Burda Jacket 02-2011-109 – UFO!

Last year, I began participating in Sherry’s RTW Tailoring Sewalong, making this fitted jacket in denim as a first go. The line drawing (I didn’t add the ribbon edging on my version):

Just to recap, here is jacket muslin #1:

 

It was way too tight! For a jacket, that is. So, muslin #2 (poor back shot, but best I could manage):

   

This felt better, I could live with this. So, fabric cut and got as far as inserting the lining, and doing sleeve vent buttonholes.

 

I stopped when I couldn’t decide how to finish the hem! Bagged hem? This would be great, simple, if the hem didn’t have the back slits…I think. Or, can I bag a hem with back slits? I can’t get my head around it, so it just occurred to me (only 7 months later!) that I should just suck it up and hand sew the hem! Any ideas? I’d LOVE to hear some other ideas!

Anyway, the plan was to make a black version in a light weight suiting fabric from my stash, fibres unknown, and a matching skirt - the first pieces in my core wardrobe, à la Fashion for Dummies. But now I’m not sure I want to tackle this pattern again. Once might be just enough!

I’m determined to finish this damn jacket for spring though…only a year late!

Burda Skirt 12-2010-124

Update (Jan 27): added some detailed pics of the second skirt.

This is a great skirt! It’s quick to sew up. I did make a muslin, and I’m glad I did, as there were several fitting issues: hip line, front horizontal darts, sway back, etc.

Here are the line drawings for the long and short versions from the magazine (I find these are still at the German site under “Archiv” – archives.)

 

The long version was designed for a felted fabric, and the front darts are on the outside; I sewed them on the inside as in the short skirt version.

The first skirt I made was more or less a wearable muslin (after the initial real muslin). On a quick side note, I just read about making wearable muslins in the preview of Sarah Veblen’s book, The Complete Photo Guide to Perfect Fitting, which is high on my priority list now. She recommends doing this for everyday clothes, just to see how they actually feel while moving around. So, for this skirt I used a very stretchy, lightweight grey denim from my stash – another Fabricland remnant. And even after sewing it up I had to take in the waist/side seams a lot; not sure why, perhaps it’s the stretchy fabric?

 

Unfortunately I didn’t line it, but I’ll probably add one soon. It’s not a bad skirt, just not the best fabric.

The second skirt was modified by rotating the front darts to the top, and slitting the front through the new darts to create three separate panels. I also topstitched the two front seams mainly to keep it flat, and flared the bottom by about 5 cm or so on all seams. Here’s the modified line drawing:

and here’s the skirt, made from a nice medium weight rayon/nylon/spandex knit. It’s got great drape. (OK, ignore my lovely socks! My Oma actually knit them and I’m very fond of ‘em!)

 

This time I lined the skirt with a knit lining, I think the bolt end said “Interknit Lining”, that I found at Fabricland for $10/m. It’s like a medium weight slippery knit, and it feels great!

I didn’t follow the Burda directions exactly, instead I followed the directions from an article in the November 2011 issue of Threads (No. 157), Easy-To-Alter Waistline, page 62, in case I need to adjust the waist/hips later on (I keep hoping to lose the baby gain, but I guess it’s an uphill battle.) I also followed Sherry’s tutorials on inserting an invisible zip and then facing it; it’s the 2nd time I used them and they’re so easy to follow. Since I also lined the skirt, I just sewed the lining to the zip almost all the way down; it looks nicely finished off.

 

The flared hem had to be hand sewn, and I used a lock-stitch that I found in How to Use, Adapt, and Design Sewing Patterns.

 

This was also the first time that I really altered a pattern for a very different look, and now I’ve done it I feel I could make this into a TNT skirt pattern. I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I started reading Carolyn’s blog, she uses her TNT patterns a lot and makes fabulous outfits. I am in awe, truly. Thank you Carolyn, for your inspiration.

More posts coming up, I’m hoping to catch up on about 7 months of sewing!

New Fabric, New Ideas, and stuff!!!

I’m still plodding along on the Jacket, and it looks like I should have it finished by next weekend. All going well! Thank God!! I am really starting to become fed up with this jacket… so many pieces! I’ll blog about this in another post.

In the meantime, I did a few other things to keep my spirits up. The April newsletter from Darrell Thomas mentioned a sale, so off I went and picked up a few nice fabrics that will make some great pieces for my core wardrobe. The dark fabric is actually a very dark navy wool suiting, it has gorgeous drape. There’s plenty for a good skirt here. Then there’s an off-white silk charmeuse (what can I say, it’s just Heavenly!) and a very sheer cotton (you can easily see the serged edge - for prewashing - underneath) that should make a nice basic white blouse with a silk camisole underneath of course. Finally there’s the cotton home decor seashell print that’s just fun! I thought it could make a cool shift for going to the pool/beach and hanging around in the garden with the kids this summer.

 

Right after I got home, giddy with this new fabric, I got out some pieces from my little stash to start dreaming about what I could do. I put some together just to see: the fine jersey print fabric is the leftover of a Burda dress I made last summer, and is enough for a top, the dark navy is a light-weight stretch cotton sateen from C&M, which should be enough for a slim skirt, and the light beige is a stretch cotton twill from Wazoodle that I got 4 years ago in a free grab pack! I’ll make some capris with this, there’s loads.

Then there’s this bundle! Two of the fabrics I also got in the same free grab pack from Wazoodle: the print is a cotton stretch sateen and the black is a poly stretch twill. I’ll make another jacket with the print, the same as the one I’m working on now but with 3/4 sleeves, and some capris with the black. The green and turquoise fabrics are lovely cotton double knits that I also bought from Wazoodle 4 years ago, and will make simple T-shirts or sleeveless tops, not sure yet. I thought I’d line the jacket with the white poly satin, but I’m not sure now, maybe just a partial lining.

I also popped in to C&M Textiles to see if I could find a lining fabric for my denim jacket, and came away with a fun satin polyester in a giraffe print, brown spots on pale blue. It’s really fun, but it doesn’t go with the denim; so it’s now part of the stash.

Two other things found their way back home with me: a Clover chalk pencil and a magnetic pin holder (in all my years sewing, I’ve never had one, and I love it!) The chalk pencil has a wheel and is so easy to use. Only thing is that the lines rub out easily, so it would be best for short-lived uses. I tried it on the denim in the pic below.

Then I heard about Fabricland’s 50% off sale (that was a week or so ago), so I went to scope out the offerings on the day that H was over at my friend’s house for the rest of the day after Nursery school. For the first time in ages, I walked around the fabrics at the front of the store and found some really nice stuff. Talk about being pleasantly surprised! I’ll have to go back this week for some cotton/silk that is just dreamy, it’ll be wonderful for a summer tunic.

So, I went back the next day with my Mum, and got the poly/satin shown below, which has lovely blue/pink/orange colours and looks great with the blue denim of the jacket. I’ve since got the lining assembled, and should have it in the jacket by end of Wednesday. But I also ended up getting some gorgeous fabric for a skirt suit and camisole; it won’t be part of the core wardrobe, but it will be a great outfit for dressing up.

 

The mauve fabric is made up of large strands of fibres, and ravels like crazy. I’ll have to sew this with fusible strips in all the seams as Sherry suggests in this post. The satin is polyester, and a bit heavier than what I would like I think, but it coordinates SO fantastically.

One last thing: I found a new fabric shop in my neighbourhood, Paula’s Sewing Basket on Bank St. near Walkley. I thought I’d seen her before and only realized where it was when I got home! Anyway, she’s got loads of beautiful stuff, and all natural fibres. I’ll be heading back her way for sure!!

Jackets for the RTW Sewalong

I’ve been poring over the pattern collections to find a classic jacket, and narrowed it down to these 4:

McCall's 6172

 

Vogue 8333

 

Jalie 2559

 

Burda 04/2010 #126

 

I ended up buying the McCall’s pattern this week as Fabricland are having a sale on their patterns, 2 for $7.00. Wow! I also got the pattern that I want to make the classic white blouse from, McCall’s 5433.

The McCall’s would be good, I think, as it’s a Palmer/Pletsch pattern and it got good reviews on PR. The Vogue looks beautiful, but I feel a little intimidated by it. The Jalie looks nice too, I might make that one day too. I like the simple lines of the Burda, but the sleeve caps look weird; one PR reviewer said she used the sleeve pattern from another jacket so it sits on the shoulder instead of sticking out.

I’ll have to make up my mind fast and get a muslin started. My jeans muslin took about 2-3 weeks to get sorted out, and the jacket will probably take as long if I’m not on the ball.

When I popped into Darrell Thomas’ to get my March Burda I took a quick look at the wools they had. Oh my, I’m not sure if I can justify $50-$60/m, but it’s so nice. I looked at the cottons too, but there’s not much choice. I’ll have to scout out some more shops, but Ottawa is pretty lean when it comes to good fabric shops!

Busy but quiet!

I'm back! It's been quiet for a while on the blog, but I have been doing some sewing. Last November I started the Jeans class on PR with Jennifer Sterns, and it was fantastic. I managed to get the jeans finished up to the point of the buttonhole, but my sewing machine doesn't do keyhole buttonholes. Then one day while reading on PR I read about Greist buttonholers and started searching on eBay this weekend to see if I can get one.

 

 

That last top I made is still on a hanger, and it'll probably stay there forever for a while. I'm not super happy with it (yep, it's the fabric!), and need something else to inspire me. The recent Burda Style magazines haven't lifted my mood much either, and the last Burda turtlenecks I made now seem a bit droopier than I want (again, the fabric choice probably wasn't the best).

 

Lately, the idea of going back to work is beginning to take shape. When our 2nd son was born almost 4 years ago I said that I would like to go back to work when he starts school, but I'd rather do something part-time; unfortunately I'm not sure how many part-time jobs exist in software development! I'd love to work again for my last employer but they were hit hard by the recession and are still quite a ways from having enough work for me. And then it dawned on me that I'll have to start all over again...I'd have to totally revamp my resume, research companies and jobs and do interviews again. Not my favourite thing, as I was fortunate enough to have landed my last 5 jobs through referrals.

With all this on my mind, I realized that I will need new work clothes, and specifically something to wear to an interview! Then it clicked, the main reason I’ve been in the doldrums is that I didn’t have a plan. So, I searched the book store and found a book, Fashion for Dummies, then hit the library and got out a bunch of books on the same topic, primarily putting together a core/basic wardrobe. The skirt pattern in the Feb Burda looks promising, #107.

Then I read Sherry's blog and her new RTW Tailoring Sewalong couldn't have been better timed! I just need to decide on the pattern and get the muslin started. I'm not worried about the fabric, I'll find something for sure at Darrell Thomas or C&M. This is just what I needed, I'm feeling inspired, and best of all I've got a plan started for making the core wardrobe that will keep me busy and focussed for a couple of months. All my ideas are going in an Office OneNote document, it's such a neat tool for saving all kinds of things: thoughts, links and pics.