Its done and I LOVE it!.

It was so unbelievably cold again today, but surprisingly this jacket was incredibly warm even in below freezing temps.

AND SO......on to the final construction details........

Once the collar was basted, and I had ironed on a light weight fusible to the outer facings I could then pin the front and back together and on to the collar. Thats when I immediately saw that something was different.....

The outer facing angle is cut much lower on my jacket, and there was absolutely no way that they could be sewn together. After checking the original pattern I could see that it was a pattern error and not mine, thankfully! its cut almost a inch shorter than it would need to be to join the collar on the edge.

I decided to leave it just as it is, actually liking the look and sewed the facings together attaching it all first by hand and then by machine to the upper collar and jacket. I did find that I needed to add some stiff interfacing to the upper corners of the collar points in order to stop them folding down as there was no support without the pattern adjustment.

and preoccupied with that fitting issue, I totally forgot to empty the water from my iron while pressing the white facing open to the black jacket edge and steam flowed out drawing the black dye directly into the white....

It was so noticeable in direct light and such a ridiculous mistake to make , but lesson learnt , I will never ever do that again, I removed it all and re-inserted with a brand new white piece, it looks so much better!

I tried the jacket on again at this point and had my daughter take some pics from the back and could see that there was excess fabric from my shoulder blades down to the vent, I ended up removing 1.2" total from the CB seams so that it lay smoothly.

Much improved:

Then it was on to more handstitching , my favorite part, I picstitched all around the facings making sure they were folding where the roll line lay and generally favoring the outside to wrap underneath and finished up sewing the collar down to the seam allowance to make it lay flat.

The hems were straightforward, I played around with different interfacing weights and decided that for this jacket a stiffer medium weight iron in would be perfect, it would help add a bit more weight.

Once the strips were secured and the hems all stitched in, I added two small penny weights I made to the vent at the back , just slipping the weights under the hem (where the pins are) with a couple of stitches to stop them moving around. Its a long vent and it needed a little help to make it hang correctly.

At this point I could see that my beautiful sleeve heads were deflating a little with the weight I was adding, so I asked my husband if he could stop by Steinlauf and Stoller to pick me up a selection of thin shoulder pads.

One tense text later and this picture arrived - so completely awesome! Shoulder pad shopping at its easiest!!!

I picked A6, C8, C4 and A4 thinking that was a good range of sizes and shapes..... this board hangs in the actual store....

and these are the winners A6, paper thin but stiff. They hold the shoulder heads right were they should be with absolutely no bulk at all. I'm a convert!

and all that was left to do was pick a lining and buttons.

Finished jacket before lining....obviously!....

The buttons caused some debate in my house, I was planning on adding plain black buttons but when I started digging around I found a strip of beautiful antique buttons I had bought from Susan Khalje late last year. If I remember rightly she found them in a Paris flea market.....they are stunning.

and my instinct told me they were perfect so ignoring everyone else I sewed those buttons on with the greatest of care, beeswax and all! They are never falling off.

Determined to use up some stash for the lining, and knowing that it would not really be seen I choose to go for a bright print in a lovely heavy silk from Moschino. Its not great for garments as it has Moschino jeans written randomly all over it but I bought it on sale to use for lining fabric. Its so so pretty and vibrant and the quality is superb.

I added a soft back lining pleat by leaving the excess CB adjustment in the patttern , then basting the inch or so at the top and bottom only, so the back lining has less stress when I put it on and take the jacket off, I used a machine stitch to sew around the facings and collar and finished off by hand stitching the lining hem to the jacket and sleeves hem.

IN SUMMARY

Highly recommend this pattern "as is" for fusible constructions.

To tailor the jacket I would change the collar to a single piece, cut the under on the bias and the upper on a fold and increase the facing upper edge if you prefer the original jacket look. Also a back stay is essential in my opinion.;-)

Lots of excess in the sleeves and back of pattern but the front is tight. Little or no ease there at all.

I made a inner window for the bound button hole on the left and right bottom of jacket so that I can close it on either the black or white facing , depending on what I am wearing.

Used a stiff interfacing at the tips of facing corners as they did not have the support of being sewn to the collar to stop them from folding over.

Needs heavier weight in hem because of break in lengths.

The only other downside will be the permanent need for a lint roller to remove black fluff from the white wool, but I think it will be worth it!

Audio books this week, I started a old series as I find them easier to zone in and out of while I concentrate, The black echo by Michael Connelly, 1996 at its finest, payphones and pagers. So funny!

Music included lots of Damien Rice, Bat for Lashes and Kayne West.

Still slowly reading Barbara Kingsolvers Flight Behavior, as any mother of a school age child would have done a Monarch project at some point, this is extra interesting!

NEW PROJECT

I'm really excited to start something completely different and so this skirt is next. I love the design and think it could be really spectacular. I have a couple of fabrics in mind but want to make the muslin and see if the buttons actually support some of the fold before deciding on drape and weight.

Marfy F2245