I finally got some "no plans" days at the end of my Dec. holiday to do some sewing. This jacket in the Folklore Fashion section of the Burdastyle Jan 2018 issue grabbed my attention. It was a short, slightly flared jacket with 3/4 length sleeves, stand up collar, hook and eye closure and pieced geometric panels. It was shown in solid colors of red, white and blue. I preferred a bit more subdued color blocking and luckily I had some large wool scraps in my scrap bag that were perfect.
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| Burdastyle 1 2018 112 |
There were 5 pages of illustrated, detailed instructions for this jacket included in the magazine.
I am glad I had long stretches of uninterrupted sewing time. This is not a project for “Sadie the Slapdash Sewist”. Who is Sadie? Not a real person, but a sewing caricature in my mind who cuts and sews sloppily and then blames the pattern company for a crappy pattern. Anyway back on topic. Careful pattern tracing, cutting, seam line marking and sewing are necessary on this project. Those small triangles look very similar but they are not. There is some bust shaping built into the pieced area in the front, so the sides of the triangles are slightly different lengths, even the small ones that look like equilateral triangles. The directions recommend marking the pattern piece number, grain line arrow and seam lines, on each triangle piece. Even though I followed those directions and was very careful, I inserted one triangle sideways resulting in one front being shorter than the other. I had to measure the sewn sides of each triangle until I found the culprit and ripped it out. The precision quilter in me wished the pieced sections had been provided in a foundation piecing format. A method of stitching fabric shapes to a paper foundation that facilitates precision piecing and sharp corners. The paper is removed after piecing. But that is an advanced quilting technique. Not one I would expect to see used in a Burda pattern. The pattern does include a separate front lining with no piecing. I added a center back seam for the shaping I need for an upper back curve.
It was a fun project and I like the finished jacket. A bit distinctive, so not what I would call a wardrobe staple, but a fun piece that other sewists would appreciate. And it used up some of my larger fabric remnants.
I am working from home today because of the weather. So I was able to get daylight pictures without having to wait for the weekend. And since DH is now retired, I had a photographer. Hooray for snow days!
