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.

Mini Wardrobe Contest plans

FIRST, thanks so much for all your wonderful comments on my Vogue 1150 dress. This is the first time I've ever received over 50 comments on a post. I'm blown away by all the feedback!

The Mini Wardrobe Contest over at Patternreview.com is set to kick off March 16th and run through April 15th. I am determined to enter and finish this one, even though I'll be out of town for part of one week. But it's only 4 garments. I should be able to do that easily, and hopefully won't get tired of my color pallet in that short amount of time.

Here are the fabrics I've chosen. I'm usually more of a vibrant color lover and pink is not my favorite. Especially this pale color pink. But somehow I've amassed a small array of coordinating fabrics and I do love pink and gray together.

As you can see I have 5 fabrics chosen and only need to make 4 garments. The three in the middle are definites and the outer two I can't decide between.

On the left is a black tweed suiting weight polyester with flecks of gray and white in it. I've got Burda's skirt 120 from the November 2009 issue paired with it.
The pink crinkled silky-type-polyester-something-or-another (augh! I never know the names of fabrics!) is going to be made from NewLook 6831, view D (top right drawing). It is low cut and I plan to wear either a black cami or white cami underneath, depending on what it's paired with.

For the middle pink printed silk - my favorite from the bunch - I'm planning to make a simple knee-length bias skirt using Simplicity 4881. BUT, I don't do elastic waisted anything, so will be drafting a waistband for it.

For the gray wool suiting I'm planning a fitted jacket. I love jacket 129 from Burda's September 2008 issue, and have been saving it for the perfect fabric. I plan to do the topstitching in thick black thread. It'll pop just a little off the gray color, but not enough to distract from what I'll be wearing underneath. Although the bow from the pink blouse and the ends of the jacket lapels might make too much fabric in one area. I'll probably make the blouse first and then decide on the jacket design.

The pink on the far right is actually a thin textured knit. Thin and see-through and delicate. I've had this fabric in my stash for several years and have struggled with what to make out of it. A church friend of mine has the cutest tiered knit skirt that I've been thinking about replicating for awhile now. Then I found a similarly spaced tiered dress on Kwik Sew's website. You may think - Oh Horror! - unflattering ruffles and no body definition!!! But I think if I make this out of the thin pink knit in a figure-hugging smaller size and sew the ruffles in the back as well as the front that it just might turn out super cute and flattering too. I think. And it would look nice under a fitted gray jacket as well.

So, do I make the black tweed skirt to pair with the pink blouse? It might look kind of bland from behind when wearing with the gray jacket. Or do I take my chances with the pink tiered dress that might go horribly wrong but would look better with the gray jacket?

***Where to find the contests at Patternreview.com***

I totally understand any confusion about upcoming contests. I found that site a bit hard to navigate at first as well. Okay, click on the "Message Board" tab at the top of the site. Sometimes you have to click it twice because the first click only shows new pattern releases and such. Click on "Contest Discussions" under the "Contests" bar. There you can find a complete list of all the contests for the year under "2010 Contests" as well as all the discussion threads for each contest. HTH!

Vogue 1150 - Turquoise wool double-knit dress w/ front pockets

Hello! I finished this dress earlier in the week but had to wait for some daylight for pictures. This is such a fun and youthful little dress. I love the big patch pockets, raglan cap sleeves, and of course all the topstitching. The wool double-knit I used (a recent online purchase from Denverfabrics.com) was perfect for this design. It has the needed stretch and thick body to support the pockets and pocket flaps. I ended up adding 3 inches to the length. How are girls suppose to sit down in these super short styles and not flash their undies?!

I also really loved the back exposed zipper on this design. However, after a lot of thought, I decided to leave it off and do a small invisible zipper at the neckline instead. I'm a stay-at-home-mom and wear most of my dresses to church or for date nights. That means some of my dresses only get worn 2 or 3 times a year. I wondered how long an exposed zipper would be in style. I also had to take into account the fact that I used a high quality expensive fabric. In the end I was uncomfortable with the thought of only getting to wear this a handful of times before it started looking dated. I would still really like to make a garment with an exposed zipper sometime in the near future.

I took my time making these pockets and pocket flaps so they would be perfectly aligned.

Here's a close-up of the neckline and front topstitching. I was glad for all that topstitching because this wool double-knit did not want to stay ironed down. I find wool challenging to sew with because I am use to using my high-powered steam iron to make fabric bend to my will. But steam makes wool shrink so I spend three times longer pressing it.

The back is suppose to be cut on a fold. I added a 5/8" seam allowance and didn't cut on a fold in order to incorporate a 7" invisible zipper at the neckline. The neckband is interfaced and there was no way to fit my huge melon through the opening without it.

I'm nearly done with my jacket for February, but probably won't be able to get pictures of it until next weekend. Tomorrow is the last day of the Winter Olympics so hopefully I'll be able to get some focus back. Anyone else crazy about the Olympics like I am?