Zigzag or Detour?

I made the Zigzag pattern - both pieces - back in 2008. I made them in coordinating linen fabrics, one solid for the jeans, and the other a lighter weight cross-dyed linen. In January of this year, the Detour jacket was issued as part of the 2020 Sew Confident series from Sewing Workshop. All of this was before Covid-19, of course.

In my mind's eye, my original attempt was lovely. Unfortunately the pants were a bit snug and then I gained weight (!). The shirt was too voluminous for the light-weight linen I selected and the wrinkles were just too much. Both pieces are long absent from my closet.

The Zigzag was and is a lovely style and silhouette. The slim jeans are a perfect pairing with the large topper. As you can see above, the jeans have interesting lines and there are zips down the lower back. It was a very cool design. I'm sorry I did not pursue the pattern further in 2008. So much potential there.

The top has a unique collar/yoke that is fun to make. Here is how it looks before attaching the back.

And here is how it looks when folded into position. The back is still missing here:

And the hem swings a bit lower in the back. There is also an inverted pleat in the back. I got distracted and constructed my pleat backwards, but it looks fine, I think, and I don't want to tear into the silk to fix it.

Although this is exactly the same pattern (I had to print the Detour jacket and piece it all together and then place the original on top to believe it), I had one of those duh moments. Well, yes, it makes a cool swing jacket. I simply chose the wrong fabric for version 1.

You know, I think sometimes that the main reason I love, love, love the Sewing Workshop stuff is the way they style things. Yes, I like most of the patterns, but it's the styling that maintains my interest.

I was a tiny bit miffed at the effort I engaged to download and use this pattern, given its existence in my stash. I mean, of course, I recognized it, but I thought that they had made some changes to it. But, no, it is identical.

And yet, I had great fun making it again. And I really like the result.

The fabric is a piece gifted by a non-sewing friend. She bought it sometime in the way past and cannot remember anything about it. It seems to be silk, based on a couple of burn tests. It may be drapery weight, as it is crisp and the crisp does not wash out. It has a lovely tone-on-tone raised stripe. It does not wrinkle and is very light to wear. The color is not part of my usual color range, but I kind of like it. A lot.

I am sad to report that I screwed up the top button (isn't that always the one to screw up?!?) but it still looks darned good, I think.

At the moment there is a snap there with an unusual button sewn to the outside. Now I don't like snaps much, but this is a pretty good fix for now.

The one and only time I've worn it is in the above picture from Sew Kansas with Sarah Campbell and Linda Lee. It was such great fun and I'm happy that it happened before the world shut down around us.

I feel lucky to be able to sew almost every day. I've made a gazillion masks and will blog about that soon. But I've also made a few other satisfying little bits and pieces.

They like it when I assemble downloadable patterns.

Here is my latest attempt to discourage our new kitties from destroying the furniture.