Simplicity 2810 (jacket) & February Wrap Up

I first attempted this pattern in 2017 and was pretty stoked at my first woven welt pocket application.

 

Unfortunately, the jacket got sent to Area 51 on indefinite time out because of the collar/facing situation. There was so much bulk and twisty foolishness that I could not get this area to work or look anything close to right. Rather than tossing it, I kept it with the hope of returning to it later and trying again.

 

Well, later is here. 😁 I still have some work to do, but it's almost done. I need to hem the bottom/sleeves, hand-stitch the lining to the hem, add buttonholes/buttons.

 

  

Fabric & Notions:

• 2 yards of wool tweed
• 90/14 needle for shell; 70/10 microtex needle for lining
• fusible weft interfacing (collars, facing, all hems)
  
• scrap cotton for back stay
• 11" x 3" bias-cut fleece for sleeve heads
• cotton basting thread to temporarily secure the welt pockets
  
• dye-able buttons from the 1960s 😮 (my favorite part of this jacket!)
  

 

Size:  I cut size 16 in 2017; the first version is a tad small. I used the same pattern pieces, but sewed with smaller seam allowances. I tried it on throughout construction and the jacket is still a bit small. Ah well.

 

Construction:  I sewed almost all of the jacket on my Juki semi-industrial straight stitch machine. Let me tell you:  I never knew I wanted a straight-stitch machine until I had one! I am considering buying a full industrial machine because domestic machines just don't have the same piercing power. I'll still keep my other machine for specialty stitches (zigzag, blind, buttonholes, etc.), but I foresee Juki getting all the attention.

Back to the jacket...

I'll blind hem the jacket on my Babylock and sew the other hems by hand. All jacket edges were finished on the serger. Lining seams were stitched on the sewing machine and finished together on the serger as well.

Light Tailoring:  With all jackets and coats, I usually add a back stay for structure and fuse 2" strips of interfacing to the hems. Instead of sewing gathering stitches along the sleeve cap, I use bias-cut fleece. This serves two purposes:  (1) the bias cut gathers the sleeve cap automatically and (2), the fleece provides cap support and aids in shaping this area.

To reduce bulk in the collar/facing, I cut the interfacing without seam allowances before fusing. I think this helped to not make sewing this part a PITA like it was the first time.

 

 

 

I messed up one side of the collar (pictured above). Because I used a thread that blended TOO well with the fabric, I couldn't see the stitching line when it came to notching the curves. So of course I cut right through the stitching and only noticed it when I turned the collar right side out. There were three nice little holes looking back at me. I had to take a bigger seam allowance here to try and cover the holes. Meh. The fix isn't too visible, but I can tell the difference.

Dye-able buttons: Last year at one of many trips to my happy place, I found a button coloring kit from 1969.

 

Two kits cost maybe $0.50, so I bought them thinking they wouldn't go to waste if dyeing didn't work; I'd find a use for the buttons for sure. Besides, how much expectation can I have from a kit that was over 50 years old?

 

Well you know what? It worked!!

original color on top
dyed color on bottom

I picked the color on the card that came as close to the jacket fabric as possible (blue pencil points to the chosen color). It's kind of hard to see in this image, but the color on the card is in the peach family - just a little lighter.

 

 

Dyeing the buttons was quick and easy. On the back of the package is a series of color strips:   red, blue, and yellow. Based on the color choice from the front, sets of strips corresponding to that color are cut and boiled in 4 ounces (1/2 cup) of water for 10 minutes. The color I selected required 8 blue, 16 yellow, and 10 red strips.

 

 

Once 10 minutes have elapsed, the strips are removed and buttons are boiled in the tinted water for the time listed next to the color. My color required an additional 6 minutes. Lighter and darker shades require less and more boiling time, respectively.

 

 

The match is spot on!! The buttons are 1" and will be perfect for the front. They might be too big for the sleeve, so I'll have to decide what to do there.

 

 

I don't know if button color kits still exist, but if they do, I'm a believer. Hah!

 

***

 

February Wrap Up:

 

I am on track to finishing the second of two garments for this month. Life is still stressful and despite February having 84 days, I only managed to (nearly) complete two garments:

• another Simplicity 9385 in purple Merino wool
• this jacket

For March, I hope to make another Boronia Bowler (gift for a friend) and maybe start working on garments from my Make Nine. I'm trying to resist the urge to start something new before finishing this jacket. I am sooooo close!

 

L