Talking about using your stash patterns!
I have been sitting on this pattern for over 3 years now. There was suspiciously little info on it on Pattern Review, an ominous sign, surely.
I found 7579 on the pattern website somewhere and printed it out.
Never again, I swear. All that paper, cellotape, thick lines and fuzzy pixelated measurement charts are just not my thing.
Uber pixelation
But since I got the pattern, I just had to use it. Do you know that nagging feeling of unfinished task? This is exactly what it was.
I do like jackets. Especially structured ones – they are an external skeleton of sorts, your soft and vulnerable self fees protected and secure inside.
So I decided to make a jacket only. My fabric of choice is purple stretch denim I bought from Spotlight. It cost me $5 per metre, it was impossible to resist. Besides, it was revealed to me that purple is my colour.
The idea was to combine a very frivolous purple denim and a classic fitted cut with no sense of humour.
I have studiously laid out, cut off the margins and cellotaped the pages together.
After that I had to use method of deduction to read the pixelated cryptic messages on the measurement chart. I have worked out the size I needed and cut it all out.
The muslin fitting wasn’t all too bad.
Maybe a tad too much sleeve ease.
and lack of sleeve vents…
and those back vents are done all wrong…
and pockets are too close together…
and rounded angles are a bit too round for me…
And the collar break line is a tad too high…
and those 1.5 cm seam allowances are a distraction…
But good effort! Yeah…
I like the fit of size 14 on me, I rebelled against Burda’s suggestion to go for 16. After all, I like it close fitting and my denim has stretch, so there.
I was musing over the collar shape possibly much longer than I should have. The rounded edges looked too weak, I thought. But once I cut off those monstrous seam allowances the collar curve became much tighter, so I decided to give it a chance.
So the only thing I had to do was everything else, really.
I have changed the back vents and added vents to my sleeves, re-drafted the lining and shaved off some of that generous seam allowance at neck edge, collar, lapels, facings….
Then I cut my ( pre-washed, naturally ) denim and spent two days after that cutting and fusing everything that needed fusing. And as you know, jackets are just all about interfacing and shape control.
To be continued…
You love a challenge, don’t you, Lena? Yeah!
Gotta keep things fresh! :)
I love that you say the first muslin fitting wasn’t too bad then list seven things that need changing … and not just little things. Hah the wonderland of sewing skills and experience.
I wonder why no-one has blogged about this jacket in 3 year (three pages into a google search and nothing found). You’d expect positive / negative reviews, but apparently not. Odd.
I’m looking forward to how you get on with it.
Yes, this pattern is a mystery of some kind! :) Maybe those 7 things have deterred people from trying it out? But really, none of them is a big enough obstacle, as long as the general look and feel is good, I’ll try it
You could just get it printed at a copy shop. It cost about $3 for an AO size (as a reference about 3 pieces of AO are more than enough for a standard suit pattern). You’d be saving yourself so much unnecessary pain. BTW I’ve got this pattern too and haven’t got around to making anything. The pants look awesome but what I’m planning on doing is making a pattern off an awesome Satch suit I got and then modifying every piece of this pattern to fit that ;)
Yes I probably should have, too late now! Do you have pictures of your awesome suit on your blog? I’d love to see it!
No, I’m still waiting on getting the hems tailored for petite size and having the jacket taken in. They have a website though if you want to check out the whole range.