This post is all about the jacket's construction. Since I decided not to make a muslin, I thought I would baste the jacket together to check for fit. So here is the jacket basted together on Lulu...
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Since the wool was already backed with a fusible interfacing, I didn't bother serge finishing the pieces. I plan on lining the jacket and the fabric wasn't going to ravel so I skipped that step. I sewed the pieces together using a 4.0 stitch on my Janome 6600P and I pressed all the seams open. I just couldn't help myself! I didn't think I would get as good an idea about the fit if the seams weren't pressed open.
Here are a few changes I made as I basted the pieces together...
*The 5/8" seam allowance that I added to the front peplum was removed. It wasn't needed so it was easy to slice off.
*There was a 1/4" seam allowance removed from the sides so that it would match up with the back piece.
There were major changes made to the sleeves. I'd already made adjustments to the sleeves but they were way too tight with a sleeve cap that was too high. First I made adjustments to the sleeve cap by cutting it down from a size 24 to a size 20 merging it in on the sides.
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Then I placed my short sleeve dress pattern under the newly adjusted sleeve pattern, to use it to add additional width at the biceps.
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Here is the redrawn sleeve...
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Now the sleeves fit my bodacious biceps.
I worked on the jacket and still something was wrong with it. The sleeve didn't hang quite right and I was starting to get discouraged. Finally I decided to recut the front and back pieces again. To the front piece, I added about 1.5 inches above the dart. I did this because the front and back pieces weren't matching that amount. But recutting those pieces meant that I couldn't make the dress. The potential of the jacket made me go for it. I could find another way to make the dress work with the fabric I had left.
So I basted everything back together and as you can see from above it works...and not just on Lulu but on me too. Now I have to make lining pieces for the front/back and peplum pieces and attach them to the fashion fabric. This is where I'm at...guess that means there will be one more update post before the reveal...hope you don't mind!?! I do need to keep a record for myself so that if I get the crazy idea to make this jacket again (don't really think that's happening...but nevah say nevah!) I will have a record of what I did.
...as always more later!
Since the wool was already backed with a fusible interfacing, I didn't bother serge finishing the pieces. I plan on lining the jacket and the fabric wasn't going to ravel so I skipped that step. I sewed the pieces together using a 4.0 stitch on my Janome 6600P and I pressed all the seams open. I just couldn't help myself! I didn't think I would get as good an idea about the fit if the seams weren't pressed open.
Here are a few changes I made as I basted the pieces together...
*The 5/8" seam allowance that I added to the front peplum was removed. It wasn't needed so it was easy to slice off.
*There was a 1/4" seam allowance removed from the sides so that it would match up with the back piece.
There were major changes made to the sleeves. I'd already made adjustments to the sleeves but they were way too tight with a sleeve cap that was too high. First I made adjustments to the sleeve cap by cutting it down from a size 24 to a size 20 merging it in on the sides.
Then I placed my short sleeve dress pattern under the newly adjusted sleeve pattern, to use it to add additional width at the biceps.
Here is the redrawn sleeve...
Now the sleeves fit my bodacious biceps.
I worked on the jacket and still something was wrong with it. The sleeve didn't hang quite right and I was starting to get discouraged. Finally I decided to recut the front and back pieces again. To the front piece, I added about 1.5 inches above the dart. I did this because the front and back pieces weren't matching that amount. But recutting those pieces meant that I couldn't make the dress. The potential of the jacket made me go for it. I could find another way to make the dress work with the fabric I had left.
So I basted everything back together and as you can see from above it works...and not just on Lulu but on me too. Now I have to make lining pieces for the front/back and peplum pieces and attach them to the fashion fabric. This is where I'm at...guess that means there will be one more update post before the reveal...hope you don't mind!?! I do need to keep a record for myself so that if I get the crazy idea to make this jacket again (don't really think that's happening...but nevah say nevah!) I will have a record of what I did.
...as always more later!