Jalie 2559 (jacket): Complete

Welkom aan boord vlucht 2559.   The KLM jacket is finished!  I think the buttons are a little high, though, so I might redo them.

I don't have any pictures of me wearing the jacket, so dress form photos will have to due for now.  Here's the review:

Fabric & Notions

• 2 yards of medium-weight wool suiting (from the stash)
• 2 yards of navy Bemberg rayon lining
• fusible interfacing for the front, front facings, and all hems
•  11" x 3" strips of bias-cut fleece for sleeve heads
• 80/12 universal needle for shell
• 70/10 microtex needle for lining
• pre-washed muslin for back stay
• covered buttons kit
• regular sewing machine, serger, and walking foot 
• 2 metal snaps

Sizing & Adjustments

Having sewn this before, I worked out the fit already.  I traced a size Z according to my full bust measurement.  I narrowed the shoulders by taking a larger seam allowance in this area, tapering back to 5/8" in the upper chest.  I did a 5/8" sway back adjustment and shortened the sleeves 1.5".  I also took slightly bigger seam allowances across the upper back because I thought the jacket was baggy in this area.  Judging by how it looks on me, I could stand to take a bigger seam allowance or cut a smaller size. 

Even though the undercollar is cut on the fold and with a CB seam, it's the same size as the upper collar.  To encourage turn of cloth, I trimmed 1/8" from the side and long edges.

When I made this jacket for the second time last year, I wrote a list of changes to make for the third iteration:

• No interfacing in the seams:  Not having interfacing in the seam allowances reduced a lot of bulk in places that didn't need it.  Since I intend to make this jacket a few more times, I made separate interfacing pieces that don't include seam allowances. 
  

• Flannel or fleece for sleeve heads:  Fleece is my friend for sleeve heads.  Cotton batting is nice, but even on the bias it has NO stretch. 

• No polyester lining:  I'm a lining snob.  No shame in my game.

• Finish edges and press seams open:  Done and done.

Construction
Nothing special here.  I sewed everything on my machine after finishing the edges first.  The lining seams were sewn first, then serged together.  

The covered buttons are for decoration only.  I chickened out of doing proper buttonholes and used snaps instead.

Pictures

jump pleat

lining

undercollar/turn of cloth
This is photo shows the color better than the others.

 

 left:  zebra print cotton stretch sateen

right:  black and white wool tweed

The type of bottom can take this from nice suit to hubba - not hubba hubba...it is a blazer after all.  

I don't know why the right side is pulling at the bottom.  It doesn't do that on me. 

Conclusion

The only thing I don't care for on this version is the topstitching around the edge of the front.  Since there is no topstitching anywhere else on the jacket, it seems out of place here.  It doesn't stand out too much, but should I sew this again I won't topstitch around the edge.

I'll certainly make this again pattern again - maybe with welt pockets.  The draft is very well done and everything matches precisely. 

Up next:  I'm still working on the Burda bells.  I'm going to sew them to the point where I can try them on; I have some concerns about the fit and length.

I took this picture on 6 Jan.  It's 5 Feb and after the last few snow storms, the deck looks the same.  The snow isn't going anywhere anytime soon since the temperature is forecast to be in the single digits for the next week.

Until next time, peace and warmth!

L

Knit Layering Tops (complete)

I've had this little slinky knit tee for at least 10 years and could no longer deny the fact the top needed replacing.

Originally I was going to make multiple copies of a tank top pattern that I've made in the past:  Jalie 965.  But the first version ended up fitting very poorly.  It was everything that could possibly be wrong with a tank top and rather than continue to fool with that mess, I just cut apart the old slinky knit tank and made a pattern from that.  I used the neckband and armhole pattern pieces from Jalie 965 since the measurements were pretty close to the RTW top.

left (from top to bottom):  cotton striped knit, lime green, taupe, white, grey, pink cotton knit, red

right (top to bottom):  coral pink rayon, bright blue rayon

Of the 10 tops that I made, 8 were based on the RTW top and two were from Simplicity 1945 - a pattern that I made twice before.  Only 9 of the 10 total tops are wearable.  I had problems attaching the neckband on the tenth top and the neckline stretched horribly out of shape by the third attempt.

Fabric 
I used 11 yards of various lightweight rayon and cotton knits.  I've had this fabric in my stash for almost three years and bought it during one of Fabric.com's huge knit sales.  I was really excited about the fabric until I got it in the mail.  Some of it was off grain, too light in weight and had little recovery since it was made of 100% rayon (no Lycra).  Even though I was disappointed, I didn't return the fabric since I knew it would still fill a void in my closet.

Notions/Machine Setup
I sewed the majority of these tops on my serger.  I fused steam-a-seam to all hems and then coverstitched them in place.

Sizing & Alterations

The only thing I did was add two inches to the hem since I wanted my tops to hang a little big longer. 

Conclusion
Though these aren't quite like my old and faithful slinky tank, I'll certainly wear these under other garments.  They're good little tanks and light enough to not be too bulky - perfect for layering!  

Up next:  I've been working on what I'm calling my KLM Royal Dutch Airlines jacket.

Soooooooo blue.  The color actually isn't this bright.  It's more like blue on the handle of the standard-sized seam ripper.  But still.  Welcome to KLM flight number...

I've made much more progress than what's shown here.  The sleeves are in and the under collar is attached.  I need to cut out the lining, attach the front facing, and attach the upper collar.  Hopefully I'll get to work on that this weekend.

Until next time, peace!

L

Stashbusting Challenge 2014

The stash is still out of control, but I'm getting better at not adding to it.  I participated in last year's Stashbusting Challenge with great success.  I pledged to use 12 pieces and ended up using double that amount.  I also sewed 8 of 10 pledged patterns.

This year, I am going to up the ante.  I have a lot of nice pieces of fabric and there is no sense in letting it just sit there.  So, here's my pledge for this year:

"I, Lynn of You sew girl!, commit to using at least 30 pieces of stash fabric in 2014. I also commit to using at least 10 patterns from the pattern and/or magazine stash. Stash includes any fabric or patterns on hand prior to the date of this pledge, 6 Jan 2014."

Originally, I had a goal of using 24 pieces of stash, but my latest sewing project has already used up 10 pieces (whaaaaat!) and my goal would already be half met and it's just the beginning of the year.

How about you?  Do you plan to join the Stashbusting Challenge?  If so, what's your goal?

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I leave you with a picture of my deck.  It's under there...somewhere.  

 

L