This Took Forever

Do you have sewing projects like that? This was like a bad penny that just kept coming back, lurking darkly, peaking out of an otherwise cheerful stack of fabric that might be next in the queue.

I started in January, I think. Then as I began to panic over my Station-of-the-Cross project, I had to push it aside.

Right before I had to rip everything out

Generally I don't have garment projects that remain UFO's for long. This one, though! Try as I might, there was always more and more and more to fix, correct, rip out, recut, rethink, and rip again.

There were two major (and many minor) problems with this project. First, the fabric is scratchy. Why did I buy it? I have no idea but it must have been cheap. That's all that I can figure. It is a great weight for outer wear. I'll give it that.

My chosen pattern was the San Diego jacket from the Sewing Workshop. It has their signature cut-on collar that I love. Because of the above-mentioned scratchy wool element, I redrafted this include a separate piece for the collar and front facing. Then I cut it out in the precious leather. Thus began the second major problem with this project.

Because this is outer wear, I wanted it to have  weight and substance.  I quilted cotton flannel to all of the wool pieces, as well as the leather pieces.

It looked OK at the beginning but somewhere along the way I became aware of some ugly stretching in the leather that created pulls and puckers. Yikes! You don't just unsew and resew leather. Those little tiny holes are of course permanent.

I guess it was good that I had to put it away at this point. I was discouraged and sad to have ruined the leather. I will never, ever buy leather to sew again - not necessarily because it's hard to sew but because I cannot help thinking about the source.

So now I've returned to the mess project. The resulting coat is resurrected and quite wearable. In maybe 6-8 months. That's OK. Now I can put it away as a complete garment. Whew.

The collar and front band are made from black silk dupion, a go-to fabric for me. It is not quilted like the leather. The lining is a medium weight silk, similar in weight to charmeuse, but easier to sew. It came in scarf panels.

I am fairly satisfied with the resulting jacket. I used some never-before-used buttonhole features on my sewing machine for heavy fabrics.

I got to use some well-aged heavy buttons, just right for this jacket.

Those little ruined pieces of leather are still in stash. Some way, some how, I'll use them. And now I'm ready for some COLOR!

The dogwood blossoms are fading fast.