Finally! A wintery day!
It’s pretty unusual for me to get excited about a wintery day, haha. Believe me, winter is my very least favourite season… but I have my reason, see; I’m happy for an excuse to wear and show off my newest thing. My moto jacket!
*sings* the leader of the pack… brrrrm brrrrm brrmrrrrrrm!
Silke, the designer behind schnittchen patterns contacted me asking if I would like to road test one of her patterns and I chose the Tina jacket; a blouson style with an asymmetric front closure by exposed zip, and a wrap-around collar.
Danke, Silke!
I immediately envisioned making something in a combination of leather/wool… well; making this, wot I’m wearing here, essentially. My jacket here is made up pretty much exactly to the pattern… except I made my sleeve cuffs a little wider, because I have quite long arms apparently, and I added leather sleeve tabs, sewn into the sleeve seams and wrapped around to close with two hammer-in press studs. I also fully lined my jacket using black polyacetate lining fabric.
Also I top-stitched the body and armscye seams, stitching the seam allowances down inside. And a little bit of narrow zig-zagging along the top of the pocket openings, to strengthen that bit.
And I also made the pockets about 2cm deeper. So, just a few teeny alterations here and there, after all 🙂
All of my materials are from Spotlight. The “leather” is obviously vinyl, very thin, soft and pliable and a little stretchy. I found I could use my regular sewing machine needle on it just fine.
The “wool” is a wool/acrylic mix tweed. It felt quite stiff when I bought it, but a pre-wash in my machine on the gentle/wool cycle brought it up beautifully soft and fluffy, and the collar feels heavenly snuggly against my neck skin.
I chose to fully line my jacket. The pattern doesn’t stipulate lining but that’s no biggie. I used the pattern pieces, and to save myself the trouble of tonnes of piecing the multiple body pieces, I spliced the side front/side pieces together to cut them as one piece in the lining fabric, and also the centre back/side back pieces I spliced together in the same way. When laying down the centre back piece; I laid it down with the centre fold line 2cm away from the fabric fold, giving myself an extra 4cm in width at the centre back.
This extra width at the CB I folded into a box pleat and basted it in place for the first 5cm in from each edge. Doing this gives me a nice bit of wearing ease in the lining, which is always a good idea in a jacket. I learnt this little tip from my standby McCalls 5525 coat pattern.
When cutting the pocket pouches, I cut them of half lining fabric with a leather facing at the opening edge, so there’s no danger of any lining fabric peeking out unattractively.
Also, when cutting the sleeve linings; I tapered out by about 1cm down each long edge, again to give the lining a bit of elbow-bending ease inside the sleeves.
Thoughts? Well, the pattern is a lovely classic style and the pattern works beautifully, all going together and fitting in place like a dream. I really love the style, and how my jacket worked out.
However this might be a challenging project for the non-German speaking, beginner seamster. This is a German pattern with German instructions and an English translation, with no illustrations or pictures. Occasionally there were some innovative words and phrasing, reminding me of that time I typed a set of Patrones instructions into Google translate. Memories.
The schnittchen website does however have an excellent step by step photo tutorial which clearly illustrates all steps and is very helpful. I think if you had made a jacket before you would be absolutely fine with the English instructions. They gave a good construction order and they worked perfectly well.
Finally and most importantly, I’m super stoked and excited with my new jacket. According to the fashion report on the news the other night, leather and leather details are IN this winter. How fortunate!
Whatevs the fashion, I’m going to LOVE wearing it. It’s very cosy, comfy and super warm. Its edgy vibe is a nice bonus 🙂
Details:
Jacket; the Tina jacket by schnittchen patterns, faux leather and wool mix
Tshirt (under); white cotton, using my own custom fit pattern, details here
Skirt; Vogue 1247, overdyed purple cotton denim, details and my review of this pattern here
Tights; black polyester stretch, using my own custom-fit pattern, details here
Boots; Roberto del Carlo, from Zomp shoe boutique
In other making news, I ran up two new pairs of black tights for myself, in stretchy polyester knit. I know I had this whole thing about how I wasn’t going to make my own tights any more, just buy them… but I’m taking part in me-made May again and going ALL me-made, as is my “thing”. And I just decided that to cop out on the tights when it’s so laughably easy to make the darn things, well it was just that; a cop out. I bit the bullet. 2m of fabric, half an hour of cutting/sewing, whack in an elastic waistband; BOOM yah.
Two pairs of new, super warm tights.
That's such a great jacket, Carolyn, and a well explanatory post as always! Love your outfit- what a good idea with the scarf! Have a nice wintery day, 😉 SaSa
I simply love your jacket, especially the leather and wool combiantion and of course always the style! Just the thing to wear in between seasons – or in winter in your case 🙂 It's probably going to go well with your scarf, too. The pattern is great, it isn't for sale already? See I'm planning to give Burda a little break 😉 –> Just found out it is for sale already! 😉
I didn't know you were German 😀 Your english convinced me that you are a native speaker! I really really love the jacket. I am planing on doing such a leather/something else jacket for quite sometime now and if I make own, I want to it look exactly like yours! Great work 🙂
Fab as ever. Looks great with your mini….
Amazing jacket and the combination of fabrics looks very on trend.
This looks so fantastic! I love your mixed fabric design, it works perfectly in this style. I just toiled the Mona Jacket by Schnittchen and love it. I haven't made a jacket since my high school days and can't decide what to do about seam finishes. Your thoughts? Mine is also fully lined. Leave all allowances raw because they can't be seen and theoretically won't fray internally. Or at least finish the lining which is very fray-able (even if internal)? Again, you are rocking this style 🙂
thanks Jillian! wrt seam finishes, I nearly always do finish most fabrics out of pure habit, and definitely if they are frayable… in this case I ran all the cut edges of the wool tweed pieces through my overlocker before doing anything else to them. I left all the vinyl edges raw because they are perfectly stable, but like I mentioned above I felled the seam allowances of the body and armscyes by top-stitching them all down..
However I didn't bother finishing any raw edges of the lining, so that's not very logical! I have to say though that I've never had a problem with any of my linings disintegrating, even on my oldest jacket that's been washed many times. 🙂
Thanks so much Carolyn! I was going to leave them all raw as they are enclosed, but I have had linings in RTW jackets (cheap ones) fray/tear apart at the seams and I wondered if it was a concern. But my lining fabric is a good one and it doesn't fray like bemberg/bemsilk. Might just leave them raw as the fashion fabric is not very prone to fray. Again… I love your jacket!
Great looking jacket. Thank you for sharing all the details.
Terrific combination of fabrics and great thought to add the sleeve tabs as it sort of pulls the whole 'look' together. The boots and black tights with your oh-so-cool jacket is such a great winter put-together outfit! Thank you for including, and explaining, your notes and tips…. such as adding ease in the lining back…. I always learn so much from you. 🙂
Love your new jacket and the entire outfit Carolyn!
Um, Carolyn… is there anything you can't sew beautifully? I have such a girl crush! Love the jacket, you did a wonderful job on it, and put it all together in a great outfit.
Great jacket – suits you perfectly. The sleeve tabs are a nice touch too.
Great jacket – suits you perfectly. The sleeve tabs are a nice touch too.
Gorgeous jacket! I love the mix of textures.
Beautiful jacket, perfectly executed.
I had no idea you've sewn your own tights before! That is crazy! Did you even make a How To on them?
It's warm here, so even looking at that wool makes me get a little hot under the collar… hope you have some cool days to wear it!!!!! Or a trip to Melbourne perhaps?
xoxo
Carolyn, your jacket is a triumph!! Amazing!
Wonderful jacket, I like the whole outfit. I always like what you make, if I could twitch my nose and have it all in my closet I would :O). I would need to twitch my nose on the shoes you have as well.
You are so skilled, Carolyn! I love this and I'm sure you'll get a lot of wear out of it, even if your winter isn't too cold.
I might be able to manage the scarf….Ha!
You made a pleather jacket? I thought those came from that pre-made other world.
I love this one so much! The simplicity is absolutely beautiful, and the combination of fabrics with your vinyl is a great idea for snuggle factor.
Just being able to customize according to a look or feel you have in mind (and not by accident!) must be very freeing.
Ohhh, I love a good moto jacket! This looks seriously fierce!
What a fabulous jacket. You have done a great job with it. Love the combination of fabrics.
Fab! The moto is all around in the shops at the moment (Melbourne) and made of all sorts of fabric.
Triple home made garments! No question that your moto is the star. I love a good moto jacket, all the better if it's warm and snuggly.
That's a wicked jacket! I want one. I might have to fold on my no-more-patterns policy. (HAhahahahahah. Who am I kidding?!?)
I love the fabric combo and your jacket is fab. I'm with you on the instructions. I just made that Patrones jacket to test the pattern and got into a bit of a muddle with the front. I think I know what to do for the real version!
Love the Jacket…you always do such wonderful work. The tips to combine the pieces for the lining does save a lot of stitching time. I have never tried a german pattern. The closest I have ever come to a foreign pattern is in the 90s when I was getting the original Burda mags.
I absolutely love this jacket. Looks too tricky for me though. Enjoy it!
I love this! I have a jacket on my to-do list, but it hasn't made it any further than that! And now it is summer for me. Your's looks beautiful!
Gorgeous jacket! It's edgy, as you say, but also looks really cozy, especially the collar. The fit is perfect!
Gorgeous jacket! It's edgy, as you say, but also looks really cozy, especially the collar. The fit is perfect!
I really like the look of that collar – perfect for a chilly winter day. The fabric combo is a winner too, a really great jacket.
Gorgeous jacket Carolyn! And the scarf!!!! Love the edgy vibe.
I love it! I want the same! Kiss
Love the jacket! The mix of materials really sets this jacket off. Fantastic job as usual!
Stunner – I like the mix of textures and the high collar looks cosy.
Bullseye. Great jacket.