I have seen the pattern on Ebay and Etsy so it is still around if you're looking for it. Anyway, I posted a "wanted" classified on PR and a very nice sewer offered to gift the pattern to me. YAY! Sewing friends are the best!
I'd purchased two cuts of denim from FabricMart for the jeans contest and washed them both. This one turned out streaky and I noticed the weave looks more like a twill than denim. I decided it would be good for this as I wouldn't be too hurt if it didn't work out.
Well, it worked! :)
I think it looks good open or closed!
I like the slight volume in the lower half. And the back makes me HAPPY! Those wrinkles are kinda not real. It's my topstitching of the facing. I have to redo it. It lay smoothly before I topstitched.
I cut a size 14 and the only adjustment I made was to sew the waist seam at 1/2" instead of 5/8". BUT I forgot this would affect the facing too -oops. I "split the difference" between top and bottom. Next time I'd lengthen the sleeves a little.
I used denim and navy cotton poplin; both from Fabric Mart.
Zipper is a run of the mill Coates & Clark.
I went with white topstitching and it stands out enough without being overwhelming. I really like it!!!
I added a grosgrain zipper tab in white.
The seaming is so awesome <3
The instructions have you bind the pockets and facing and hem and like, everything.
Nope.
I used a cream/grey serger blend as I don't mind using serger thread as contrast on the interior. I used double fold bias tape on the bottom and then turned up the hem.
The in-seam pockets are made by staying the top & bottom, clipping and then doing a narrow hem. There's only one pocket piece that is edge finished and then topstitched to the lower front. Works for me!
How all that comes together on the inside...
After futzing around a bunch trying to match everything; I realized the top mattered the least...I HAD to match that waist seam and the bottom, below the zipper stop. I did some serious hand basting here!
(You can see the streaks in the denim here)
I have _NO_ interfacing in this jacket and I like it that way.
The zipper goes from about 1 1/4" from the bottom all the way up to the collar.
That collar is pretty awesome too!
(ooh, you can see where the collar seams are just slightly off.
But as I said, I was far more concerned with matching the waist and hem!!)
I feel like this jacket packs a lot of punch without being difficult to construct at all.
Wait. You think I just sewed this up right out?!? Pfft!
I was rocking and rolling and then BAM.
I stitched the front to back, had a heck of a time pressing the seams open, and serged. And then I realized what had gone wrong; I missed the gusset. There is a sleeve gusset and I did not sew it in place. I had already serged my seams!
After unpicking everything (tear-free), I was back in business. The jacket was mostly assembled and then for some reason I was confusing myself entirely over the hem treatment. Like it has happened many other times, I realized what I was supposed to do Friday night as I was in bed. Just HongKong binding (or double fold bias tape), sew the facing, then hem. But I was making it SO complicated.
Then, I wanted to see a sleeve! So I "hurried" and sewed one sleeve. "so cute!".
When I went to sew the second sleeve I stitched, pressed, serged and pulled out the sleeve. And was confused. And turned it again.
I had sewn the lower sleeve inside out. CUE THE TEARS!
After unpicking the sleeve seam and redoing everything I went to press the final product and realized I'd somehow rotated the (same!) sleeve a bit when I re-did it. WHY!?!?!?! So yeah...one of the cuffs is on the side and one is on the front. My husband says he will unpick the stitches for me. :-)
Despite those hiccups, I really, really love it! I like the fit and length; I like the style on me so much! I think I can sew another of these. It was pretty cute without the lower sleeve attached and I might explore that once the weather warms up!
