Pattern Description:
Simple sheath dress and 3/4-length jacket.
Pattern Sizing:
Multi-sized: I chose the 16-22 size; cut out an 18.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Um.... Possibly it would have if I had not modified it as I did.
Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes. Straightforward. Well illustrated.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
Very simple lines, and quick construction.
UPDATE I wound up futzing with the sleeves for quite a while. The shoulder extended about 1/2" too far. I wound up seaming at about 1" at the shoulder, tapering to 5/8" at the notches. The sleeve head (in my fabric) was much too high, and I wound up with a new seam line about 1-1/2" at the top center. It took me about 2 hrs to get the sleeves set in correctly. Recommend you check the pattern shoulder width FIRST, and possibly reduce the sleeve cap height.
Fabric Used:
a 60/40 acrylic/wool novelty weave; poly lining. I cut apart and re-fashioned 2 DB winter coats that I purchased last year at Target.
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
See below.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I think I would sew it again. It's a nice jacket with some easy but effective shaping. Good for different fabric weights.
Conclusion:
Last year I bought two coats with fake-fur collars, heavily on sale, because I so very much liked the fabric. I'd always intended to convert them in to a skirt suit.
When I was invited to a "Bond" theme holiday party, I decided to go ahead and go for it. The coat fabric is a med-heavy wt. wool blend, with a woven trellis pattern, in a very retro Spanish-old-gold / brass color - very late 60's early 70's.
I disassembled the coats, removed the lining and sleeves. I needed a SIMPLE, 60's style jacket pattern, and chose this Butterick one. Good choice.
I re-cut the fronts, backs and sleeves of the larger coat using the jacket pattern. There are a few "modifications" that were necessary.
The coat was princess seam and raglan sleeved. The jacket front dart did fall pretty much along the coat's princess line, so I was able to incorporate the dart into the princess seam. On the back piece, however, I wound up just sewing the back darts as they were placed, about 1" in to CB from the princess seams.
Sleeves for the jacket were cut from the raglan coat sleeve, so there's a seam up the middle, and a bit of a curve at the sleeve head from this seam, but that only works to my benefit (new jacket sleeve cap pre-curved slightly)
The COLLAR is different. The double-breasted coat collar was much longer and less curved than the jacket. The jacket is more "peter pan" in shape, very "C". laying flat against the body. As it turns out, using the much more stretched-out shape of the coat collar _/ causes it to fold over nearly in half, which gives a MUCH more sophisticated and 60's look - I'm quite pleased with this. (I cut the coat collar to an even width, and then pinned it to the neckline and marked where to chop it)
I couldn't get facings out of the original facings, so I used the sleeves of the 2nd coat. Turns out that the 2 garments are different dye lots! so the one is slightly more tan than the other. I'm hoping that the skirt - which will be cut from the more tan dye lot - won't be too noticeable as different in color.
PATTERN: The pattern was well drafted, and pieces fit together. I went by the pattern measurements, not the chart. On the chart I would be a 22, but by the pattern measurements I chose an 18.
I took in the back darts by at least another half inch at the waist, nipping it in. The front fit well. Recommend choosing your size by the pattern's bust measurements -- an 18 measured about 45" at the bustline, which was a 3" ease for me. Which is just about perfect for this jacket.
I did cut the side hem-line at a 20. I wound up removing this again at the side seams, BUT letting out the back darts at the bottom (moving up the bottom dart point). This gave room over the booty where I need it, instead of the side hip where I don't so much.
I'll likely do this jacket again. The simple vertical darts do add shaping, so it's not completely boxy. The lining pattern for the sleeves was drafted differently from the shell sleeve (armhole raised, for e.g.) so there are some nice touches.
It sewed up well.
Today... I have to figure out how to turn the body of the 2nd coat into a pencil skirt. |
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