envelope.



In order to decide how to place the fabric, the dots and lines which give a different shade of blue, I copied the technical drawing from the McCalls website, and then painted in the colors in Photoshop to see how it would look. I've also done this by printing out the page and just drawing with colored pencils or sharpie pens. You would be amazed at how much of an idea you can get on a tech drawing once you add some color and pattern.
I will show some more examples of this next time I do a Random Threads post.



Here's a nice look at the jacket so you can see how it compares to my color sketch. Not bad for getting the idea.



But before I got to that point there were a few hurdles. Like making a test version just to see if I liked the shape. To tell the truth this jacket has two features I am not really a fan of, those being no collar and cropped length. But I am trying to sew new shapes and silhouettes so I figured I would give it a try. With my precious precious fabric!

Warning! Do not laugh at my hideous test garment which used up scraps and quilting cotton. Hey at least it gave me the idea of how the various elements would look, and the fit was spot on.



Onward to cutting out where it turned into quite the sewing puzzle, in that it was a bit confusing to keep straight which side I wanted as the right side for each section. So I put the image in my photos and referred often as I was stitching it up.



This fabric quality is Gorgeous with a capital G. The type of wool that sews like a dream. You can see the dots on one side (they are really little squares are made by the intersection of the lines on the other side.


Pattern changes: I knew I wanted the overall jacket to be longer than designed. The pattern version is very short, at least for me, probably landing about 1 to 2 inches below my waist. I added about 1" to the center sections, and then added also at the hemline. I lengthen the bottom section of the sleeve to be a regular long sleeve instead of a mid-wrist length.



This photo I took to show how much shaping there is in the jacket, what looks like a boxy front has a noticeable curve which becomes sort of a bust dart, or at least bust shaping. In the last Garment Copy class I taught one of the students had a top with this feature, and it was striped which helpfully showed us how much shaping was incorporated in what looked like rectangular pieces.

Next obsession on this journey - pattern matching.

I set aside the remaining fabric as I decided to cut out the front bands later, once I sewed up the front and then I could match the lines precisely.




Sewing satisfaction! Actually the dots lined up as well because the other side is the lines which aligns with the bands when I pinned it together to sew.

Interfacing info.



I never look at the pattern instructions when it comes to interfacing but do my own thing. Which usually means more interfacing. On this one I put weft fusible around the neckline, and the top of the sleeves. the front bands have the medium weight Sheer Elegance interfacing on the outer  band and then more on the inner side which you can see in the next picture.



I put interfacing on the top of the band as well as on the lining fabric which is sewn to the neckline, as I think it needs some oomph to make a structured neckline and sharp corners at the top.
I attached the lining by machine stitching at the neckline and down the front edges, but then did the sleeve hem and bottom hem by hand. Because I'm not a fan of bagging the lining - even though in this jacket it would have been fine. Prefer the control of hand stitching the lining and it seems just as quick to me.

More sewing satisfaction :)  so happy with how the sleeve pattern lined up with the jacket body.



And yes, I did add a vertical dart in the back. It might take away a bit from the style, but I thought it looked terrible on me without any shaping. Stuck out in a weird and boxy way so I just added vertical darts.



It looks a little loose in the back but that is the dress form (who has very upright posture!) when worn it conforms better to the shape of my back.





I showed those pictures previously - here or in Instagram but I am repeating as the outfit is complete! Here's the link to the silk blouse post. And I think next winter I will wear the jacket with blouse and bow. It's such a beautiful color.




I have enough fabric remaining to make a skirt but that might just be too much! although I held up the dot side to the jacket and it looked quite good. Maybe a mini skirt worn with boots and a turtleneck? A project for the fall when wool wearing weather returns.



Now I'm striding onward to the next project 😀.

Which this weekend is two days of classes at Hello Stitch Studio, on Sat. we have the Bondi dress, and on Sunday our Pattern Fitting and Adjustment class (I think the Fit Lab portion might be full - but there is space in the classroom session, and we repeat this class regularly so check back).

I recently indulged in the ruffle trend so I have a summer silk top to share, and a dress with a strategically placed opening which is far cuter than I expected. Plus a Random Threads soon.

Happy almost summer sewing,
Beth

Today's garden photo, a pink snapdragon with some purple-blue pansies in the background.



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