Pattern Description:
Misses/Miss Petite jacket, pants, bias skirt and dress or top.
Fabrics: Lightweight wool and wool blends, silks and silk types, crepe-back satin, sueded silk/rayon, double georgette, linen and linen blends.
Front Pattern Envelope
Back Pattern Envelope
Pattern Piece Drawings
Pattern Sizing:
Sizes 8 through 24. I made a 24.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Pretty much, except mine can stand all by itself, and the one on the pattern looks kind of droopy.
Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
After my last disastrous jacket effort, I really wanted a nice, basic jacket, basic lines anyway, nothing funky or contrived. I had this pattern in my stash, and decided I'd give it a try.
I like the princess seams and the extra dart in the front.
I like the pockets.
I like the fact that you can turn back the cuffs.
I'm a little iffy on the collar, with the separate collar and lapel, or WHATEVER, but it's okay.
I prefer a two-piece sleeve on a jacket because they follow the curve of the arm, and this is a one-piece sleeve.
Fabric Used:
I have no idea what this is. When I was revamping my sewing room, I found this fabric. It's from Fabric Mart, I THINK. I don't know if you remember a few years back when these jackets were so popular out of this fabric. They had them at Kohl's, I remember, and I just LOVED them, but they didn't have any in plus sizes, NATURALLY. HEAVEN FORBID, we would stock anything for the LEPERS. :o))) ANYWAY, I thought, I'll show the SOBs, I'll make my own. That MUST be when I bought this fabric, and now I'm finally getting around to making the jacket -- ha!
Fabric
For the interfaced under collar, under lapel, sleeve facings and front facings, I used Pro Tailor fusible. I THINK it's this one. I probably would have used a sew-in if I'd had it, because I didn't figure a fusible would work very well with that fabric, but it seemed to do fine.
You were SUPPOSED to interface the entire front piece, but I didn't realize that until I had already sewn it all together, so my front facing is interfaced instead. Can we all say, "READ THE DIRECTIONS"?
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
If there was anything to do wrong on this jacket, I DID IT, and I didn't even have to try!
1. Full Bust Adjustment (FBA).
First of all, I did the dreaded full bust adjustment, but I did it WRONG. While altering my pattern pieces, I dutifully took a picture for y'all. I didn't know it would be my example of how to do it the WRONG WAY. See on the side front piece, on the left of your screen? Well, that alteration should be a WEDGE, not just straight across like that. This is the RIGHT WAY.
At any rate, I didn't notice I had done it wrong until I was putting the front and back together, and I thought, well, those BONEHEADS got their markings wrong, AND the pattern pieces don't fit together. Come to find out, I'M the bonehead. Because I didn't have that wedge in the side front piece, it was about an inch and a half LONGER than the back at the side seam there where they are sewn together. Believe it or not, I actually eased all that in, but then when I tried it on, it was pulling toward the back, the farther down you went. So it ended up that the back of the jacket is just BARELY hemmed, and the front is turned up the correct inch and a half, or whatever it is, so that they're the same length in the front and back.
2. Enlarged Sleeve Bicep.
About 90 percent of the time, I have to make my sleeves bigger, and I did that this time, too. I use Nancy Zieman's "pivot method" to enlarge my sleeves. You stick a pin at the center dot of the sleeve cap, then swing it to the left and swing it to the right (do the hokey pokey, and then you turn yourself around), thus enlarging the bicep area. It also flattens the cap somewhat, but that doesn't bother me, because I think a good share of sleeves have too much ease in the cap anyway. Anyway, this gives you an idea of how the pivot method changes the width of the sleeve. I enlarged it 1/2 an inch on each side, and you can see my marks there, and how I then swung the pattern piece out to meet that mark on each side:
Enlarged Sleeve.
3. Design Elements. At one point, I had every intention of making that bottom lapel thing out of the wrong side of the fabric. Well, I FORGOT and fused my interfacing to the wrong side, so I ended up making the underside of the collar and lapels out of the wrong side of the fabric instead. You can see it here:
Contrasting under collars.
Actually, I'm glad it turned out that way, because I like this jacket, and had I done it the way I intended, it would have been more distinctive; thus, I wouldn't have been able to wear it as often.
Oh, yeah, I forgot: I LOST the collar pattern pieces 9 and 10 (either I threw them out unwittingly, or my pup chewed them up unwittingly), so I had to draft my own. :o( I blew up the little pattern piece drawings as much as I could on my copier, and I also blew up pattern piece 7 to the same size as I had done pieces 9 and 10, so I could compare the piece 7 blow-up to the actual size of the pattern piece. The pattern piece was about 5 times bigger than the blow-up. So I used that ratio to then draw my own collar pieces 9 and 10, making them 5 times bigger than the blow-ups I had. So they're close, but not exact, I'm sure.
I also decided to put a center back seam in my under collar 10, and I cut it on the bias, so I'd get a better roll. I also shaved off the edges of the pattern piece just SLIGHTLY before cutting my fabric, so the under collar is slightly smaller than the upper collar.
I also used the wrong side of the fabric for the facing on the sleeves. You can turn them back like cuffs. Of course, I first fused my interfacing to the wrong side AGAIN, so I had to redo those.
Contrasting cuffs.
4. Sewed the sleeves in different order than instructed.
And speaking of those sleeve facings (or cuffs … I keep calling them cuffs), the way it told you to do the sleeves was to first sew the sleeve seam, then sew your sleeve facing seam, so they're both in-the-round now, but still separate. Then they had you sew the facing to the bottom of the sleeve, which means you're having to stitch that little notch in the sleeve hem in the round. To me, that's harder than sewing that part while the facing is still flat, so I did it like this:
I sewed the facing to the sleeve before the sleeve or facing seams were even sewn, so it was flat.
Then I folded the sleeve/facing right sides together, and stitched all the way down the sleeve and the facing at the same time.
Here's a few more pictures, if you're so inclined to look:
Serged inside seam finishing.
Back of jacket.
Jacket on dress form.
Jacket on me, buttoned up.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I really like this pattern. It seems to be well drafted, things went together easily (despite my mistakes along the way), and it's really pretty easy. I also like the other pieces in the pattern.
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Your jacket looks great and your review was a fun read. Thanks. :)
12/11/12 11:36 PM
miss you !!! want to kiss you:):):) This is AMAZING. Look at that sleeve head! Look at those fronts-perfect curves. Excellent tailoring. It's a $750 jacket! Who's the puppy btw?
12/12/12 0:11 AM
That is one gorgeous jacket! I love everything about it. It looks great on you. You did a beautiful job on this.
12/12/12 0:17 AM
Wow, I hope to be able to do something that looks this great some day!
12/12/12 1:44 AM
The mistakes we all make... Sometimes like you in one project. BUT you made a wonderful jacket. No mistake to be seen. So glad to read a review by you again.
12/12/12 2:13 AM
You are so funny, and yes, blame your poor dawg. But that is one awesome jacket. I wish my mistakes turned out like that. It's perfect!
12/12/12 2:17 AM
What a comedy of errors but, wow, is that cute!!! I really like the collar with two separate lapel pieces.
12/12/12 2:29 AM
Such a lovely jacket and story!
12/12/12 3:17 AM
There are just some times when it seems like a pattern doesn't want to be made. Glad you stuck with it, because this is a beautiful jacket. Thanks so much for a thorough review, as always.
12/12/12 6:09 AM
Great jacket and I think the collar is gorgeous. Your reviews are always fantastic and this one is no exception. Adding this to my wishlist.
12/12/12 6:51 AM
Great review, so detailed, thank you very much!!! Love the jacket and the fabric! I consider you the jacket queen.
12/12/12 7:02 AM
I've had those sewing days! Still, your finished product looks amazing--and perfectly fitted to you. It does what good clothes do--compliments someone who is already gorgeous. Great job!
12/12/12 7:45 AM
Annette, this is truly one of my all time favorites! Every single detail of this jacket is amazing: those cuffs with the dips, the very unique and beautiful collar (one of which you had to DRAFT because the dog ATE it..... geeez), the buttons, EVERYTHING. It's simply a gorgeous jacket. I love it! And..... a fantastic review to boot! Plus, it looks WONDERFUL on you! :-)
12/12/12 9:56 AM
Beautiful work! The jacket looks terrific on you.
12/12/12 9:58 AM
Beautiful silhouette on you. Gorgeous. It's comforting to know that other sewists go through the same things that I do. Thanks for a very helpful review.
12/12/12 10:13 AM
Gorgeous jacket and very funny review!
12/12/12 10:35 AM
Great review! The jacket is very flattering and lovely.
12/12/12 12:20 PM
This jacket looks fabulous! I really like how that double collar or separate collar/lapel looks in that fabric! Great fit too!
12/12/12 12:35 PM
really looks great on you!
12/12/12 1:37 PM
Well I am done laughing at your problems and must tell you I love your jacket - for all the wrong things you say you did this turned out perfectly - wish I had your luck yesterday - cutting out the fronts of a stripe separately and forgot to turn the pattern piece over for the second cut - outcome is in the garbage as not enough fabric to correct
12/12/12 2:20 PM
OOOOH SOOOOOOO PRETTY! Love it.
12/12/12 7:52 PM
Everything about your review is a pleasure to read---instructional, humorous, down to earth and lovely to look at! You are still "The Jacket Queen " in all your glory. No one can make a jacket as well as you. So glad you are back to a more fitted style that pleases you more. I still wish the last red jacket had worked out for you. The color was glorious. Hope you plan to use this pattern again, for it is a winner.
12/12/12 8:20 PM
Very nice jacket!!
12/12/12 9:37 PM
Fantastic looking jacket and such a thorough review. Thank you for sharing all the details.
12/12/12 10:01 PM
GREAT review--sew helpful & detailed!! Gonna help me sew another pair of pj bottoms backwards ;D FUNNY review, just like "vous"!!
12/13/12 0:01 AM
Fantastic result! The collars look great on you.
12/13/12 0:57 AM
Absolutely beautiful jacket! The remark about the lack of plus sizes for the inspiration jacket made me laugh and laugh and I think I will always remember it when out shopping for what isn't there.
12/13/12 6:56 AM
Very smart and distinctive, and a fine effort. Well worth the trouble of your trials and tribulations. You are so lucky to find a wonderful piece of fabric hidden away.
12/13/12 5:52 PM
Looks great!
12/13/12 9:40 PM
Looks terrific. I wouldn't have looked twice at this pattern, but it's really nice, and you did a great job with it..
12/14/12 0:09 AM
I laughed so hard reading your review!! Probably because all the "wrong turns" are way TOO familiar to me! It makes me feel better about my sewing "adventures!" Like maybe I can get good at this some day, even! And wow! You sure wouldn't know you did anything "wrong"! What a beeuutiful jacket! It looks absolutely perfect! Love that fabric!
12/14/12 11:57 PM
Annette, Pretty amazing....how can you get such gorgeous results from these boo boos????? Looks like you intentionally planned every step as completed to create this masterpiece! (Are you sure YOU didn't eat that pattern piece?) It is true - you ARE the jacket queen! The best part - it looks sensational on you. I especially like the shape and fit of the collar. Of course, lastly, as always, a fun review to read.
12/15/12 1:03 PM
Gorgeous jacket!
2/11/13 1:09 PM