Burda 3/2017 #101

(Sorry for the accidental post and subsequent deletion!!)

It turned out. Whew. But boy oh boy! It was a bit of a winding road. 

I don't recall now what made me decided I neeeeeeded a cropped jacket (you know how it is). And I knew it had to be a neutral and *my* neutrals are blue and black and grey (this was written before my color post btw!). Well, I'd just made 3 new grey items so I went with this navy suiting with black and metallic yarns/threads woven through. I don't know about myself sometimes.

The shell by itself? I almost quit the project mid construction! The sleeve looked very bulky and ugly! Thankfully, the Bemberg lining (we'll come back to THAT) supports the stiff fabric well enough. After all my trauma (haha!), I cut out my lining sleeves and added the sleeve pattern piece to the existing pile of pattern pieces. And then I almost threw the entire pattern away! LOL!!! (People tell me I'm SO dramatic)

Why don't we just start at the beginning??

You all know how I feel about muslins in general. But pants? Fitted jackets? I will usually do it. I always need a full bicep adjustment. I usually insert one sleeve, make the adjustments and then insert the other sleeve. My other standard Burda adjustments are: FBA, shorten the shoulder & swayback adjustment. My swayback adj is almost always 5/8" and the FBA 1". For the shoulder adjustment I measure and then shave it from the edge on the muslin (grading to nothing at the notches), but on the paper pattern, I do it "right".

MORE bust room!! MORE room at the waist! :)

Here, the L sleeve is before adjustment and the R sleeve is after:

TIGHT sleeve and long shoulder

unaltered sleeve

swayback wrinkling

bust wrinkling

shoulder narrowed, sleeve adjusted

The jacket was a little snug all around. In my mind, I was adding a CB seam for the swayback adjustment...but I forgot to add seam allowance when cutting out the muslin. DOH! I did remember on the final garment and also added to the back side seam, 3/4" total.

The Basics

• I used a size 40 neckline and shoulder with a 42 for the rest.
• I did a 1" FBA which I ended up converting to princess seams
• I added a CB seam and did a 5/8" swayback adjustmnet
• I did a 1" other FBA (bicep)
• I shortened the shoulder 1/2'
• I drafted facings because I don't care for lined-to-edge  jackets

I ended up with a Big Honkin Dart.

You can see that the legs are over 3" apart. That resulted in an unsightly dart once sewn.

I tried to fix it but it was bad. I went searching and decided a princess seam conversion was the best 'fix'.  I always read a handful of tutorials and then go with what makes sense based on what they're instructing.

Excuse my chopped up pattern. It's all taped up from the FBA and then I misread the slashing part (it's not through the dart it's along the lower dart leg).  Ahhhhh. THAT works! However, you can see that my side front flares out at the bottom. This comes across in the final jacket. Darn it!

I also made notches before cutting the two apart so I could ensure I matched up. I added 3/8" seam allowances.

Here, you can see my work on shaping the facing:

And then, I didn't have enough fabric to recut my fronts. DOH.  But, NEVER FEAR! LOL! I'd originally purchased this 1.5 yard piece for a sleeveless sheath. But it showed up and I thought it was amazing and the next time it went on sale, I got 3 more yards. YAY!! (drama)

While figuring out my dart/princess seam dilemma, my enthusiasm waned, of course. Then I inserted a sleeve and liked it again. Yay!

Because I hate inserting shifty lining sleeves, I went ahead and did that BEFORE inserting the other jacket sleeve. I attached the two at the fronts and necklines and tried it on over a blouse and REALLY LIKED IT!! I was excited again! I went to hang it on my dress form for the night.
:what the heck: 
I had several tucks along the front. Ughhhhh. Fixed those.

Went home for lunch the next day and decided to understitch the facings "really quickly". Sighhhhhh. Have I learned nothing!?!?

So, this happened:

Why yes, yes my sleeve is sewn to caught in my understitching

UGH!!!!!

I ripped that out, fixed it, and sewed the sleeve to sleeve lining by machine. I sewed the lining to the jacket by hand. I haven't been happy with the hems on my last couple of items with bagged linings. Maybe I'm doing something wrong since I've been now relying on memory vs checking instructions??

It feels amazing on!! And it's so pretty!

So...Bemberg.  OMG! I didn't know!!!

I had a Fabric dot com order and decided to add a couple yards of this blue to get free shipping. Holy buckets! This stuff feels amazing!!! So silky and cool to the touch. Swoon.

Some time ago, Fabric Mart had polyester pongee in a TON of colors. I used it once for a lining and really liked it (it is much better than run of the mill poly linings) and bought A TON OF IT. And then Hancock started carrying it in a few colors and I stocked up there when FM no longer had it.

However, for basics / things I expect to have some longevity, like my upcoming basic black skirt, I'll definitely be using the Bemberg! :-D

photobomber!!!

Well, that felt like an epic post...but somehow, this simple little jacket turned into an epic undertaking. I wish I'd been able to keep the darted bodice; the princess bodice looks much better closed. But I really do like it and am excited to add it to the "fall"* rotation!

more photobombing! LOL!

* This is my life at the moment: