BWOF 9-2008-104 - Black military jacket

Here's my new jacket from September's BWOF issue. I actually finished it last Sunday evening, but it was too dark to take pictures. Maybe I should call this my space cadet jacket, because that's what it reminds me of. I loved the design the moment my eyes fell on it. Those bodice tabs start on the side back and button onto the front. The sleeves have tabs as well.

The top of the front and back are connected by a shoulder piece and the back has a really cute peplum.

This turned out wanting to fly up because of the thick/lightweight fabric. I solved that problem by sewing in 12 pennies to the inside bottom. This picture was taken before the lining was attached.

Here's a better view of the side tabs. Were I to change anything about this jacket, I would make it a little more fitted through the waist and a few inches longer.

Now I'll show you some close-ups. This material had to be treated like a plaid, whereas the horizontal and vertical lines had to be matched wherever possible. This was not easy and really slowed me down. But I'm really happy with the end result. Here at the front the tabs were matched where they buttoned.

This is the front shoulder seam. I'm super proud of the continuous fabric lines across this angled seam. It took a lot of sewing, ripping out a few stitches, sewing a bit more... Like I said, a huge pain but worth it in the end.

I picked center back for the vertical alignment of the collar lines:

It was a small miracle when I sewed the collar in the front and found that those matched as well:

This is a picture of the closures used. These giant snaps were part of the design. Aren't they cool? I would have never picked these out to use for a garment on my own.

This jacket has a full lining complete with center back vent for ease of movement.

The majority of this jacket came from this design, but I omitted the knitted cuffs for long sleeves of jacket 105, and used the collar from 105 as well. This picture is design 104.

And the line drawing.
That's it for today. I've got more to show you in a day or two.

McCall's spring patterns sneak peek

Well, this was a sneak peak, but since these patterns were finally uploaded to the internet, I'm going to get rid of the pictures I took that take a lot of memory space, and instead post pictures from McCalls's sight. So, same information, just different pictures.

This is 5802. I still think the dress is really cute, but after seeing the back of it, am not sure where I'd wear it. A little bare for me to wear to church. I like the top, though. That might be a bit more practical for wearing out on a date night.

Up next is 5803. I previously wrote that I already have several pleated skirts in my wardrobe, and don't need any more. However, I love the outfit with brown top and skirt with matching bottom band. So I might end up with another pleated skirt after all.

This is 5809. The blouse with longer sleeves is my pick.

I still love cropped trench on 5816. The other jacket is nice as well.

Okay, so I've wanted a safari-inspired outfit for awhile now. 5817 is just about perfect in my book. I'm thinking a pantsuit for summer or maybe with matching capris instead.

And I think that little pink outfit on 5819 is super cute just for going to the beach or bumming around the house.

And whoops! I thought this was a new pattern, but I'd just not seen it before. It's 5585, and I'm glad to have stumbled upon it because I really like it. View C on the bottom left is the design I like. This is for knits.


Well, I have quite a few finished projects to post pictures of this weekend. Darn that daylight savings! I can only get Justin to take my picture on the weekends because there's no light left outside by the time he makes it home from work. And all the pictures I've had him take of me inside at night-time have turned out horribly.

What is wrong with these sleeves?!

Here's my BWOF jacket 104 from the September issue. The front is looking good, but the sleeve caps are caving in when I move my arms. I haven't trimmed the seam allowances yet. Does anyone have any ideas of how to fix this problem? I can't think of it ever happening to me before.