Next up is the jacket. Because one was planned in my SWAP Fall/Winter 2014 even though I ended up using neither of the pattern candidates & was perfectly willing to sacrifice the idea of a jacket when I decided maybe a pull-over would suit this fabric better. I was lucky my frugal layout allowed me to squeeze in a Burda 2013-11-117 jacket which I had made once before.
The Pattern
Style Shots & Mug Shots
WORN WITH: 1 Self-drafted mock-wrap skirt; 2 Self-drafted pencil skirt, Burda 2012-05-109 top; 3 Self-drafted petticoat skirt; 4 Self-drafted mock-wrap skirt, Burda 2015-10-109 sweater, Self-drafted hat, Self-drafted mittens;
Size Used
34 rather than recommended 36.
Changes Made
My starting point this time is the altered Burda 2013-11-117 I used for the Teal + Brown Floral Print Reversible Moto Jacket. To recap, part from modifying the bodice to fit my torso better, I also eliminated the peplum waist seams & changed the sleeve fit to a more conventional jacket sleeve look rather than the extra long & tighter fit of the Burda design. More details about these fitting alterations in this post.
Fitting changes
- The fit of that Teal/Brown jacket was a little bit off in the back neckline with a bump of fabric just below the CB neckline. Seems like the CB was too long & back neckline too wide. Removing the equivalent of a vertical CB neckline dart + horizontal fish-eye dart seems to fix this (see photo illustrations above). The back neckline in the collar areas of the Center Fronts were shortened to match.
- The back collar wasn’t sitting right, exposing the back neckline seam. Pivoting at the shoulder-neck point & effectively increasing the length of the outer / bottom edge of the collar seems to fix this.
- Although the waistline is technically correct where it was, my low-hanging boobs & short-torso above waist make this placement look unbalanced. My intention to lengthen the bodice got lost in the piles of pattern alterations, so I had to extend the narrowest bit of the bodice down a bit instead. Still look a bit off though.
- Narrowed back waist a little bit for a less-boxy fit.
Design changes
- Zip closure on both sides
Fabric & Notions Used
- Fabric: 2.5 yd Mohair/Acrylic/Nylon Double-sided sweater knit from NY Elegant Fabrics ($59.95/yd)
- Notions: Metal twin-pull reversible slider for no.5 coil zipper (#5043) from Quest Outfitters, tape from YKK no.5 open-ended coil zip from Jaycotts.co.uk, 3/4″ petersham ribbon from Petershams Millinery Supplies, Vilene Bias Tape.
Construction Notes
- Again, apart from the general sewing problems I had with this fabric, the other main tricky bit are the zipper princess seams. I did these the same way I put in the zipper on the skirt – with mock flatlock seams that are essentially overlocked edges to fake the flatlock look, then zipper & princess seams assembled with hand fell-stitches. The rest again is fairly straightforward, though the shoulder – back neckline – shoulder seams were much harder to flatlock than the teal / brown jacket because of the spongy fabric.
- And the Oops?
- Well, I forgot that the two zippers should be one on each side of the reversible jacket. I was so smug having neatly inserted both zippers on the orange side – it looked so satisfyingly symmetrical. Thank God I basted & tried on & discovered I couldn’t zip both zippers this way. Rip & redo time!
- The other drama came in form of zipper tape choice. Originally I was going to use the tape from Quest Outfitter’s waterproof one-way separating zipper. This has one presentable shiny side which I thought could do away with the need for something to hide the zipper tape & finish the collar edge on the reverse (black) side. Unfortunately separating tapes always has the slider on the left side of the teeth. So I couldn’t reverse it & still get the same look for left & right sides of the jacket. I had to go back to a standard separating tape that looks the same on both sides of the tape and petersham ribbon to cover the zipper tape / finish the collar edge on the revers (black) side. All this added lots of extra waiting time & shipping costs. Bah.
The Verdict
It’s OK. I would have liked the jacket a little bit longer. And I was all out of ideas in terms of styling. But I know I’ll wear it plenty. Just like I wore the Teal/Brown version plenty. It’s so comfy without the usual tailoring that goes into a standard jacket. And it’s got just the right amount of lux (thanks to the fabric) & edge (thanks to the pattern) to keep me happy.
But I think next time I want a biker style jacket I might try a new pattern. Two of this huge collar one are probably enough for a while. Maybe when these two are ready to go to garment heaven then I might make this pattern again.
Hand felled seams. Every blinking seam? On one hand… YIKES! On the other…. calming. I am in the process of doing a toile of this jacket for my DD2, who wants it out of red denim. I want her version to be a bit longer, so I may need to add length to it.
Oh, thankfully it was only the 2 front princess seams that I sew BT hand. Rest were flatlocked / overlocked.
If you’re not making yours reversible it should be a breeze! Are you keeping the extra long knit sleeves of the original design? Looking forward to your version!