Revisions 1: red bouclé jacket

The last few times I tried to wear my red bouclé Chanel jacket, I had to abandon the inclination.  I shrunk a little in the last few years, and was simply swimming in it.

So recently I took the time to "revise" it.  I took off the trim, removed the front zip, opened the lining, and then took it in - a lot.  The key alteration was taking in the upper shoulder princess lines above the bust point.  The pattern is drafted for a bust whose fullness seems to begin right at the shoulder - I kid you not. My body has a definite hollow between the clavicle and the bust, so without alterations there was quite a lot of pooching of fabric in that area.  I was happy to wrestle that issue into submission and transfer the change - once and for all - onto the pattern pieces.  I also removed a lot from the waist at each of the seams - front, side, and back, taking in the sides all the way to the hip.

Then I put it all back together.

For comparison, here's a collage of the first look, with the original hooks, before I replaced them with a zip:

Driven by my desire for change, I removed all the armscye trim and moved the secondary little pockets to their conventional Chanel locations.  Without the trim, the shoulder line suddenly seems much wider, doesn't it?

The nice thing about this revision?  not only do I have a jacket that fits me better, but the zipper tape is correctly concealed beneath the lining.  Shames me to admit it, but I was too lazy to open the lining when I replaced the hooks with zipper in the first place.  Much happier now.

Lace overlay skirt suit - finished!

Happy New Year, everyone!

I finished this two piece outfit some time ago, but got flummoxed by the weather:  I was waiting for a warm (hahahah!) day.  We did have some warm ones just after Christmas, and all the snow melted, so then the great outdoors looked terribly drab.... so I waited some more for a WARM day with SNOW (for a prettier backdrop).  Right, I need my head examined:  this is, after all, the coldest time of the year.  As a matter of fact, it went down to -29C (-20F) a few days ago.  For a warm day, I might as well wait till May. Today it went up to a balmy -17C, so I said, let's do it,  heck, threw on a turtleneck....
... and isn't it glorious and bright, with the bluest blue sky you ever did see?

So, the jacket is Style Arc Ziggi pattern, starting with size 8, modified as per my previous post, lined with bronze silk jacquard.  To reiterate and sum up, my modifications angled the main front and back body princess seaming, raised and slightly widened the peplum, and enlarged the collar and lapels.

The skirt is a princess seamed Vogue 7937, view A without the belt loops, lined with black bemberg, with an invisible side zipper. I started with size 12, then took it in a bit in the waist and added a bit of width over the hips.  I think I finally got smart about this - I didn't touch the side seams, but instead added all the extra width, about 1/4" per seam, just to the front and side princess seams:  i.e., over the butt and the thighs. Well, the skirt fits (and I think looks) better than any I've ever made before.  And it's a little shorter than I normally make them.  I like it, but - is it mutton posing as lamb???

Jacket back view:

Here is where I think I could've done better - the upper back is a little longer than it could be. I shortened the front and back side panels, pinching out to nothing at the front and back princess seam. Looking at the photo above I now think the CB panels could also have been shortened the same way.  In the front, the effect is a small FBA, which is perfect for me; but my back is "overerect" in tailoring parlance, i.e., shorter than the norm as it is.  Lesson for next time:  for optimal result do a petite alteration of sides and all of the back, but omit the front.

Jacket lining:  I have always loved how gold and its many shades plays with black and white:  it's a classic combo.  That's why I chose both the bronze lining and the bronze-gold trim to riff on the bronze zippers of the jacket.

Sleeve gussets:  I winged it, as the pattern had no such thing.  Basically I cut two large isoceles triangles taller than they were wide, hemmed their base, and attached these by machine to the zipper tapes of the unlined sleeve.  When making the sleeve lining I made sure the bottom 20 cm of this seamline was left open.  After bagging the lining and turning the sleeve hem, I hand sewed these lining edges to the gussets. Clear as mud?  

A side view of the skirt's back vents: I worried about how to correctly attach the lining to those pesky vents, but then, when I got down to it, there was no problem. Somehow, it all just fell into place.  Yes, Virginia, there IS such a thing as overthinking what you're doing.

In closing, a "Shakespearean" look:  very Sir Walter Raleigh, don't you think? 

Happy 2015 Sewing, everyone!!!

Incognito: trench fedora à la Vogue 8844

This weekend I visited Montreal for a day.  Fortunately, my hostess is an avid fabric artiste and was happy to give me the full run of her workshop, not to mention her two very capable hands. 

Before I went, I prepared myself, cutting out the trench coat's facing and full lining, and checking that the remainder would indeed suffice for a hat.  I selected the pattern (V8844, view A), stuffed the fashion and lining fabric along with some fusible hair canvas in my oversized purse, and hopped on the bus! 

Making a hat isn't that difficult. Fusing interfacing to all the bits (top, crown, and rim), and ensuring that the hat's top is smoothly basted and then stitched to the crown were probably the biggest challenges:  one psychological (boredom!), the other technical (stiff, unyielding fabric).  The first was greatly lessened by the fact that I had a cheerful like-minded conversationalist in the room, who became more & more enthused as construction proceeded, and eventually traced a version for herself as well:  yay!

The real treat, though?  You'll never guess.  It was getting the opportunity to use her 30 year old Bernina 830.   Wow:  whisper quiet and smooth as silk.  Apart from a couple of dropped stitches, which were probably my fault as I didn't bring an appropriately heavy, sharp new needle appropriate for my project, it worked tirelessly and fabulously.   I loved using this delicately responsive piece of equipment, especially when applying reams and reams of topstitching to the rim. Coming back to my noisy, clackety, equally old Kenmore:  meh!

I brought the hat home just in time to hand sew the lining into it model it over dinner.   And?

1.  Magenta doesn't quite do it: I'll add a ribbon made out of the coat's lining to the hat;
2.  I predict there's a new sewing machine in my future;
3.  my young boy wants a fedora just like mine!

Inside view:  topstitching and lining.

Without the silly magenta ribbon:  much better!

The coat's nearly finished: shhhhhh!