Butterick 5334 - Purple wool jacket w/ shawl collar

This is my jacket for February. The idea for it was born last fall when Hancock Fabrics put all their wool on sale half off. There were all the usual colors - black, gray, brown, red, and this deep purple. Since I'd stashed quite a few coordinating purple fabrics at that time, I knew a matching jacket of some sort would be the perfect compliment. Wool is usually scratchy on my sensitive skin, so I went looking for a pattern without a close collar. This is what I ended up with. Although this design wasn't originally picked out of the pattern book as a must have, I really like it. It reminds me of all the sweater knit cardigans that have been made up lately by various bloggers.

I liked the wide shawl collar, princess seams, front peplum and raglan sleeves. The cuffs at the sleeve bottoms were also a fun little detail. I added belt loops at the sides so that I could take this jacket off and not have to keep up with the matching belt. Thin raglan shoulder pads were put in for a little definition. Oh, and the blouse and skirt were also made by me last year. I get a real kick out of wearing an entirely hand made outfit .

This collar is surprisingly not scratchy at all.

The front is closed by a fabric loop and a fabric covered button. These are hidden underneath the tie belt. For the lining I used gray Ambiance. I could not find a similar shade of purple nor any fun coordinating charmeuse fabrics, so I went with plain gray to match the gray in my blouse.

Full lining:

Here's a close-up of the belt loop I added to the side seams.

If the fabrics and notions I've used are recent enough to remember, I thought it would be interesting to post how much a garment costs me to make. I meant to do this for my turquoise wool dress but forgot when I was doing the post.

TOTAL COSTS:

Butterick pattern: $0.99

2 1/2 yards purple wool on sale half off: $18.75

1 3/8 yards gray Ambiance purchased with a coupon: $7.42

a yard or so of interfacing (which I purchase large quantities of when it's on sale): $1.50

covered button floating around my button box: $0.50

grand total: $29.16 give or take plus a little bit for sales tax

Not bad for a fitted lined jacket, right?

I must say that this jacket was not much fun to make. I started it in January and promptly lost my sewing mojo. Finishing it was almost painful, I guess because it's a solid color and doesn't have any challenging bits like topstitching or pockets or some such. But I hate to leave projects unfinished. And I knew it would get a lot of wear. Er, maybe next winter on the lots of wear, though. Spring is coming on quickly here in Texas.