None of you will remember my "1.1 meter challenge" post from waaaay back in May..... I know you won't, the blogosphere moves at such a rapid pace, it's not possible.
It's been an impossibly hectic spring/summer/fall here Chez StraightJacket. Pulled into a gadzillion directions, I've been. And I'm happy to say that finally, many events and continents and thousands of miles/kilometers behind me, here I am again... finally occupying my oversize dining table with scraps of fabric and the clackety sound that my boys love so much.
One of my personal pet peeves (have I mentioned it before?) is the abandonment of unfinished projects. Yes, I know we all have UFOs (unfinished objects). Guilty!!!! But I hate, I detest, I truly despise them. An abandoned project is the epitome of wasted resources: fabric, patterns, electricity, all those other resources that equal cold hard cash, but most of all, the queen of all non-renewable and precious resources, time.
So today, give me and all UFO finishers a little bit of applause. But not TOO much applause: I missed the opportunity for an outdoor photo op on the last beautiful day of the year, and until it stops raining, hanger pics is all I can do for the moment.
The jacket is the exclusive design from BurdaStyle Magazine Oct. 2008, pattern 131. I cut size 38, and lengthened the hem 5 cm. It's fully underlined with silk organza and lined with bemberg rayon. The usual suspects (cuffs, collar, belt ties) are interfaced, so the interfacing is fused to the organza. I added a wedge of fusible hair canvas to the lapels for extra oomph.
It's a lovely little pattern, if rather boxy. I was attracted by the unusual collar-lapel treatment: it's not often you see a collar laying over the lapels this way, and I wanted to try this technique. The collar actually takes a 90 degree downwards swing at the corner of the neckline, and attaches to the facings! Sneaky!
Since I decided to omit shoulder pads, I had to shave the sharply angled curve of the raglan shoulder down a smidgeon. (I'm of the opinion that summer jackets have a duty to imbue the wearer with a certain summertime casualness and je ne sais quois, thus no shoulder pads). Everything is top stitched to death, but I used self thread, not wanting any contrast. My machine, sigh, is an aged lady, and I no longer have trust in its stitch consistency.
The back side: central pleat, and waist tabs. The edges of the pleat are stitched to help them keep their ever-new knife sharpness. The waist tabs were a surprise! I chose to use buckles with teeth rather than a prong, thereby avoiding making holes in the straps.
A year later, and I still haven't had a chance to wear this item. Here are some extra photos showing the front and back details, including the collar-lapel construction detail that so intrigued me.
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| The roomy back can be cinched by the little side belts to provide some shaping. |
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| The raglan sleeves and centre back box pleat also add interest to the back view. |
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| The pocket welts are inserted into the vertical darts. |
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| Collar band is sandwiched between the lapel and its lining. Aha! |
And what is that purple thing peeking out from under the jacket (in the original photos)? Ah, well, that's another no-longer-UFO (another round of applause?). A poly chiffon top, and tube scarf out of its remnant.
I used my tank top TNT, and added a new variation: there's a seam across the bustline, allowing me to give the sides dart-like shaping, and a central pleat in the lower section. Those two things let the chiffon drape very gracefully, if I may say.
Well, with all that, I was on a roll. Not sewing last summer didn't stop me from buying fabric! During the summer I visited an Indian sari shop in Montreal, and they had a crazy sale on silk scarves. So, I grabbed this delightful red crepe - it's overprinted with a subtle paisley-ish pattern, which is unfortunately completely invisible in the photo - and I managed to make a top AND a scarf out of that today. Hah! The scarf is just a flat length, not a tube like the one above.
This one has a pleat at the centre neckline (it only looks like it's pleated at the hem, but it's not), and two opposing pleats at the hips.
Whew. I'm all blogged out for today! And all sewed out. Then again... A beautiful lightweight light beige wool destined for trousers to go with the jacket has finished drying on the couch- I might get it cut tonight if I regain some oomph after dinner. I'm thinking of using a simplified version of the Jalie jeans pattern for the trousers. What do you think of that, sewers out there?
