Vogue Patterns: 1129 (MISSES' JACKET) - Type:Coat/Jacket  | | Viewed 281 times
| 2 more reviews | Review rated Very Helpful by 11 people | | Reviewed by: | Margaret | 
 | About Margaret | | QC CANADA | | Member since: 11/4/02 | | Reviews written: 111 | | Sewing skills:Intermediate | | Favored by: 10 people | | patterns reviewed: 93 | | Bio: more... |
| | Posted on: | 11/3/09 1:17 PM | | Project Photo: |  | | Pattern Photo: | 
Vogue Patterns Pattern Info | | Pattern Rating: | Highly Recommend | | See other patterns in this category: Coat/Jacket | Available for sale on PR: $30 (See envelope)  | | | | Related Links | Click on  to add a link |
| This pattern has already been reviewed once here -- that's an excellent, very helpful review and I pretty much agree with everything the reviewer has said.
I chose this pattern for a blue wool doubleknit I had in my stash.
Pattern Description: The envelope says: "Unlined, fitted jacket with pockets, drape, two-piece sleeves and topstitch trim, above mid-knee length." I would add that it has a very slightly pegged or tapered shape, and princess-seam-shaped darts in front into which the pockets are sewn. It is not closely fitted to the waist, and it has normal width (not extended or dropped) shoulders.
Pattern Sizing: It comes in 6-8-10-12 and 14-16-18-20. I used 16 for the bodice and sleeve areas and 18 for the waist and hips, among many other alterations.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, although my fabric is different. My guess is the photo shows some kind of light to medium weight, possibly loosely woven wool (or mohair, which is one of the other suggested fabrics). My fabric is probably a little less drapey. Also, on me the two edges of the front, below the drape, seem to hang down straighter, which I don't mind. In my front photo, the jacket has wrinkles below the drape and the fronts overlap a little, but I think this is because the dress form isn't "wearing" anything under it. On me, the front edges hang slightly apart. Here is the back. The finished jacket is mid-knee length on me, and that's with my usual alterations.
Were the instructions easy to follow? Well... let me say this, when I first looked through the instructions there were places where I was looking at the drawings and thinking "what piece is that? where is that?!" I had to follow the instructions step by step, and have the garment to look at, in order to understand some of the steps regarding the drape. Fortunately, all of the steps do work. I didn't find any mistakes. As the previous reviewer says, there aren't any really unusual techniques. There is a lot of topstitching and machine hemming. It's really important to transfer and to be able to see all the markings, especially the front darts. Also, you have to hand-sew the pocket edges invisibly to the fronts; this can be tricky on a thin, solid-colored fabric.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? The most obvious feature of the pattern is the drape, but I'm also very impressed with the overall cut and shape of the body and sleeves. The princess seams, darts, two-piece sleeves, and slight tapering into the hem are all flattering, and the fit is close enough, but not too close, for a jacket. The pattern pieces were all correctly drafted to fit together properly (keeping in mind, as stated in the previous review, that the curved drape will have to be eased somewhat to fit onto the placement line on the right front.)
I didn't like how much time it took to finish, especially all of the hemming, but that's just the way the design is -- lots of edges. I found it easiest to get the hems accurate by hand basting each hem twice, once near each foldline. That took a lot of time. Also, as the other reviewer mentioned, the drape piece is HUGE so I, too, was on the FLOOR cutting it out. :P It takes close to the whole width of the 60" fabric, and a fair amount of length as well.
It's also definitely not the easiest thing to alter, but I think that's common for draped designs.
Finally, some of the cutting lines are confusing because for some reason, the widths of the dashes occasionally change. In the confusing areas it might be helpful to draw over the correct line with a colored pencil before cutting the piece, just to be safe.
A couple of other things to be aware of: there is no lining (so the seam allowances, and whatever finish you decide to use on them, will show), and the hems are meant to be turned over and topstitched -- which could get bulky on some fabrics.
Fabric Used: The pattern suggests mohair, lightweight woolens, and wool doubleknit. Lining is required for the front section of each pocket. I used a light to medium weight wool doubleknit for the main fabric, and some kind of unidentified synthetic charmeuse (probably polyester) for the pocket linings. I couldn't find a good color of topstitching thread, so I used regular thread for the topstitching. The pattern calls for "jumbo snaps" and I'm not sure what size that is exactly, so I used 18mm snaps, which were the biggest I could find nearby. They seem about right.
Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: There are the usual marked lengthen/shorten lines on this pattern, one in the hip area and one between the bust and waist, on each relevant pattern piece (on the sleeves, it's one line above the elbow and one below). The fullest part of the bust and hip are also marked with circles, as usual.
The design of this pattern makes certain alterations difficult. The princess-seam-like darts on the front don't go directly over the bust, but are a bit off to the sides. This, and the placement of the drape on the right side, would complicate a full bust or small bust adjustment.
The alterations I made were (most of) my usual ones:- I have a high bust and usually prefer shallower armholes, so I often shorten the front and back slightly in two places -- in the armhole area and 1 inch below the armhole. I do the same alterations on the sleeves to match (also because I have short upper arms). You can see the altered fronts here and here. (Sorry about the wrinkles and the odd backgrounds! I had just put everything away when it occurred to me to take the photos, but I hope they are still clear enough.)
- I have high round hips and short legs, so I usually fit anything other than pants by shortening the distance from waist to hip.
- Normally I alter for forward, square shoulders, but I got confused about the shoulder configuration of this pattern, so I left it unchanged. I thought the neckline might be some kind of slight funnel shape under the drape, but now that I've sewn the pattern I think it's just meant to be a normal cut in the shoulders. Compared to other Vogue patterns, I found that the shoulders are rather sloped. Fortunately, my knit fabric seems to compensate for this.
- I altered for thick upper arms, changing only the upper sleeve pattern piece. You can see the severely altered piece here; the less-altered undersleeve is here.
- Normally, after I've done all the other sleeve alterations, I have to add a fair amount of length (around 1 3/8") back into the sleeve below the elbow, but I didn't have to on this pattern. This suggests to me that the sleeves on this pattern may be longer than usual. I think it's good to have slightly longer sleeves on a jacket or coat, but that's maybe a bit much. Fortunately, that's one of the easiest things to change on this pattern.
- To keep the drape length in proportion with all these alterations, I shortened the drape pattern piece in several places. To do this, I held the drape piece up to the fronts -- trying as much as possible to match it up as it would be sewn or wrapped over them -- and copied my shortening lines onto the drape piece, extending them in either direction where necessary. Normally, I keep all lengthening and shortening on the cross or straight grain (or true bias, on a bias garment), but in the case of the drape, my lengthen/shorten lines ended up somewhere else (especially the right front ones). I felt it was most important, on this freeform piece, to keep those alterations parallel with the corresponding ones on the front. It seems to have worked out OK, but if I'd needed to make bigger alterations, I probably would have wanted to make the drape up in muslin to test them. Here is my altered drape piece. I couldn't get the whole piece in the photo. (The wide piece of tape is just to attach the two sections of the pattern piece together; it's so big, it wasn't all printed on one sheet. There are a couple of other random bits of tape along the edges, because I'd started to cut the piece on the wrong line.) The two diagonal shortening alterations are to make the right front of the drape match the right front of the bodice, and the other two are to match the left front and the left back.
If you use only the specified lengthen/shorten lines, you technically won't need to alter the drape to make it fit the pattern, though I guess you might choose to for aesthetic reasons, if you make the jacket much longer or shorter. - Lastly, I took a little out of the back at the princess seams because I have a slightly narrow upper back. The altered back and side back pieces can be seen here and here.
As for the design, I didn't change much. I did leave out steps 37 and 38. These steps tell you to press the armhole seam allowance toward the body instead of the sleeve in the shoulder area, and topstitch that part of the sleeve. I tried pressing the seam that way, but decided I preferred the more standard seam-allowance-turned-toward-armhole look, so I did that and left off the topstitching.
On the pockets, I felt that double fold bias tape could be too bulky and could show through the outside of my fabric. Instead, I used single fold bias tape cut in half and zigzagged on.
Oh, and I made a mistake mitering one corner on the end of the drape. I trimmed off too much, so I ended up sewing on a little patch on the inside to cover the seam allowances. I think it would have been helpful if the pattern piece had lines for where to trim the corners, but that's getting to be more than I'd expect from a Big4 pattern. :/ Just be careful not to cut too much off the less-sharp corner -- you need more of the hem allowance to go into the miter than you would on a right-angle (square) corner.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? I won't sew it again just because it's a one-of-a-kind design, but I do think it's a good pattern. I wouldn't agree with the pattern's "easy" rating. It requires careful cutting, marking, and hemming, and the drape can get confusing. That said, it's a very flattering design. If you keep in mind that you're going to be dealing with potentially hard to alter pieces, a lot of hemming, and a lot of topstitching, I highly recommend it. | Buy this pattern for $30 Add to Bag  |
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<< Previous Review Next Review >> | Reader Comments | | homejewel | 11/3/09 | Thank you so much for this very detailed review. It was very helpful and tells me where I need to mentally prepare before tackling this project. I love this jacket and because of my height will have to do quite a bit of modifications to the pattern. I will definitely be rereading this review again before I start on mine. Thank you again for all the effort and pictures! | | * * * | | Sweetiebop | 11/3/09 | Love your coat and the color too. I wish I had used a lighter fabric. I am so glad I am not the only one who thought this wasn't easy. The procedures yes not the multiple steps. Just show me what your are doing next. | | * * * | | Tailypo | 11/3/09 | Thank you for this incredibly detailed and thoughtful review. I love your results and intend to print this out when I take on this jacket! | | * * * | | Rhonda in Montreal | 11/3/09 | "Yikes!! "Highly recommended for master seamstresses", I say!! Would LOVE to see it "on" ya!! | | * * * | | Auntie Allyn | 11/3/09 | Great review . . . this one is in my "to do" pile, and your comments and recommendations are very much appreciated! | | * * * | | marec | 11/3/09 | Great coat and terrific review! | | * * * | | Flying Seamstress | 11/4/09 | Thank you so much for sharing this sewing/fitting experience! Your new coat is lovely and I know you will enjoy wearing it. Your generosity in preparing this thorough review is very much appreciated!!! | | * * * | | Linda L | 11/4/09 | Wow, fantastic review. I make some of the similar pattern adjustments you make due to my being short. I have and want to make this pattern. I will be using your helpful review. Your coat is lovely, beautiful color. Please consider taking a photo and posting with you wearing. | | * * * | | WJean | 11/4/09 | Thank you so much for this detailed and understandable review on a pattern that I requested for review. Your review with the inclusion of altered pattern pieces is one of the most helpful that I've read. While I appreciate all reviews and the effort to contribute and assist other sewist I do hope your inclusion of the altered pattern pieces is the beginning of a new trend for this site. As we know a lot of our problems constructing garments is found in the inability to effectively alter a pattern, and I cannot emphasize how encouraging your detailed review is. Oh, I almost forgot ;-> your coat is very pretty. I plan to make this coat after reading your review, as I do (finally admitted to it) need another dress coat. Off to check my fabric stash.... | | * * * | | Margaret | 11/4/09 | Thanks, everyone, for your very kind comments! Sweetiebop, I love your coat! I'm taking the online jeans class so Vogue 8202 might be next, but it is taking me a long time to get the fit right. Linda, I had several reviews to write and wanted to have SOME kind of photo for them, but I agree, a photo on me would be better and I will try to get one soon! Thanks again!! | | * * * |
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