Tag Archives: Jacket

Aries

29/03/2013 1:16 pm \ 38 Comments \

Aries; the ram.
But… where is the
ram??  Well I am wearing him!  In the form of my pure wool felt cardigan/jacket.  Baa-aa!
And I did take a picture
of this inquisitive flock of girls while I was driving up the driveway to my parents’ place this morning.  We are here for a big family Easter
shin-dig 🙂
My cardigan was until very recently, a voluminous
drape-y wrap, which I bought in New Zealand a few years ago.  The fabric is so soft and snuggly,
making it beautifully warm and cosy, and I’ve always loved this deep olive
colour.  But the shape, while very fashionable
at the time that I bought it, eventually became very not.  I’m not going to
show you any pictures of me wearing it, as it was.  Especially with my hair… so just picture Samwise Gamgee in
LOTR and you’re getting a pretty good idea!  So unfortunately I have not worn it for aaaages and knew I
never would again either looking like that; but I still loved that soft wool and thought it definitely
deserved a second wind.
I like it all over again now.  I think it turned out sorta like an unstructured
tweed jacket; a casual, playful, loose and floppy version of the landed
gentry’s countrywear, like a cheeky, irreverent, younger brother of the same, if you
like.  And I still have my souvenir from New Zealand, in a newly wearable style  🙂
Details:
Jacket; based loosely on Simplicity 4698,
deep olive felted wool, refashioned from an old wrap
Skirt; my own design
based upon Vogue 7303, white stretch lace, details here
Tshirt; self drafted,
white cotton jersey, details here
Socks; handknitted by me,
to a 1960’s sock pattern, details here
Shoes; Francesco
Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

Warning; technical sewing blahdy-blah from here on  🙂

There were a few little holes, which I darned before doing anything else.

The new design is
partially based on the pattern Simplicity 4698 with major alterations.  Needed partly because of a severe lack of
fabric, and partly because the felt is so thick and spongy it just would not
suit a properly lined and tailored suit jacket anyway.  I have made this pattern up previously four times I
think, only one of which I still have

The pieces were all
reduced in size a lot, basically to match
the regular cardigan size that I wear, and the back princess seams and outer sleeve seams were eliminated.
I made it as a completely
unlined cardigan, with welt pockets.  The sewing lines of the welt are stabilised with a strip of corduroy.
To reduce bulk, because
the fabric really is very very thick! the pockets themselves are just a single
layer inside, sewn directly to the jacket front invisibly by hand.  I used lots of tightly spaced, tiny
stitches around the pockets but hid them inside the felt so they only show up as the faintest shadow on
the  right side of the
garment.  I edged the entire front,
collar, hemline and sleeve hems by turning under a tiny roll of fabric under
the edge and slip-stitching by hand. 
At the roll-point of the collar I switched the turn under to the other
side, to allow the front turnback of the collar to lie flat and true.  Those overlocked seams are remnants of original seams.

On the inside, I hand
slip-stitched all the new seam allowances down to “disappear” as invisibly as possible
against the cardigan, for a neat and tidy inner finish.  Maybe neater than the original overlocked finish, I think  😉
The buttonholes are all
embroidered by hand using 2 strands of embroidery floss, and the buttons are
nacre; sewed on upside down because the rough hewn wrong side of the buttons
was stylistically perfect for the rustic style I was going for.

It is quite a simple
re-fashion, basically a wrap front cardigan has been transformed to a suit
jacket style cardigan.  Not exactly
earth-shattering stoof here.  But I
am happy, since the new style means I am in love with it all over again and
will get a few more years wear out of it!

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Raspberry cropped jacket; 6 different ways

07/03/2013 4:30 am \ 28 Comments \
I first made this raspberry red, bracelet sleeved, silk hessian jacket a couple of years ago, using Vogue 2894 and the squeensiest length of raspberry red silk hessian.  It felt like a miracle I was able to cut out the pattern pieces! but the fabric was obviously meant to become this jacket since it has become a staple piece in my wardrobe.  The jacket was originally posted here as part of another outfit, along with my review of the pattern.
Now in past 6 different ways posts I’ve delved into my wardrobe to come up with a whole bunch of outfits featuring the item … but this time I’ve gone for a retrospective look at some old outfits.  Five of these photos are from various me-made or self-stitched months… and it was quite interesting to look back seeking out old pictures again…
At left, on a freeeezing summer’s day in Paris, with black jeans and a soft grey hoodie, in a sorta Full Metal Alchemist get-up.  Yes, of course I watched the entire series, with my children, hehe.  Didn’t you?!!  Worth it, my friends.  Worth.  It.  And at right; worn with a white wrap-front blouse and my blue and white patchwork skirt, to a birthday do for my Mum…
raspberry1
At left; brightening up a plain but smart oatmeal dress, and chocolate gloves, tights and boots.  I later took Sam out to lunch for his birthday.  Incidentally, one of the really great things about documenting your outfits each in those me-made months is that you do have an instant mental snapshot of that day, which sure helps my sad old mind in recalling the day and just what I was doing.  Probably I would not remember a single second of this day, if I did not have the photo here….
At right; I never put this photo in my blog for some reason.  Probably decided I did not like the outfit after all or something, too much red and purple together but actually it’s not so bad!  I am wearing the jacket with my purple jeans, a burgundy scarf, and an orange rtw cardigan.
raspberry2
At left; on a rainy but not too cold day in Paris; I wore the jacket with a navy/white striped Tshirt and a little ivory skirt.  btw, I didn’t intentionally put together a French “uniform” that day.  I only realised later on how super-cliched I looked.  Tourists, huh?  So embarrassing….!  At right; the jacket adds a touch of colour to an all–white outfit… here worn with my bamboo shoot top and a long layered lace-y skirt.
raspberry3
As the cooler weather starts to roll around again, I will be glad to pull this one out of the wardrobe and wear it again.  I’ve always loved the three quarter length sleeves.  Plus, it’s kinda chirpy and cheerful, and instantly adds a zing to any old thing it gets slung over.
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Pretty in Pink

07/09/2012 4:38 pm \ 43 Comments \

It’s been gorgeous here lately.  Fresh and exhilarating; cool and sunny and clear.  Everyone including moi is in high spirits, the days are sparkling and I’m even feeling the urge to clean out kitchen cupboards and wash curtains and eiderdowns, for heaven’s sake.  Wooee, spring casts some powerful magic, yeah?!
And I am in the mood to create like mad…   I’ve made a lightweight pinkie-wink thing for my light pinkie-wink daughter  🙂   More specifically, a loose over-sized jacket in a boyfriend style that we both reckon is tres chic, oui.
I used a new-to-me pattern Burda 7401, and the jacket is made of a lovely shell-pink hessian silk that I spotted on the $4 table at Fabulous Fabrics about a year ago, put there because it had some faded patches.  I looove the faded patches! and I think this soft and pretty colour is just glorious on her  🙂
The jacket fronts are supposed to meet in the centre front and tie closed, but because I made it oversized as opposed to fitting, I made it so she can fold the fronts over each other and wrap herself up in it; tie the long ties together at the back, to look like a more fitted style if she wants that.  I did this by leaving a small gap in the right back/side seam, for the tie to pass through to wrap around.  At first she preferred it wrapped up like this, but she now informs me she likes it open.  So she can shove her hands in those pockets… aah, a daughter after my own heart  😀
The silk hessian frays like billy-o, so I finished all the raw edges inside with HongKong seaming, in a lightweight cotton voile.
She is wearing it with a little denim skirt she made herself.  She is a pretty accomplished little seamster herself, and I reckon she should update her own blog one of these days and add in all the cool stuff she has been making for herself.
Details:
Jacket; Burda 7401, pink silk
Top; supre
Skirt (made by Cassie); Butterick 5488, lightweight denim

Pattern
Description:
Semi-fitted unlined jacket with unusual seaming; long underarm gussets, a short rounded stand-up collar, front pockets that are separate pieces patched together with remainder of the jacket front.  View B has longer sleeves, a tie front and peplum.
Pattern
Sizing:
Sizes 36-50 (US 10-24).  I made view B in a size 12 for my daughter, aiming for an oversized boyfriend jacket look.
Did
it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished
sewing it?
Yes.  Except that I adapted it so the ties can, if my daughter desires, become a self-belt that wraps it around around the body to cinch in the waist in a blouse-y way; an aesthetic that suits her style.
Were
the instructions easy to follow?
Yes: except that steps 4 and 5, inserting the side pieces, is not as simple to do as it makes out in the instructions.  You have to clip the heck out of those tight front and back underarm curves in order to sew those seams!
What
did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
For a casual jacket I think it is really chic; with slightly unusual seaming and an edgy style.  I love the shape of that softly flared peplum, it looks lovely either with the jacket wrapped or unwrapped.  There were no instructions to interface the front facing, which I thought about defying and rebelliously applying interfacing.  But I went with no interfacing on the front; which does make the jacket beautifully soft and unstructured, very casual and easy to wear.  I did apply interfacing to the back neck facing and to the collar to the foldline.
The jacket is designed to be unlined, but if you wanted to line it it would be pretty easy to do so.
Fabric
Used:
Hessian silk, and lightweight cotton voile for theHongKong seaming
Pattern
alterations or any design changes you made:
I bound all the raw edges inside with HongKong seaming. 
I left a small opening in the right back/side seam to allow the left front tie to pass through, wrap around the back and tie to the right front tie like a skinny self-belt.
Would
you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I made this one for my daughter; and yes, I would very much like to make one for myself sometime… if I’m allowed to   🙂
Conclusion:
I love it and my daughter loves it, so it is a great success!  I’m glad I made it oversized, with the long body and  the loose unstructured sleeves rolled up it looks like a boyfriend jacket and very “now”.  The unusual seaming and pocket construction is a nice exercise for a seamster who is looking for something out of the ordinary.
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With Military Precision

29/08/2012 7:43 am \ 68 Comments \

My most recent creation: a jacket! made using pattern 104 from the Burdastyle magazine 09/2008 from the Pattern Pyramid giveaway.  Uber cool, yes?  I think so.
Flicking through the magazine; the military style of this jacket with the double breasted front, the rows of buttons, the high collar and the little buttoned-down belt really caught my eye, but not until looking at the fine print did I notice the cool knitted wristbands that are attached to the sleeve lining inside the sleeves …  sold!!  I immediately knew this was The One.  I totally love it; even though there is hardly any winter left here… shhh.  I should be able to squeeze in a few more wears at least, and I’ve always found it fab to have something sorta new-ish in the wardrobe for next year, the next time winter starts to creep up and you’re not quite ready  🙂
Even better, I made the jacket using all leftover fabrics and yarns from my stash; small-ish quantities that were too titchy tiny for any one thing alone, but still too much and too good quality to even dream of ditching.  I’ve noticed a few smartly tailored jackets in Vogue magazine lately, made from combinations of very different materials and the idea of following suit really appealed to me.

Above: both these ads taken from Vogue Australia.  At left; Burberry Prorsum, at right; JBrand. 

I used a browny-grey polyurethane laminate, originally from Fabulous Fabrics and leftover from this skirt, and a grey wool, originally from Spotlight and leftover from this coat.  Whoar, it felt gooood to use up that fabric!!  The knitted wristwarmers are knitted from Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed in colour Peppercorn, the leftover yarn from this cardigan.  I didn’t have quite enough of the wool to knit the full length required, but I think they turned out quite long enough anyway.

I cut the back, sides and fronts of the jacket from the PU laminate: and the centre fronts, shoulders, collar, sleeves and the belt from the wool fabric.  Even though I did not have enough of either fabric to cut the whole jacket, I did have enough of both together to make the jacket 15cm longer than stipulated in the pattern, which suited me to a T.  I prefer a hip-length to a cropped jacket, particularly when in a very fitted style like this.  I left off the gathered peplum, and instead cut the back piece as one long piece.
The pattern directs for two short belts to be sewn in with the side/back seams; instead I made mine as one completely separate longer belt.  It still buttons onto the lower two front buttons, just like in the pattern.  I like the way the belt pulls in the back of the jacket, and gives me more of a “shape”.  I think it might have looked a little boxy for my tastes otherwise.
I topstitched onto the wool portion of the jacket, but avoided any topstitching on the PU laminate; because I know from brief experiments when making my skirt from this fabric that topstitching looks tres hidous on this stuff.
The collar is faced with a lightweight elephant-grey cotton rather than with self-fabric; this is because that wool is thick!  It was pretty hard to get all those double thickness shoulder and collar seams all sitting down on the inside nice and flat as it was, without the extra bulk of a woollen facing… for that reason I did not button the collar ends back on themselves as suggested in the pattern because the grey cotton facing fabric would have showed.  Instead my collar just crosses and buttons right end over the left.

The jacket is lined completely with a coffee-coloured polyacetate lining, from Fabulous Fabrics.  This, along with the buttons, also from Fabulous Fabrics, are the only things I had to buy!

Details:
Jacket; Burdastyle magazine 09/2008, 104, with minor modifications; made of wool, PU laminate, Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed
Jeans; Burda 7863, khaki stretch gabardine, details and my review of this pattern here, and see these jeans styled in 6 different ways here
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti from Zomp shoes

Pattern Description:
Masculine, lady-like or sporty?  This jacket fulfils all three requirements!  The front in severe military style, the back with a feminine peplum, and the sleeves with long, hand-knitted cuffs that are attached to the lining.
Pattern Sizing:
European 36 to 44,  I made the size 38.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished sewing it?
I made mine 15cm longer; but otherwise yes
Were the instructions easy to follow?
They’re ok.  Burdastyle are well known for their challenging pattern instructions!  The instruction to sew the facing pieces together seems to be missing so if you have not made a lined jacket before you might get pretty confused in this section.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
I just love the style!  Very interesting and quite unique.  I was particularly drawn to the knitted wrist-warmers feature; I just love combining different bits and bobs together in one garment like this!!
Fabric Used:
I used a combination of several fabrics; a PU-laminate and a charcoal wool for the jacket pieces, and Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed for the wristwarmers.
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
My jacket is 15cm longer than stipulated, and I left off the gathered peplum and instead cut the back as one piece, as per jacket 105.  I made the belt as one long and completely separate belt, that encircles my waist so it nips in the back of the jacket, and gives me more shape.  My wool fabric used for the collar is very thick, so I faced the collar with a lightweight cotton.  For this reason I did not fold back the collar ends to button on themselves, but instead laid them over each other, so the ends button onto each other.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I might sew this again! and I definitely recommend this interesting and fashion forward pattern to others!
Conclusion:
Well, I’m completely chuffed with my new jacket!  I really love trench coats and military style jackets, which is why I fell for this one; a nice combination of the two styles.  The double breasted front and high stand-up collar look smart and will be nice and cosy on a cold day.  I really love the belt, to nip in the waist.  I particularly adore the knitted wristwarmers.  All round a unique and very cool little jacket, and a really good choice for a cold weather jacket.

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New-Old Hoodie

27/07/2012 12:11 am \ 44 Comments \

There is something exhilarating about transforming textiles otherwise destined for the ragbag into something fabulous … enter exhibit A: the new/old deconstructed hoodie that I have made for myself.  I was inspired by a really cute little thing that Cassie brought back home from her trip over east recently; an “all about eve” jacket with a vest of distressed denim, fleece sleeves and hood.  Of course I eyed it up and unlike a “normal” woman who upon falling in love with a garment would just seek out and buy one for herself; my immediate reaction was to commence plotting how I could create something myself…  mwahaha.  I emptied out the huge bag of crappy old clothes potential refashioning material that I have in my laundry, and selected an old pair of cords; very worn, but in a yummy colour and one of Tim’s old white long-sleeved Tshirts.  

The verdict?  I am pretty thrilled!  I love the deconstructed, already-worn-in, sporty-cool vibe of this funny little piece, and I’m also chuffed that I got to use this favourite-coloured corduroy fabric again!

All the boring nitty gritty of the construction details are below; if you are interested  🙂

Details:
Hoodie; my own design (see below), made from an old pair of corduroy jeans and an old white Tshirt
Jeans; Burda 7863 modified, purple stretch denim, details here
Tshirt; self-drafted and overdyed cotton jersey, details here
Socks; not seen, but hand-knitted by me!  🙂
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

My old jeans were quite worn, with a few holes and the corduroy pile was drastically worn away in some areas, but I kept them because I really really love the sludgy colour of the brown-on-blue pile.  Very very moi, yes?  Luckily they were big enough that I managed to cut my bodice pieces from the two legs of the jeans, only having to lay the wide front pieces over an inner leg seam, and ensuring to have the corduroy pile all running “down” the jacket pieces.  This felt like an achievement in itself!  I unpicked the waistband and re-used it upside down as the waistband on the new jacket, keeping the jeans button and buttonhole; and also the belt loops which were re-sewed back up onto the body of the jacket.  

The waistband was not going to be long enough to go around the new waistband of my jacket, so I cut it in half and inserted a filler bit.  I took the opportunity here to also insert in a little self-belt to nip in the back waist; with a brass buckle than I had kept from an old belt.  The “filler” piece is cut against the grain compared to the waistband for two reasons: firstly I had very limited fabric and this was pretty much the only option! but also because I think it is often better for a filler piece to look obviously different from the pieces around it, and not to try too hard to blend in, which can look shonky if it is not completely seamless.  Does that make sense?  (hope so  :))  )

The pockets and pocket flaps from the seat of the jeans were removed, re-sized and sewed on the front of the jacket as breast pockets; with the existing press-studs on each still in place and doing the same job they were originally.  I sewed welt hip pockets into the front of the jacket, for visual interest as well as for function; I’ve noticed how jeans jackets are often chocka with interesting details and bits and pieces.  For the pocket bags inside, I managed to re-use the internal brown cotton pocket bags from the front hip pockets in the jeans.

The white Tshirt is one Tim used to wear as a thermal layer under other shirts, and apart from a few small avoidable holes and being a bit mis-shapen it was otherwise in reasonable nick.  It suffered a minor laundry incident a few years ago when a red sock snuck into a load of whites; and everything came out of the washing machine a perfectly luvverly shade of pink!  Fortunately Tim is not the sort of guy whose masculinity is threatened by a pink Tshirt and he continued to wear it.  The pink eventually washed out over the years to off-white, and now you could barely tell its little “accident”  🙂
The hood pieces were cut from the body of the Tshirt, using the hood pattern piece from KwikSew 3667, and the sleeves were pretty much unaltered and used as is.  I cut them inside the armscye seam, and overlocked around the raw edge.  I finished the armscyes of the jacket with a bias cut strip of polycotton, and sewed the sleeves just inside this, for a clean finished look on both outside and inside.

The hood was sewn to the neckline of the jacket and the raw edges enclosed in a strip of bias cut polycotton, topstitched down on the outside of the jacket.

I was extremely fortunate to find buttons in my stash that were a very good match for the press studs and jeans button, so I re-used these.  If old clothes are destined for the ragpile I always keep the buttons and anything else that might be useful down the track; a frugal habit that pays off time and time again in my sewing.  This is a habit that goes back generations in my family!

Some more info re the pattern, since I often blithely state that “my pattern is self-drafted”.  It has occurred to me that people might like a bit more info here in case you wish to re-produce the same thing: I checked out the general shapes used in RTW jeans jackets and used my Pattern Magic sloper to help re-create the same shapes.  This jacket is my first try-out to see how my pattern fitted me, and I am very happy with the fit and the style, although I might introduce a few little variations on future versions  (naturally  🙂  )
My advice to anyone considering self-drafting? get yourself a Pattern Magic book and work through a few of the exercises as I have; these books are absolutely blinkin’ fantastic for teaching one about self-drafting and manipulating fabric and pattern pieces and shapes to get different effects.  I am no longer frightened of playing about with shapes and moving, altering and grouping together body shaping features such as darts, tucks, gathering and pleats to transform a 2D piece of fabric into a 3D sculpture that will fit my 3D body.  Or even not to “fit” my body, but to do some whimsically artistic thing just to look cool… these books are worth their weight in gold!

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Raincoat the Second

09/07/2012 12:13 pm \ 46 Comments \

Ta da!  please allow me to present the raincoat that I have made for Cassie.
It is made using the same self-drafted pattern I used for my own raincoat, with just a few minor fitting adjustments.  All the details are identical to my own coat; the seams in the shell are French seams, waterproofed with Seam Grip, and the coat is fully lined with soft and lightweight white polyester net.
Cassie chose the colour herself and I am happy with the knowledge that she is unlikely to get run over crossing the road whilst wearing this  😉

I ran into a snag buying the pink fabric, that fortuitously turned into a stroke of brilliant good fortune: previously when buying the royal blue fabric for my own raincoat I had bought 3m to ensure I had plenty to play with, since there is nothing worse than running out of fabric halfway through a project, no?  It turned out 3m was plenty, in fact it was way more than plenty and I ended up with an annoyingly large leftover piece.  This is a pain, because I am really trying to rid my life of leftovers.  Especially icky nylon leftovers which have a very small desirability in my wardrobe.  So when I went in to buy the nylon for Cassie’s raincoat I asked for 2m of pink, and was mildly horrified when the roll only had 1.4m left on it.  But the cunning stash-busting part of my brain instantly saw a beautiful possibility….  a quick consultation with Cassie, who cheerfully agreed that yes, a wide blue stripe did indeed sound very nice (phew!) and I went home with the 1.4m of pink, joyful that I was going to be gainfully using up the rest of that blue nylon after all… and so quickly after it had joined the stash too!  (air fist punch) Yeeah!

Of course it was not all beer and skittles from then on; I did have to conjure up a bit of pattern placement magic, and do various mental calculations for various stripe scenarios, and there is one short extra piecing seam in the blue under one sleeve, but I did manage to squeak the raincoat out of my pieces of royal blue and pink successfully.  I’m pleased to report that the final scrap count is almost non-existent too (‘nother air fist punch).

There was a hiccup; the making of this second raincoat did not go as smoothly as the first.  You know how the second time you do a thing everything is supposed to go much much quicker and easier?
Well, no.

Halfway through, my ironing cloth slipped a bit and I managed to iron a hole in one almost-completed front.  It was a very small hole, but it was.  An.  Unmistakeable.  HOLE!  When I saw this; steam started to emit from the ol’ ears and I had to walk away to calm down for a few hours.
Once I had regained some composure, I returned to the coat and thought about possibilities.  Y’know when life gives you lemons there is always a silver lining, or something or another, yeah?  And I surprised myself with my own ingenuity by coming up with the idea of a little pocket for her iPod.  Where the offending hole was, there is now a welt, covering a little internal pocket.  It closes with a little mini-strip of velcro, with enough room at the top for the headphone cord to come out.  And fortuitously, the welt is in the perfect position where its vertical opening is covered by the zip placket when the zip is closed, improving waterproof-ability.  Yowza!  It’s like I planned it all along!!

Below left; I made the welt as small as I could that could still fit the iPod sliding in sideways, the pocket bag hangs below and to the side… Below right; I stitched the top of the pocket bag to the lining to help reduce the drag effect of having the pocket bag off to the side of its opening.  Fortunately, iPods are very lightweight!

I am happy now.
And y’know what?  I am even more ecstatically happy that none of my boys wants or needs a raincoat, and that this is the end of raincoats.  At least for now.  I’m raincoat-ed out.  I want to make something fun and easy and selfishly frivolous now!
Later, fellow self-fashionistas!

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Operation Raincoat

01/07/2012 12:38 am \ 50 Comments \

Warning: distinctly un-humble and boastful post to follow…
I have made this; my first ever raincoat…  :0 and I am thrilled!!!!! with how it turned out!
Making a raincoat is one of the scary things I have always wondered was too hard for me, whether the technicalities were beyond me.  Now I have successfully made one I feel like I have achieved another small step toward having an entirely me-made wardrobe.

Thank you so much to all who left a comment regarding good quality raincoat fabric sources  🙂
I checked each and every one of your recommendations.
I found extremely helpful this article written by Caroline, the link sent to me by bloodsweatshoptears.  Caroline wrote about making a waterproof cycling jacket and included bundles of relevant and very interesting information for the outdoor-gear sewing newbie like myself.  And the jacket she made is so awesomely fantastic and inspiring…  
Caroline’s article included a link to another very very informative article on how to choose rainwear, which I read and reread.  This article really helped me to honestly assess what I actually wanted from my raincoat… which was: another raincoat almost exactly like my old one!

I had bought my previous old raincoat at Kmart for our eldest son Tim when he was about ten years old.  After he had worn it for a coupla years I had to buy him a new official school uniform one, so his old navy blue one became mine.  I have worn it and worn it pretty solidly every rainy winter’s day since … and Tim is now 22 years old, so you can see the old raincoat has done very good service!  The only reason I am replacing it is because it is finally starting to fall apart….  so, I did a close inspection of the old one to work out what to copy and what I could improve.  And this is what I did, and have learnt…

I used my old raincoat to help me draft a new pattern: I didn’t have to chop it up to do this, but this would be an excellent plan for someone who hasn’t done much self-drafting.  It has raglan sleeves, a hood and a high, inner collar.  I incorporated a few, very minor, fitting alterations and small design improvements at this stage.
I decided my raincoat doesn’t need to keep me warm, just dry; so: waterproof, non-breathable fabric, something like nylon ripstop would be the best.  I knew from my old one that this kind of fabric does keep one plenty warm enough in our climate already.
I wanted a full lining in my new raincoat.  My husband’s raincoat has a polyester net lining; something akin to the fabric school sports shirts are made of; that is smooth and comfortable and very nice against the skin.  I added this to my shopping list.

Now, I am sure everyone is dying to know where I bought this awesomely gorgeous fabric (hehe, kidding!) 
Well: I browsed the online fabric stores, and had even bookmarked a few and was pretty much all set to BUY, when, like, the next day, I happened to be passing Spotlight and thought it would be worth going in to check out the separating zips.  Well, you never know whether the ones you are buying online are dearer than Spotlight, and I’ve always found their zips, while not plentifully stocked, to be very reasonably priced.  And while I was there, I idly checked out the fabrics; and hey, whaddyaknow? Nylon ripstop!  The colour selection was not huge, but it was definitely cheaper than any I had seen online, so I picked up some royal blue plus a glow-in-the-dark green for trim, just for fun.  Polyester net?  They didn’t have exactly the same sort that was in my husband’s raincoat, but they did have some that seemed pretty good, so I picked that up too…  Velcro? check!  Zips? check!  Cording and cord-stops? check and check!  Spotlight is a much maligned store, and frequently by me, too  🙂 but I have to eat my words now since they had almost everything I needed!  The only thing they did not have was some of that marvellous Seam Grip I have read about to waterproof my seams… but I recalled reading that its primary use is in tents and camping stuff, and barely 50m away from the front door of my Spotlight is a BCF store (Boating Camping and Fishing); practically next door.  So I popped in, and yes of course they had Seam Grip.  I promptly bought some.  I was all set!!
The nylon ripstop can be cut just with ordinary household scissors, so I did not blunt my good dressmaking shears on it… bonus!

One can’t use pins willynilly since it has to be waterproof!  But when necessary I pinned within the seam allowances.
Not for looks (since the raincoat is fully lined) but for extra waterproofing, I sewed all the seams as French seams; bar some of the internal pocket seams which are inside the coat and so are not a waterproofing issue.  

I ironed the seam allowances “up”, against gravity (another waterproofing tip) before topstitching in place.

Seam Grip is messy stuff.  Apparently it is the best product around for this job, but check out the fine print; it contains toluene.  This is nasty… back in the dark ages when I was an analytical chemist I would have only opened a bottle of this substance in a fume-cupoboard.  Not having access to a fume cupboard anymore, I worked outside and used disposable rubber gloves.  I cloaked Bessie in plastic bags to protect her (not that she is susceptible to carcinogens….) and draped and pegged my half-finished coat inside out to do the seam sealing.  

I left it to cure for 12 hours, and kept on going out regularly to pull apart the bits like the underarms, that were sticking to themselves; to ensure nothing became permanently glued together.  Even when fully set I have found the Seam Grip has a tendency to stick to itself.  Having the lining in has alleviated the problem somewhat, but not completely.  I sure hope it de-stickifies eventually  :S

Ventilation: meaning, an aperture for one’s body heat to escape outside; is a must in waterproof non-breathable garments.  So I copied a feature from my old raincoat and hammered in two eyelets under each of the arms, at the back.  These, as well as the eyelets in the hood for the cording (pictured below), are each re-inforced on the inside with an extra four layers of self-fabric, for strength.

Quick and simple velcro-lined tabs to tighten the wrists.  I’ve used something like these on my old raincoat for the last dozen or so years: so they’re second nature to me and I am accustomed to them, so I copied them exactly for my new one.  No need to re-invent the wheel, right?

Waterproof pockets; an essential.  These have a full-width flap that is an extension of the upper front, covering a zippable pouch that is an extension of the lower front.  These are similar in design to the ones on my old raincoat; I simply extended them so they are much wider, thus eliminating seams.  In fact, at the sides they extend out to and in to, the side seams and the front placket.  Less stitching therefore simpler to construct and finish off, and you get wider pockets!  What’s not to love about that?  (I can do a tute on these pockets, if anyone is interested.  I’m frankly a bit terrified of doing tutes now, but I am pretty chuffed with how they turned out, so please let me know, ok?   🙂  )

This has been a fun learning curve.
Of course, eagle-eyed Perth readers will instantly see that I could not possibly have taken these photos during the last 4 days, since it has been unrelentingly sunny.  Truth: I raced out to take these during some early morning showers last Wednesday, but have been too apathetic to even look at my photos since then, let alone write up this post.  But anyway, here we are.  And I am sure we will get more rain soon.  Hopefully.
And yes, flushed with my own sewing success, another raincoat is already in the pipeline, this one for Cassie….  😉  stay tuned!

Details:
Raincoat; self-drafted, with the help of an old one, nylon ripstop with polyester net lining
Skirt; Vogue 1247 lengthened and lined, red cotton velveteen ombre dyed brown, details here and my review of this pattern here
Leggings; self-drafted, red cotton jersey, details here
Boots; Andrea and Joen, from Uggies in Dunsborough (now renamed Eco-boutique)

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Sherbie jacket

28/09/2011 2:51 pm \ 21 Comments \

… so named because it is exactly the same colour as of one of my favourite childhood lollies.
Thank you for the feedback on the Spring colour challenge yesterday!  I am still up in the air over whether I will actually join in officially or not; but in the meantime I have chosen a colour palette based on stash fabrics that I want to make up, and realised that this little jacket fitted in with it perfectly!
I’m embarrassed to admit that I made this about three years ago, and have barely worn it.  It has probably been worn about three times in total!  But I was doing a bit of clothing rotation; cleaning out my wardrobe and sorting out some warmer weather gear for the new season and came across it again in a suitcase of spring clothes and decided it was high time I brought into regular circulation.  It is actually quite a goodie if I say so myself… 😉 and I plan to make it a staple for this spring.
It is Burda 7723, a pattern which has been seen here quite a lot.  That is because I have made up the shorts loads of times… but the jacket just this once.  It is of sherbie-apricot coloured raw silk, and has a contrasting darker apricot coloured hessian silk collar and pocket flaps.  Those pocket flaps are not just for show, there are real pockets underneath but they are pretty small and probably not useful for anything bigger than a mobile phone, house key and a credit card.  Well, all a woman needs, hehe…. 🙂  The jacket is fully lined in black acetate lining fabric.  Goodness knows why I chose black, I guess I must have thought it was a cool idea at the time.  I’m thinking the black lining looks a little weird now…
Some thoughts on the other things;
The pale pink layered damask skirt made about four years ago, I was super sad to spot a few areas around the welt seams where the fabric is starting to wear through age… and I still adore this skirt.  Noooooo!
The little sleeveless white wrap blouse, another old spring/summer staple.
Now I have to explain the extra random piccie below, I feel like a bit of a fool because I stuffed up.  I went out on my walk and took a nice picture for self-stitched September, and to show off the jacket… and thought that was that.  Then remembered that today was day of the mini-challenge; the night-shot; doh!  So normally I can’t bear there to be more than one photo of the same outfit in a post.  You’ve probably noticed that I will generally have one photo only, except for details shots or a back/side view or if there is some extra added feature and so on…  I’m just like, one shot is enough already!  But I just have to join in the mini photo challenge, so I nipped out to our street tree and took a night shot too… and there it is below.  So I’m sorry if you too hate multiple photos of the same outfit; and I sympathise.  But unfortunately you just couldn’t see much detail of the jacket in the night-shot, so it just had to be done!
But the good news; I did learn how to take a night shot on my camera… something that is new to me.  The shutter speed is set to 30 seconds, and I just stood as still as possible for those 30 seconds.  That is why you can see some car lights zooming down the street behind me!  I’m just amazed the picture worked out… pretty cool, huh?

Details:
Jacket; Burda 7723, apricot raw silk, darker apricot silk collar and pocket flaps, lined in black acetate
Top; NewLook 6252, white seersucker
Skirt; my own design based on Vogue 7303 (a basic A-line skirt pattern) pale pink shimmer-y damask, to see this skirt styled in 6 different ways go here
Sandshoes; Country Road

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