Its been so long since I blogged, I’ll bet you thought the contest put me off sewing forever. Not at all. I started sewing a jacket in early Nov, but it took forever to complete. Lots of different reasons. Holidays, business trips that kept me away from my sewing machine and required traveling on the weekend to be on site early Monday morning. Boy, do I resent it when work encroaches on my precious weekends. And, oh yes, some sewing mishaps and sourcing issues.
The jacket is from Burda July 2013 –102 The full sewing course instructions are included in the issue.
The jacket is described as" biker jacket meets blazer". It has some biker jacket details, but they are rather weak. Burda made it in “ natte” because it was “ soft and breathable.” I have never heard of natte so I looked it up – it is more a weave than a fabric. A basket weave made with contrasting colors in the warp and weft; also a fabric with such a weave woven usually from silk, rayon, and cotton.
My fabric was very different, a black lace bonded to grey felted wool blend, purchased at JoAnn Fabrics. The face is 60% Cotton 40% Polyester, the base fabric: 40% Wool 60% Polyester
One of the participants in Marcy Tilton’s Coat Sew Along (no name provided in Marcy's post ) made a suit from it. Which I love.
And fellow blogger Sigrid has a lovely blue background version that I like even better than my fabric. I can't wait to see what she sews from hers.
I chose the pattern because I thought the edge binding would be a good finish for the heavier double sided fabric and give me the option of wearing the jacket lapels open, with the contrasting gray showing.
I made a number of changes to the pattern. The lapels are single layer, not faced as per the instructions. I rounded the corners of the shoulder and pocket flaps to echo the lapel's rounded style. I eliminated the shoulder seam in the shoulder flaps to get rid of extra layers of fabric at the shoulder sleeve point. The pattern directions called for double welt pockets with the pocket flap sewn under the top welt. The welts were to be 3/16 “ wide. I know the limits of my abilities and 3/16 welts in just about any fabric is one of them. I went with a single welt pocket with flap, where there is one bottom welt. I made the welt 3/8" and of the same lighter weight fabric used for the binding.
The jacket required 5 " open ended zippers in each sleeve. Specialty zippers are impossible to find at local stores. I was thrilled when I found two in my stash. It was only after inserting them and sewing up the sleeves, that I realized they were dark navy blue, not black and one had silver teeth, the other gold. Was I wearing my glasses that day? Out they came, replaced by two black 5 " purse zippers with closed ends. All I could find. I cut the ends open with my husband's dikes ( portmanteau of "Diagonal CutterS" pronounced "dikes") Now if my electrician/ husband ever asks me to hand him the dikes, I know what he is asking for. There was a bit of confusion when I described my zipper issue and he told me what tool to get from his toolbox.
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| Closed End Zipper |
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| Snip! |
The jacket is fastened with snaps. Since they would show when the lapel was open, I thought about using covered snaps, black on the fabric face and gray on the back. But I hate fiddling with the home sewer method of covering snaps with fabric. You know the "cut circles of fabric, work a running stitch around edge of circle, gather .....etc." Recently I was putting away a summer jacket with covered snaps, and noticed that each side of the snap had two parts, like a covered button.
I searched the internet for snaps like this. "A cover your own, with snap on backs" No luck. Lots of already covered snaps though. If you know of a source for no sew, cover your own types of snaps, please let me know. I ended up going with black metal snaps.
I have had no time now to take pictures of the jacket on me. I will try and do it in early Jan. Right now I need to get off my computer and wrap some presents.
I wish everyone joy filled holidays and I will be back in the new year!
