On a plane and have a couple hours to kill. Perfect time to give a jacket update.
Almost done.... No hems, lining and needs a real good pressing!
Over the past couple of weekends I have been working on a new jacket. I am in the midst of losing weight and have now lost over 30 lbs. This means that my work wardrobe has been drastically reduced due to clothes being so big one me. At first I was reluctant to sew a complicated sewing project for myself since I still plan on losing another 30 or so lbs. As I was contemplating what to do, sew or clothes shopping??? I decided to peruse my pattern stash and came across several Jacket patterns from Cynthia Guffey. I took a class with her back in November that w a half day fitting class with about 20 women of various sizes and shapes. Cynthia had made up samples of the patterns for us to try on and with a single size most jackets fit the majority of women. Ahaaa moment! This was a pattern for a loose fitting jacket tailored for my shape that will continue to look good as my shape changes.
Sewing a good project for me is just what I needed to get back my sewing mojo and give me a break from wedding sewing.
I have worked on this jacket in several day long sessions. Day 1, cut out pattern, cut out fashion fabric, interfacing and lining. Stay stitched edges, applied fusible knit interfacing and transferred tailor tacks. That took me like 7 hours. Lots of pieces!
Silk thread used for tailor tacks and other marks.
Tons of little pieces for the collar and 3 pieced sleeves.
Fusible knit interfacing fused to all fashion fabric pieces.
Day 2, construction of jacket. About 5 hours.
Upper front, the tab goes under the front left for a hidden button and the flap can either be left down, as in picture, or looped through slots in collar. Very cool detail.
The back, cut on bias. Hem is only pressed and falling down in the picture.
Day 3, construction of lining, this was a quick day only took a couple hours.
Next up is to do my hand sewing. I have some areas to whip stitch, and I want to hand take the facing and hem before sewing in the lining.
The fabric, lining, interfacing and thread are all from my stash! No new purchases! It's like getting a jacket for free.... (Or at least I like to think that way!)
The fabric is a piece I picked up from the Vogue Fabrics outlet in downtown Chicago. If memory serves me correctly it is a remnant from Jones New York and is a twill fabric with metallics. Super nice to work with! The back of the jacket is cut on the bias which worked great with the large stripes on the border of the fabric. The only thing was that the bias grain lines reflects the light off the metallic threads different,y depending on angle of viewing and the lighting. Which I really love but was a bit tricky in cutting out. I used a with nap layout and used blue painters tape to mark the back of every single piece!
The ever changing fabric. I took all 4 of these pics at the same time with the same camera settings. The fabric sure does change depending on the view and the light!
- Posted by Steph from my iPad
Location:Coming to you from 30'000 feet... And my hotel room.
