Pattern Description: Unlined one-button jacket, notched collar with stand, armhole princess seams and short bust darts, waist seam on the front (slightly above natural waist), patch pockets with bands and inverted pleats, buttoned epaulettes, button-on back belt threaded through two loops, two-piece sleeves with bands at the wrist, lots of topstitching.
As of this writing, KnipMode has a PDF of all the flats from this issue here. #17 is in the top row, third from left.
Pattern Sizing: Even sizes 34 to 46, which AFAICT are the same as Burda's. I started with size 40, which corresponds to most of my current measurements.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes. I do get some diagonal looseness across the upper fronts, like the ones you can see on the model, between the button and the shoulders. Unlike the majority of fit-problem wrinkles I think these ones are at least not really unflattering. 
I suspect one or two causes: (a) the jacket fronts may be swiveling off the shoulder because the one-button closure and deep neckline allow them to, where two or more buttons and a higher neckline might not; (b) maybe I have squarer shoulders that are holding up the outer tips of the shoulder area while allowing the center front to fall (helped along by the heavy button). My jacket is not opening up so much at CF below the button as it is on the model, but I did add extra ease at the hips along the side front and side back seams.
Were the instructions easy to follow? Well, they are in Dutch and there are no drawings specific to individual garments, though elsewhere in the magazine there are some drawings for more general steps that you may be referred to. Google Translate can help if you're willing to type everything into it. It can also come up with hilarious things like telling you to "suffocate him well" when, AFAICT, what you are supposed to be doing is turning and topstitching the epaulettes.
I muddled through using that and the fairly frequent similarity of German words that I did know to the Dutch ones, but one place I probably did mess up was the instructions for the belt loops, which were in a separate part of the magazine. I wasn't sure if the measurements given there included seam allowance, since it didn't say to add a specific amount to the rectangle measurements when cutting, but then told you to sew 0.75cm seams. I thought I cut to the given measurements, but 0.75cm seams would have made the tiniest spaghetti strap, so either I measured wrong or you are supposed to add seam allowance. In any case, I'd cut an extra one so I just made narrower seams on both sides and got something that I hope approximates the intended width.
What did you particularly like... I liked the overall shape, length, and design details. The fit as drafted was not particularly far off from what I needed. I had also been considering the Kwik Sew 2895 jean jacket for this fabric, but I was wary of its buttoned breast pockets and I think I would not have liked the shaping as well. This jacket has quite a bit of waist shaping. The pocket position works well and despite the box pleats, the pockets still lie pretty flat and don't add a lot of bulk.
or dislike about the pattern? Well, I prefer to spend my time doing things other than tracing off magazine patterns, but I'll do it if I like the pattern enough. Topstitching above the sleeve bands was a chore and probably will be for you too unless you have a thinner free arm on your machine, or take one of the largest sizes.
Fabric Used: Green corduroy from stash, originally from Fabric.com several years ago. IIRC it's 16-wale.
Pattern Alterations... Sad to say, I started this at least a month ago and cannot remember exactly what I did in the flat pattern before cutting, plus my working tracings were a bit of a mess and I think I threw some of them out before writing this. I know I did do a (possibly unnecessary) FBA (first taping a copy of the side front onto the front and slicing through it to get the original full-length bust dart), and I also did a swayback alteration to make the back waist length shorter than the front. I didn't shorten the sleeves as I usually do, but they seem short enough. That may be partly because they are close-fitting and unlined, so they stick to whatever's underneath and probably do ride up slightly.
Alterations I did in the fabric: let out the side front and side back seams below the waist, probably getting about 1.75" more circumference in the hips.
or any design changes you made: I used a larger button on the CF than on the epaulettes or back belt, because that's all I had in stash that really looked good with the fabric (even the antiqued jeans tack buttons I found looked too bright and shiny in comparison). They are all pewter buttons from the same company, but the CF one has an oak leaf and acorn design while the others are shaped like roses.
Would you sew it again? I probably won't sew this particular version again any time soon, but there are a few other variations of this jacket in the magazine and I may consider them.
Would you recommend it to others? Yes, if you either read Dutch or don't need to rely much on the instructions. This jacket was rated "3 dots" in terms of difficulty, and I think all of the patterns in this issue had between 2 and 3.5 dots. Probably none are super-easy. This magazine issue seems to have a theme of interchangeable parts. Because this particular jacket shares body pieces with four other versions that have quite different details and are meant for different fabrics, you might save some fitting time if you wanted to make two or more from this magazine. |
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Pattern with more than 5 reviews!
From what I can see, it looks like a very nice jacket! (The link gives me an error when it tries to open. I'll ck back later.)
2/24/13 10:57 AM
Thanks for a great review Margaret. I would like to see the photo, but the link on the thumbnail gives "not found' as a result. The verb "stikken" has two meanings in Dutch, google translate doesn't recognize the (large) difference in the context. And you know, if you really have problems with a translation, feel free to contact me.
2/24/13 11:01 AM
"And you know, if you really have problems with a translation, feel free to contact me." OR Tony ;D
2/24/13 1:29 PM
I look forward to seeing the jacket when the link is sorted. I love daft translations, they make sewing such fun - I hope you suffocated your epaulettes well.
2/24/13 5:20 PM
I love how this jacket turned out. I've had the high collar version on my wishlist for a while. Google's translations can be very entertaining a times.
2/24/13 9:59 PM
Sorry about the link and thanks for letting me know -- evidently if you update the title of the Picasa album then the link stops working, oops :( I hope it is OK now. Treefrog, the high collar version looks good to me too! Sigrid, that's good to know that the interesting word there was "stikken" -- it just looked like stitch (or German sticken, embroider) to me and I had no idea how Google got "suffocate"! Thanks everyone!
2/25/13 8:18 AM
Especially cute & TRIM in the back ;D
2/25/13 8:51 PM
Thanks Rhonda! I'm glad the pictures are working!
2/28/13 6:13 AM
Love this jacket. The back detailing is gorgeous.
3/3/13 8:36 PM