The (Sub)urban Jacket

This was quite the snake-bit project, primarily of my own making. A while back, I admired sewing friend Charlotte's rendition of this unusual design. She described it as seriously challenging and even shared her modifications created with a Butterick pattern. I sure wish I had a picture of hers. It is fabulous with its hood and long sleeves.

In the beginning, I was optimistic, sure of myself. I even have fabric in stash that is similar to the fabric on the front of the pattern envelope. I was sure that I could do this!

Yes, the instructions were a bit of a conundrum to me but I pre-disposed myself to thinking "This will be difficult." Attitude is everything.

This is a Diane Ericson design. I do love her work. I drool over her journal entries every time one drops in my email. Much inspiration! I think to myself - I can do that too.

But I made so, so many mistakes. I don't think I can remember them all to include in this post and who wants to see all that anyway?!?

One mistake I made that tripped me up was cutting 2 of the collar/facing piece when I really needed 4. That took me for a long ride that included other related mistakes.

The design includes welt pockets, a close cousin to bound buttonholes, as I'm sure you know. I played around with some samples and decided that a real welt pocket would introduce too much bulk for my taste. I made a simple faced pocket opening and used the pattern pocket backing to finish it. And, after all, this was intended to be a wearable muslin.

(I do like this picture a lot. I like the way the flange causes the back to swing to the front)

As always, I had a limited amount of this while denim. I thought I could cut out a sleeveless jacket, keeping the hood and other details. If I had paid attention to the number of needed collar/facing pieces, I might have actually done that. Or maybe not.

When I finally sorted out the collar/facing error in cutting, I had to harvest another piece from the hood. That "other piece" turned out to be a lining piece that I did not use, as I had no intention of lining a wearable muslin. I guess that once I decided I would struggle with this, I made sure that I struggled with this.

Oh well, I did get the experience of making the hood before that debacle. No pictures of that.

I had fun decorating this separating zipper. It's just a white zipper with black permanent marker applied to it. An idea from Diane, I'm pretty sure.

I still did not have enough for 4 of the collar/facing piece. So you can see that I used the black and white print. Not bad, I said to myself. I can live with this.

The black and white was also useful for creating bias binding for the armholes. The armholes never did completely sort out for me. Perhaps they are good with sleeves, but there was a funny way that it cut away from my body at the base of the armhole. I just reshaped it to my satisfaction.

This was an interesting project and the wearable muslin idea has served its purpose. This is not a good silhouette on me. Seriously I don't think I like a boxy short vest over a longer top. And I definitely do not tuck in shirts these days. 

I'll chalk this up to a learning experience. I've got my attitude back under control.

Which of Diane's patterns should I make next? I can do this!