A tale of two jackets, Vogue 7975

Two completed jackets in two very different fabrics.

This is the muslin for 7975 that was done in the jacket fitting workshop with Sarah Veblen this past spring.

Jacket 1, my first wearable muslin, in a cream stretch woven cotton/Lycra sateen. Fully lined with cream ambiance.  Biggest issue was choosing a fabric with Lycra! I have such a love/hate relationship with Lycra. The biggest problem with woven's with Lycra is that they somehow end up being much bigger than intended.  In my mind this is so counterintuitive. In retrospect, not the best fabric to use for a first wearable muslin! Oh well, it was in my stash and I wanted to use it up! 

I had a lot of fun making this jacket. I have been wanting to try some internal ribbon details for a while and thought this was a perfect time to try some new techniques!

The buttons are from my vintage button stash! They make me happy!!

Other than fitting changes, I used a different sleeve. I have been working with a 3-piece sleeve. Love this! Love the shape, the drape and the fact that you waste less fabric :) I choose not to do a vent in this sleeve for ease of construction.

Other changes; changed the neckline to a shaped soft V, a very flattering shape for me. The jacket hem is interfaced with strips of silk organza  and I added a lower small inside pocket, this was a design decision to keep my silhouette sleek on the outside however, I like to have a small pocket for mint, tissue, hotel room key, etc.. 

You can see from the photos that the jacket is big. It's on my list to take out the lining, go in and tighten up all the major vertical seams. In the body and at least the exterior arm seam. I do want to get this done before mid- October so I can wear the jacket for a business conference in October. I have pants and a shell already done for this jacket. I have worn this for one work meeting and definitely needs to be taken in! I felt a bit like I was swimming in it. 

Jacket #2. Wearable Muslim # 2  Non-stretch denim, with print cotton facings, under collar and hong kong seam binding. This has a 2 piece knit sleeve. I loved the idea of doing a knit sleeve on a woven jacket, I've seen it in RTW and wanted to play with this idea. 

Fitting changes in this version: addition of a narrow dart below the bust in approx the  center of the side front. This provides some additional shaping. I also trimmed of a small amount off the side front princess seam in the bust area. My boobs just looked too pointy! This jacket was cut exactly the same as the first cream one and such a huge difference in size due to the type of fabric.

As you can see in the photos this version also has a collar. There is no collar in V7975 so I drafted my own partial roll collar using the Craftsy collar drafting class by Suzy Furrer. This was such an easy thing to do and I loved designing my own collar! I know it's just a basic collar but somehow knowing that I did it myself makes me feel proud of my skills. 

I also think the Hong Kong binding on this jacket looks quite amazing. I was quite careful about trimming overlapping seam allowances to help keep the extra thicknesses to a minimum. Hing Kong binding takes a bit longer to do than an actual lining but I love how it elevates the interior of the jacket!

I am very happy with this creation!! I decided to keep the original front neckline. This allows me to play with design. I thought about adding in inseam pockets at the front princess seams, however in my mind I was thinking of this as a 2nd wearable muslin and didn't want to go there. Although, I really do like having pockets in my casual jackets!

I have worn this jacket several times already! To the movies, to a  Haute Couture club meeting, and traveling.

The buttons I used are vintage plastic 1inch buttons from my stash. I really enjoy the pop of color, color makes me happy. 

I am very, very happy overall with this jacket and it makes a perfect fall garment. Every time I put this jacket on I just feel good.

I have a couple more plans for this jacket pattern. One with a self drafted shawl collar, and a Chanel knockoff cardigan jacket. Hope to work on this over the winter. 

I am off to Delaware to help take care of my mom post surgery for the next 10 days. So glad I had the time to take off to go birth with my mom and dad. This does mean that my home sewcation is not happening. However, I have brought some sewing projects with me.... Mom sure won't be using her sewing machine while I'm there!

Happy Sewing!!

My hubby snuggling with the grand babies this past weekend! 

Sarah Veblen Chicago Jacket Workshop

Last week I had the incredible pleasure of spending time with Sarah Veblen and 4 other incredibly talented Chicago area sewists, Wendy, Liz, Liz and Susan!

I must admit that I was initially a little nervous about heading downtown to join these ladies in the class. Why? May you ask.... Well,  what if I wasn't good enough, what if they didn't like me, yadda, yadda, yadda. Head trash, all of it!

So, I put all that head trash aside and on Monday I headed downtown to one ladies apartment for 2 hours of private fitting appointments. I was psyched about this and had prepared 4 muslins. A pair of dress pants, a sheath dress, a paneled swing jacket and a traditional French jacket. 

On that Monday we worked on the pants, sheath dress and swing jacket. The process is great. Each of the muslin pieces is marked with both horizontal and vertical lines. These help you to see where the fit is going wrong and assists in helping you to understand how to fix the fitting problems.

With my muslin on, I stood in front of a mirror with Sarah armed with pins on a rolling stool. With us looking in the mirror she would make changes. Some of these were pinning out wedges and darts horizontally, some were pinning out vertically, some also included cutting and slashing. Once pinned and discussed in the mirror, the muslin came off and was then discussed, marked and annotated in sharpie. We discussed the changes and what order to make the changes in and a quick review on how to make the pattern changes. I only spent minimal time on how to make the pattern changes because I feel pretty confident in this area. 

The 2 hours flew by and I was so excited to have several well fitted muslins. That afternoon I drove home and did some homework. I made the changes to the pants pattern, recut and sewed a new pants muslin. Whew! Power sewing on a Monday evening! 

The next 3 days were spent in the actual Jackets workshop at another ladies apartment in downtown Chicago. I felt so welcomed by this group of ladies I really was silly to even had felt anxious! 

We spent 9am to 6pm Tuesday - Thursday. The mornings were spent with Sarah Veblen in discussion. It was such great discussion among the group. The first day was a show and tell of what kind of jacket we were working or planning on working on with discussions around the considerations of the style, the fabric type, the construction. The other days had more detailed discussion on collars, cuffs, vents, and then some more detailed items such as closures. 

The afternoons were then spent with us fitting, adjusting, sewing,etc... For me I spent a lot of time on perfecting the fit and a very classic Chanel type 3 piece sleeve. I think over the week I made 2 full jacket muslins and 3 sleeve muslins. One of the great parts of this was me finally fully realizing the relationship of the armhole to the sleeve! WOW!!! It was like things just clicked into place and I actually really enjoyed making the muslins and all the pattern adjustments. Imagine I have an actual custom made sleeve pattern for me. 

Along with that, we played with different necklines that would be flattering on me.

There were many times that I put down what I was doing to go and look over someone's else's project and discussions. It was great to hear others considerations and issues and how they were being worked out. So much learning and so much inspiration! 

I did also get my new pants muslin tweaked!! Go me!! 

The week ended with a Thursday evening meeting of the ASG Chicago chapter meeting where Sarah Veblen gave the guest lecture. 

When I got home late on Thursday evening I was both utterly exhausted and feeling energized and excited to move into some very high quality sewing projects. 

I was also inspired to join the ASG :) finally after sewing for 25+ years. Better late than never!

Sarah Veblen is an AMAZING professional to work with! If you have the opportunity to take a workshop with her, do it! You won't be sorry at all. She also has classes on pattern review. Although, I have never taken any of these. She also does teach periodically at some of the expos. Check out her website www.sarahveblen.com