The collar gave me fits and the shoulders were WAY too wide.
When I decided to use this pattern again I was all "BUT THE COLLAR!?!?" The instructions are NOT good enough to get you a well-done collar. Not. At. All.
But I was determined to get a nice lapel so I didn't allow myself to freak out about it. I thought to myself, I thought, "Self; 1) you are a much more experienced sewer than you were in October and 2) get help before you start."
I was pointed towards this great tutorial by Sherry of Pattern, Scissors, Cloth: HERE. The only thing is she uses black fabric which we all know is a bear to photograph. So I missed some of the details and ended up unpicking stitches and checking and sewing a few stitches and checking and sewing a few stitches and...yeah. It went like that.
I think the ultimate takeaway is:
- Mind your seam allowances!
- Trim/grade your seams!!(!!)
- Clip your curves!!!
I stabilized the hem with fusible knit tape
Back shoulder darts (need a better pressing - oops!)
IMO this pattern has a great sleevecap that barely needs to be eased in at all. They went in flawlessly on the grey version and this one too!
I'm a sucker for a little contrasting serger thread! I know it can be taboo for some but I like it! I'd bought extra spools of green thread (bless you 1034D and your ability to use regular spools) but after making some tests I decided I preferred the white.
(Facings will be catchstitched...)
I remembered to move the pockets forward a bit; but only like 1/2 an inch. They were just a tad too far back on the first version.
The center back seam that helps with the lovely swayback
I remembered to narrow the shoulder (by 3/4"!)...but didn't realize I needed a vertical FBA so I have some draglines again.
(I think I need to shorten the sleeves a little bit.)
I was going to make 3/4 sleeves but duh. I live in the tundra. It will only be short-sleeved weather for about 8 more weeks. And then the 28 weeks of cold and then... :)
I think I'll take the sleeves up a little and give all those darts another good press. I need to do the buttonholes (even though I never even cut them open on the grey one!).
Oh! And I'm thinking about this button:
Other thoughts...
Beth of 110 Creations mentioned here, in her trials with this jacket about something strange happening when the facings are attached. I completely agree.
Something goes a bit wonky in the area where collar/shoulder seam/facing all meet. I don't have enough experience to say WHAT's wrong just know that it is a little off. And I don't think it's the bulk...when I made B5927, it's not weird in that area at all and that was with a denim-type suiting fabric. This is a not-quite midweight knit. But again, I can't say for sure.
This pattern was actually pretty fast.
7/5: I cut it out (~30 min)
7/6: sewed all 6 darts, sewed CB seam (~30 min)
7/7: sewed patch pockets, sewed fronts to back (~1 hour)
7/8 a.m.: interfaced collar (~15 minutes)
7/8 p.m.: sewed collar to jacket, interfaced facings (~30 min)
7/9 a.m.: sewed one side of collar/lapel/facing (~45 min - there was MUCH stitch unpicking!)
7/9 p.m.: finished collar/lapel/facing, set sleeves, hemmed (~2.5 hours)
The only "marathon" sewing was last night...I am a firm believer in squeezing in a few minutes of time where you can. I'll sew the buttonholes tonight, handsew the buttons and catchstitch the facings. Done and done.
We have a busy weekend of softball so I will probably start my cropped pants. Pants work very well being done in tiny increments. If I'm lucky I'll get them done over the course of the weekend and get my shirt done over the first half of next week. I have NO free weekends again until August 8th!
