Simplicity 1688 : Striped #epicjacket

Is there something you've always wanted to sew, but you haven't sewn it yet?  That item pops up on your "to sew" lists over and over, but the only place it is finished is in your imagination?  I can think of a few such items, like a raincoat I've been wanting to make since 2012 or a red denim jean jacket that's been on the list since 2013.  I'm not sure how long this Cynthia Rowley boxy cropped jacket has been on the list, but it's been at the front of my "jacket" box for ages now:



And now, it is sewn.  :)




So how can this be an #epicjacket if there are no cuffs, no collar stand, nary a collar?  Mainly because it was 19 pattern pieces and it took three weekends to sew.  I continue to massively underestimate how long it will take me to sew garments.


Exterior pattern pieces, pinned to the front and back of my dress form, so I don't lose any of them.

Fabric

Tomasa captured me on the hunt for denim.  There's my neoprene backpack in action.

The exterior fabric is two coordinating denims from Mood, purchased during the MPB Day Winter Frolic in early March.  The darker of the two has incredible drape, and I wish I could buy more of it for a denim shirt dress.  The interior fabric is a luscious rayon bemberg, also purchased at Mood the same day.

Piping
Based on seeing a PR review where the seamster piped it, I made my own piping using this continuous bias tutorial from The Seasoned Homemaker.   The cording is from Joann's.

Making piping

Clipping the piping on

Piped sleeve edge

Sizing
I traced the lining pieces (basically view A) in a size 12 onto Swedish tracing paper and sewed the tracing paper as my muslin, but couldn't get the jacket on easily without dislocating a shoulder.   I wound up going with a size 14 and then tapering in the side seams of the real deal.

Stripes

So, those stripes....the line drawing shows the stripes match all the way across the front and the back but when I sewed the first sleeve in, they did not match.  At first I thought I did something wrong, but was perplexed because the sleeve seemed pretty decently set in to me.

 Then I realized the line drawing and pattern do not match.  You can see the small circles do not correspond to the same stripe.  On the front, this difference is only .25" but in the back the difference is about 1.5".  Earlier this week, Simplicity asked me on IG to email them to discuss the issue offline, and I did, but I haven't heard back.  Anyway, I had no more fabric to recut the sleeve, and no real interest in redrafting the pattern, so I forged ahead and finished the jacket anyway.

Sleeveheads
I added sleeve heads as per this tutorial to give some support in the shoulder area and make up for some slightly imperfect sewing there.  Drafting and making the sleeve heads is honestly a piece of cake.

Sleevehead sewn in



Sewing the lining to the jacket

It takes a village...of wonderclips to help set in the sleeve.

Instead of following the instructions, I think I basically bagged the lining, so the only part that is handsewn is the bottom of the jacket.


Before sewing the lining in...

With the lining in, my tag, and the Mood tag



Hooks and eyes
This might merit its own blog post.  I think I'm going to sew the hooks and eyes in again.  I didn't do any RTW research before sewing them in; instead I went by my 1960's sewing books.  The bottom set of hooks and eyes keeps coming undone as I wear the jacket.


Styling
I've paired my jacket with my Sewaholic Davie navy blue dress.  I think it's a great combo.





Be well!

My sewing hits and misses of 2010 & the evolution of my hair

New Year's Eve snuck up on me!  How did that happen??

Thanks everyone for your comments on my last post: the snow, the proper way to use FOE, the leaf shirt. I actually went against my word and wore the shirt to work, under a polar fleece, so just a hint of it was shown where the fleece was unzipped. I washed and dried the shirt and the part with the FOE is all wavy and wrinkly. Since the knit was so stretchy, I probably should have interfaced the sleeve at the edge first, before applying the FOE.

As for shoveling snow, my back slightly flared the next day and day after. Then I woke up at 2:30am this morning with brand new rib pain (this time it's the muscle between my last two ribs, according to my chiro, away from the spine, which is different than the rib pain in Oct 2009) and it is really painful to lie on my back. Sleeping on my side is ok, though it feels best to be upright (no pain at all, unless I laugh a certain way, ha ha!). I reminded myself, it was 2 weeks ago that I hurt my foot (which I didn't blog about because who wants to read about pain all the time?), and now that is all healed up, so hopefully the same goes for this rib issue.

I've really enjoyed reading everyone else's "2010 Year In Review" post. So I have 3 hours (eastern time) to squeeze in my own.

I surprised myself--I made 42 (magic number!) things this year: 10 shirts, 6 pj tops or bottoms, 2 jackets, 3 pieces of gym wear, 2 bags, 3 "cardigans", 13 dresses, and 3 pieces of underwear.  I've made some pillowcases and aprons for my mom which I  haven't counted.

My 2010 sewing hits (and the evolution of my hair):
1. The Burda (Oct 2005 pattern) shirt. I *love* this shirt. The fit is great, the color is great, and I've figured out how to drape the collar the way I want. Recently someone I don't know asked me where I bought this shirt, and said it's a great color for me. Made my day! This is also the shirt where I learned twin needle stitching, my big big love. And it's my first (and only) Burda. I wear this shirt almost weekly in the appropriate seasons (spring and fall).

2. Simplicity 2508 corduroy jacket. I just love this jacket and wear it a lot during the appropriate spring and fall seasons. I love the bias detailing on the back tab and sleeves.  If you want to make a lined jacket but are afraid to try it, this is a great one!  It's mostly straight lines, and the sleeves are raglan, so no sleeves to set in.


Love the lining too:


3. I made a lot of dresses but this is my favorite, Simplicity 2473, a Project Run(a)way dress.  You can tell it's a fav 'cuz of the smug look on my face:

But I'm also a fan of NewLook 6069, Mad Men dress:

Simplicity 2766, the Superman dress:

and Vogue 8379, which I made in black but I prefer the red:

Also love NewLook 6922, Audrey Hepburn dress. I made it in three colors but like the black version the best:

4. Favorite bag: the Simplicity 8331 Santa bag inspired by Gwen. I've had two different people at two different places ask where I bought it. When I responded that I made it, one of them asked if I was selling them because she'd buy one "in a heartbeat":

5. I branched out into making underwear using Antoinette's make your own undies tutorial. So much fun!



Misses of 2010:
Well, nothing tops the Star Trek dress of 2009 for failures in my book, but here goes:

1. Wow, this looks better in the picture than I remember in real life, but this picture is deceptive. When I sit down, the top opens up and my chest is totally on display. I think I might give up on cross over tops like this one. Plus it needs a serious swayback adjustment, and is too tight around my butt.   However, it was because of this dress that I found MushyWear, a blog I adore!


2. Looks ok in the photo, but after washing it, the neckline got very weird. I had preshrunk the fabric; maybe I needed to preshrink a few times.


3. I made this dress twice in two different sizes and it still doesn't feel comfortable in the chest.  It's so funny how on some styles my small chest is an asset; in others it's a bust (ha ha!  pun!)


4. I hate the cowl on this, the V seems to be getting lower with each wearing. I think my expression says it all. Plus I just folded the SA over and sewed on the armhole. It actually flips out to the right side, sigh.


5. New Look 6748. I hate it. It's too big, I think it's frumpy, and  I feel like the tie is like apron strings.


If you want to, check out my Epic Win of 2009 post from last year, and my Epic Fails of 2009 post (includes the Star Trek dress) as well.  I was much, much funnier then.  :)

I'm going to review my "goals" and "what I learned" this year separately in the new year!

Happy New Year everyone and thank you for reading, commenting, and encouraging me.   I've learned a lot from you.   For many I feel like you are a friend even though I've never met you!

Wishing you and your families your happiest and especially healthiest year ever in 2011.  See you in the New Year!

Birthday wrap up, cards, & elastic

Awww...you were all too polite to guess how old I am. Now you know! My classmates at the gym guessed 23, 25, and 26. So that was pretty uplifting!

Thank you for all of your comments and encouragement about my jacket. I will probably write the SPR in the next week or two, though for this project I have a lot to say, and writing the SPR is a lot like writing a lab report for a project like this. I wore the jacket to work and had lots of nice comments on it. I even showed off the interior pocket to those who were interested. (the picture was taken before I added the running stitches).



I received lots of nice cards--you guys really "get" my love of cupcakes, cats, small animals, flowers, Hawaii, and glitter!


Pete made a fantastic pop-up card from scratch. If you are a long time reader of this blog, you may remember all the wedding plans and the fantastic Hawaiian invitations and the Elvis sign for the card box Pete made and the Hawaiian placecards with our wedding logo. I never blogged this, but in January I decided not to get married and we broke up. He's still my best friend, and we still talk on the phone (he's back in England.) Anyway, I am happy we are still friends. And his card is phenomenal!



Here are the Farmer's Market flowers for this week, though I had to buy them from a different farmer since my favorite farmer didn't come back this week. The white flowers are eustoma, I love how they look like roses. The pumpkin is one my mom bought for me, already painted.



I'm not sure what my next sewing project will be, probably something simple like undies. I placed an order with SewSassy and it arrived yesterday. I'm in elastic heaven! This is what $32 of lingerie elastic looks like (including shipping), er, actually that's not even all of it!



I bought the multi pack of 5 yards each of their basic lingerie elastic in 10 colors, plus zebra striped foldover elastic and turquoise stretchy lace elastic. After my jacket, which was probably a 20 hour effort, I think a quick pair of underwear is just the thing to make. I'm also interested in making a simple knit shirt for work, but I want a long sleeved one that is fitted, without gathers and without a v-neck or wide neckline. Any suggestions??

Good night!

Simplicity 3628 day 6: done in time for the big day!

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions for the birthday jacket. (I will try steaming the jacket later--and maybe when I write the SPR I'll include all the flaws!)

Finally it is done!!!
Simplicity 3628:





Here's a close up of those running stitches. They're not turquoise! I had acupuncture tonight and was telling Karen about the jacket, and she suggested brown running stitches to go with the brown buttons. I wasn't sure if I had brown embroidery floss or not, but turns out I do, so there you go:


When I was at the ASE, Leslie in Austin was telling me about tiger tape to help with spacing running stitches. I made my own version as shown here, spaced 3/8. Wow, that was way easier than what I did this summer (initially eyeballing, then marking with tailor's chalk).


I wish I had asked for tomorrow off from work. I'm kind of worn out from working all day and sewing for several hours at night for 4 nights in a row! Saturday I'm sleeping in and spending the day with my parents. Sunday I will be at home, maybe ordering a dress form! If you use a dress form, do you like yours and which do you recommend? I'm thinking of getting a professional form, but then it's not adjustable and wouldn't adjustable be more practical? I definitely want a form that I can pin fabric on it!

Good night!

Simplicity 3628 day 5: brown buttons won!

By a vote of 5 to 1, the brown buttons won on the birthday jacket! (Sue, I agree, I wanted matching buttons too but Joann's didn't have any and I didn't think about covered buttons til later on. I'm trying to stay out of Joann's for a while so I went through my button stash and came up with these. :) )



So it can officially be worn now!


Here it is on Emma; she's much smaller than I am, but you can see some flaws (you can see them in the second picture of this post, too):


Gosh, that hem. it's bad. But I'm going to wear it to work on Friday! I have 4 more jackets I want to make this winter, so I better figure out the jacket hemming technique sometime soon. Though it did take me about 4 years to figure out dressmaking and knits, maybe it will take 4+ to figure out jackets!


These are some scraps that I sewed together for buttonhole testing.

I also did a bit of running stitch testing. So tmw night is the running stitch extravaganza, and then I'll be done!

Phew!

While I was taking pictures I was sweating. It's been so warm this week--I *love* the warmth! It's like an extra special present! And on my birthday it will turn cold again so my jacket will be perfect.

Thank you to RiAnge Creations for sending me Simplicity 2766--thank you so much! and thank you for your kind note!

Tonight at the gym the birthday celebration continued with a special birthday toning class for me. This led to a classmate asking how old I am, and I made her guess. Do you want to guess?? I'll let you know on Friday!

Good night!