Friday, January 17, 2014

Not quite what I had in mind

You may recall that before Christmas, I was mildly obsessed with this jacket. I found a pattern for a moto jacket (Kwik Sew 3764), ordered some fabric (cream colored wool-blend boucle) online, and spent kind of a long time making... this.

(Yes, I also see the remote in my hand. Still trying to figure out the best way to take selfies with my new tripod.)

Which is not at all like the one I had in my head. A large part (or possibly the only part) of the problem is that I underlined the boucle with a fabric that is way, way too hefty to ever be underlining. The boucle I ordered online ended up being both more cream than white and more sheer than anticipated. Boo. My mom suggested underlining in silk organza, but I thought that would be too thin, so I took myself to Joann's and picked out some white cotton that may or may not be lightweight denim. (Is is. I made a pair of shorts out of the rest yesterday.) Too thick. I broke a needle sewing across a seam because the seam was like 3/4 of an inch thick. The worst part is that I knew while I was cutting it out that the fabric wasn't going to result in a jacket like the one I wanted. But I persevered. Why? I don't know. I suspect something is wrong with me. 


At first, I was hand-basting the fashion fabric to the underlining, because that's what Gertie says to do, and I trust her. But then I was like, why can't I machine baste this? It would take approximately 435 less hours and my hand wouldn't hurt so much. So I did that instead. 

I put the sleeve zippers and those little pieces of fabric that go behind the zipper- what are those called? Well, whatever they are, I put those things in by hand. There was no way my machine was going to make that look pretty. I also catch-stitched the seam allowance to the underlining, but only for the center back seam, because while it looked nice, it took forever, and sort of screamed "crazy pants!" So I stopped. 


At first, hate, but now, I'm ok with it. It just has a different purpose than originally intended. Instead of the cardigan-type thing I was going for, it's definitely an outside jacket. I've worn it a few times, and I like it. I don't love it, which sucks, because a) the pattern and fabric were not cheap, b) I put those zippers in BY HAND, and c) it kind of took forever. Oh well. Live and learn, yes? The lesson here is that if your mom says underline in silk organza, you should most definitely underline in silk organza. 


Details for sewing nerds: 
-I made view B but added the wrist zippers of view A. I also wish I'd added the pockets, especially now that it's an outside jacket. 
-I can't remember making any modifications. This doesn't mean I didn't make any, I just don't remember. I think I'd do a swayback alteration next time. 
-I got the fabric from FabricMart.com, and it was called this: Ivory/White/Gray Two Tone Acrylic/Wool/Poly Boucle 
-I think that is all. 






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