Burda 5-2011-113: womp womp

I had major high hopes for this pattern. The versions on Pattern Review are so cute and I LOVE Amanda's version. Alas, it was not to be for me and that's okay. Let's get on with the details of what went wrong.

 

  

Problem 1:  adding seam allowances to armhole princess seams 

I made the first muslin way back in 2021 and had a terrible time adding seam allowances to the armhole princess seams. I could not figure out how to properly sew what resulted in a comically long pointy end. I didn't know how far up (??) I was supposed to extend the seam allowances and it resulted in some weirdness when it came time to sew and press the seam to one side.

 

muslin from 2021

 

Eventually I figured that I can sew to the dot and leave the pointy end loose. Then just tack it down in the seam allowance of the armhole.

 

 

muslin from 2026

 

I started a topic on Threadloop seeking advice because I just knew there had to be another way. One member shared video and a website that explains exactly how to do it, so I am confident that I can properly add seam allowances...on a different jacket pattern. This one is done done.
 

Problem 2:  converting armhole princess seams to shoulder princess seams

 

In the middle of sourcing how to add the seam allowances, I decided to try and convert the armhole princess seams to shoulder princess seams. Members on Pattern Review shared some good tips and a link to an older blog post that showed how to do this. The problem with this pattern is that the side front panel is unusually narrow - at least more narrow than what I am used to.

 

If I were to follow the armhole princess line using this piece, the seam would fall on my side bust and that just doesn't look right at all.

 

So I created my own shoulder princess line on the center front panel which left the invisible waist dart unresolved. Since I love chocolate, I figured I would probably need the extra width and just left it alone.

 

 

I know I did not draw a proper waist curve (near the two pattern weights). In the end, it didn't really matter because the fit was off for other reasons. 

 

The other issue with converting to shoulder princess seams is the seam joining the back to the front is actually about two inches toward the back - and NOT at the shoulder. Not a problem, in theory. But in practice, I ended up with a weird curve in the pattern that doesn't look right or lay properly.

 

At first, I cut this piece off and added seam allowances at the shoulder line. But when sewing the muslin, all the extra seams in this area felt like too much. 

 

You can kind of see the curve near the top of the photo. Armhole princess seams would definitely be better with these design lines.

 

Problem 3:  the jacket is REALLY short 

 

I am five feet tall. Even after adding two inches in length, the un-hemmed jacket barely clears my bust. Dear reader, it is NOT a good look. The proportions are very off and it looks like football padding. It's weird. Very weird. I don't have any pictures because I threw the shell away. It was too much to keep looking at it and I needed immediate separation. 😅

 

Problem 4:  fabric is too lightweight 

 

The fabric I chose was a wool herringbone suiting from Fabric.com (RIP). Even with lining and interfacing, the fabric would've still been too light. This pattern benefits from something much sturdier like denim/twill or wool melton. I still have just under two yards of the fabric, so I'll make a vest or skirt with it.

 

Conclusion:  I will not revisit this pattern again. After two attempts spanning five years, it's safe to say this one isn't for me - unless I do a LOT more adjustments. There are other military-style jacket patterns that I can try for what could be a lot less hassle. Win some, lose some. The pattern pieces have already been recycled. 😎 

 

L 

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



 

Jedi Smurf Coat: Sewing the Skirt

I'm back with the next update on sewing the coat. 

In this post, I talked about the trouble I had sewing the pockets onto the front skirt panels. I emailed Burda for help; they replied with pictures of how the pockets are to be sewn. It makes SO MUCH more sense now!

The instructions say to lay hip yoke piece (12) right sides together with lower front. Seam line meets with open side edge.

What the instructions don't say is that this piece should be oriented upside down! I tried every configuration I could think of - EXCEPT this. 😬

 

Such a small - but important - detail! Now I see why it's important to clip at the mark: it helps making turning the hip yoke to the inside easier.

 

Despite now understanding how this is supposed to work, I still did my own thing because my fabric was just too thick to do it this way.

After the pocket flap is attached, I stitched the pocket lining to the front, right sides together. The pocket flap is sandwiched between the two layers.

After rolling and pressing the seam to the inside, I understitched the lining in place.

Next I pinned the hip yoke to the pocket lining, right sides together.

(wrong side of the skirt faces up)

 

I stitched the vertical seam from the waistline to the point where the pocket flap ends.

 

 

Sewing this area took a bit of finesse. I basted by hand and sewed carefully to make the front corner area remained smooth and flat.

 

Once the front hip yoke is sewn (and edges finished) to the pocket lining, I stitched in the ditch through all layers to secure yoke to the front.

 

 

The pockets sag a bit because of the weight of my fabric. Even in the model photos, there appears to be some level of bagginess.

As of today, the lining is completely sewn and attached to the facing. I'm dragging my feet on finishing the coat because the already-hemmed lining is longer than the coat in a few places. Why? I have no idea. I need to trim all of that off and re-hem it. 

 

Finally, I need to attach the sleeve lining to the sleeves, add buttonholes, and attach the buttons.

Preliminary assessment:  ehhhh...it looks great from the front on the dress form. On me though, I don't think it's the right shape/style. The coat is very full and sticks out in unflattering ways.

It's hella warm, though. 😁

L

 

 

 

 

Jedi Smurf Coat: Sewing the Bodice

I knew this would be a slow sew because of all of the pieces involved. What I did not expect was the fabric to be difficult and finicky. I usually like sewing wool because it's stable and respond well to heat. This is a beautiful fabric, don't get me wrong. But it's a pain in the ass to sew with all of its raveling, shedding, and general don't-want-t0-be-handled-or-pressed-ness.

Plus the fabric gives off a chemical odor I steam press.  I read on PR that people who bought the same fabric had success with washing it first. I wish I had read that before cutting.

Initially I wanted to do a bunch of light tailoring. Yeah, that didn't happen. I sewed hair canvas, thread-traced some seam/fold lines, and called it a day.

I fused weft interfacing to the skirt hems and all facing areas. I wanted to interline with flannel for extra warmth, but there are several areas of extreme bulk and the extra layers would have made this even more challenging to sew.

Because there are so many layers, the back neck and front self facing were difficult to attach. I had to baste it by hand first and then sew it by machine. Things were not made any easier because the fabric raveled so much. I ended up serging the whole neckline to keep my sanity and from making this a wadder.

The pattern calls for self fabric for the interior of the hood. To reduce bulk, I considered using lining, however I didn't care much the contrast showing so visibly on the outside.

Now that I look at this side-by-side, the lining doesn't look so bad. It's too late now, the hood is already attached. 

Anyone else getting a Handmaid's Tale vibe? Maybe I watch too much TV.

The bodice side seams are stitched and, honestly, the coat looks so much better without them being sewn. 😐

Yeesh. I hope those folds smooth out or something once the skirt is attached. I have a suspicion that the length I removed from the back bodice might be contributing to this wonkiness. Oof.

As you can see, the front pockets are installed. I emailed Burda for help on this part and what they said now makes complete sense. I still ended up sewing the pockets my way because of the fabric thickness.

I'll share the pocket construction in the next post.

L

Edited to add:  I had to turn on comment moderation because I got spammed with over 200 frivolous messages.

 

 

 

Chronicling the Adventures of Sewing the "Jedi Smurf Coat"

I am not ashamed to admit that I am a Burda fangirl. So when I saw this coat in the October 2020 issue, I HAD. TO. HAVE. IT. 

   

 BurdaStyle #114

It's labeled as a vintage-era trench coat. I don't care much for vintage clothing; the era wasn't particularly a good time for Black people in the States. Has there ever been? I digress.

But this coat? Let me tell you:  I am all over it. Look at the line drawings:

 

It has dolman sleeves with integrated gun flap, hood, extra large pockets, and a very full lower half. As you can see, the back flap is also integrated with the sleeve.  LOVE THIS.

Because I got strong Obi-wan vibes from the grey version, I knew I didn't want to use a neutral color. So I opted for this bright wool-cashmere blend. Fabric Mart called it "pacific blue" but it reads "smurf" to me so that's what I'm going with. =P Hence the project title:  Jedi Smurf Coat.

 

 

The coat is all drama, so why not lean into it with a bright ass color?! When I showed bae the fabric, he said, "well, at least I'll see you."  LOL

The pattern takes almost 6 yards of fabric and given the cost per yard of this wool, I was not going to cut blindly. I figured if the muslin wasn't looking good, I will have two or three smurf-colored coats in my closet.

So far the muslin looks promising. The top part fits reasonably well over a sweatshirt; I still have to sew on the bottom half.

I got stumped on sewing the pockets in the muslin. People who regularly sew Burda magazine patterns know that the instructions often do not make any damn sense; this is definitely one of those times. I have no idea what they are trying to say; I'll talk about it in the next post.

This is not going to be a quick project. Burda rates it with 4 dots which means it is a difficult pattern. 

There are eleventy thousand pieces - many of which are huge in size. I haven't even traced the lining pieces yet. Oof.

I plan to use some light tailoring techniques:  sew-in hair canvas, back stay, twill tape to support high-stress areas, and maybe bound buttonholes. I've never done bound buttonholes before; I might chicken out at the end and just use snaps. I also intend to thread-trace some of the seam lines for more accurate stitching. Yeah, this is going to take some time!

I haven't decided if I am going to shorten the coat. On the model, the coat is midi length.

 

At my height, the coat will probably cover my ankles. I'm always cold, so this isn't a bad thing. But I don't want the coat to be too overwhelming. 

I'm going to try to blog through the construction. Foolin' with these dayum pockets created the need for me to talk to SOMEBODY about this. Hah!

Here's where I am so far:

• completed muslin of upper part with hood
• figured out a way to sew the pockets that is a vast departure from the instructions
• need to cut out the back muslin of the back lower half and stitch together

Work is extremely busy and non-work stressors are very much active. Despite all of that, I am excited to work on this coat whenever I have time. I hope I can keep up with sharing the progress here.

L