Burda 3-2009-111 - Yellow & gray floral jacket

Woot! Here's another jacket I've knocked off my humongous pile of jackets waiting to be made up. I love this issue of Burda, and I love this jacket. It's got lots of fun details and loads of topstitching. But first I must thank my super awesome sister for this fabric. It was part of JoAnn's "Cosmopolitan" line from early spring. I adore yellow and for some reason think I'm the only person who does. While sitting on my thumbs waiting for a good sale, it completely sold out! I was very bummed, but thought perhaps Elisa's JoAnn's in Houston might still have some. They did, she bought it for me, and here it is!

Here at the back you can see the cute half-belt. There's topstitching down the sleeves, around the neckline, and across the belt. I used heavy duty polyester thread and my machine's walking foot. I first tried red and then white topstitching thread, but settled on black in the end. I wanted it to be contrasting but not distracting from the already bright print.

I really liked the curved collar and lapels, patch pockets with flaps, and front and back yoke.



The instructions have you cut a lining for the pockets out of lining fabric. This makes the pocket lining visible from the front, since it is sewn on top of the jacket. I opted to cut the pocket linings from fashion fabric to eliminate any view of gray lining.

The lining is gray Ambiance. I changed the center-back lining into one solid piece, instead of having a CB yoke and lower CB. That way I could raise the back pleat to act as an actual ease pleat. Notice how low the lining sits. This is because the middle front lining was cut from lining fabric - as per the instructions - and extends all the way to the bottom hem. I couldn't very well attach the rest of my lining higher or it would look funny. What I'd do differently is cut the middle front lining from fashion fabric, and attach the rest of the lining in typical jacket fashion.

Okay, so you've probably noticed my change in hairstyles. I've had bangs off and on pretty much my whole life. After college I grew them out since I was always mistaken for an intern at my job. You might not can tell, but I have loads of freckles. Freckles + bangs = baby face. But now in my 30's I'm starting to get gray hairs left and right and other wobbly bits. I know I'm not old, but I no longer feel really young. Wanting to try something different, I'm going with bangs once again. They might be grown out into side bangs eventually as I'm not sure I'm in love with them.