Simplicity 2938 - Jacket

Project Details:

Pattern: Simplicity 2938

Fabric: 100% Tencel from Sewing Studio

Notion: 1 inch double fold bias tape

Description: Loose fitting, unlined jacket with raglan sleeves

This is my first completed item for the Mini-Wardrobe contest. Actually, I have the matching skirt completed except for the hem (on the agenda today!). Both the blouse and dress are about 1/3 finished. Yep, I'm cutting it very close. Will I finish by midnight Sunday? I'm going to try my best. If I don't have any major problems or unexpected events (like a Tropical Storm coming through), I probably will be done.

I like this jacket a lot and so does DH. He caught me trying it on and had lots of complimnets. I'll make this one again for Spring and Summer. It will be great to wear in those chilly restaurants. I used a lighter weight fabric than suggested. I simply have to use some stash fabric. I've had the tencel for a couple of years. With a cotton batiste underlining, it worked fine. Since I'll be taking it on and off frequently, I didn't want serged seams. The bound seams did the trick, but I plan to try french seams next time. I tried many different buttons and, finally, decided not to use any of them. If I want to dress it up a bit, I plan to use a decorative pin. I shortened the jacket 2 inches and another 1 inch in the back (not sure why it was longer in the back, but it just looked sloppy). That was the only alteration I made. Usually, I have a laundry list of changes, but this is one of the advantages of a loose fitting garment.

Parting Shot:

This picture of the backyard was taken on Sunday (2 days after Faye had left the area). Our property line ends at the grass at the back of the picture. We did have a "bit" of flooding. If you look closely, you can see the 3 ducks taking a swim in our yard lake. I'm glad that "lady" has left our area although we still have flooding. In some areas near the St John's River (about 20 miles from us), it is bad. I am grateful that our only problems are lost sewing time and a slightly warped boat dock. DH is unhappy about the latter problem

Slow Progress

At least there is some progress. The picture above shows my current WIP. I am a mood sewer (sew whatever I am in the mood to sew for the day rather than finished one project and moving on). This week I was really in the mood to finish my dress and jacket for the mini wardrobe "contest". With Faye coming, I figured I'd better get a number of garments prepared for work in case we lost electricity. That's my excuse for having all these projects started and I am sticking to it!!! We haven't lost electricity although Faye is not out of the way yet. We've had steady, heavy rain. There is a pretty large lake in the view from my sewing room today. Most of the garments above are for the mini wardrobe: a print blouse, white skirt, white jacket and the top of the dress trimmed to make the skirt of the dress. There is a pair of brown pants that I need for run-around time. I started thinking that my wardrobe is not the greatest wardrobe need that I have. I really need shorts, capis, and tops to wear everyday. Yet, I know the dressier wardrobe won't get done unless there is a deadline. When I have a need for something dressy, I usually don't have time to make it! I'm off to work on the jacket. It's the closest to being finished and I'm in the mood to finish something. We'll see how long that lasts!

Crying the Blues

Well, I didn't cry but I did scream a few choice words that I'd best not repeat here. Last week I decided to finish up some almost-done projects before starting on the Mini Wardrobe. First up, I just needed to hem a teal blue skirt - easy, huh? I pinned the hem, tried it on, and all looked good. Yea -- until I took off the skirt. The zipper head (or whatever you call the thingy that zips up and down) came flying off. There was no way I could get that thingy back on track. That means ripping out the zipper and replacing it - no longer a quick finish-up skirt. Moving along, I have blue embroidered blouse that needed the sleeves attached and hemmed. It is S2891. The sleeves are really puffy on top. I looked like a cross between a girl playing grown up and someone from a vampire movie. DH came in while I was trying it on and gave me one of his extremely disgusting looks. (Why doesn't he come into the sewing room when I try on something that looks good? I do have one of those occasionally.) Here's the blouse:

Actually, it looks better on the hanger than it does on me. There is no way I would model it on this blog. On me, the sleeves hang straight down. I really like the yoke and the fabric although blue is not my best color. The instructions state that the sleeve is eased between dots and the finished sleeve does look like the pattern envelope. I should have known!! Now, I have to rip the sleeves and ease it the normal way - between notches or finish it for the goodwill bag. Right now, the trash bin is looking pretty good, but it is definitely back to UFO status.

All right, time to start on the mini wardrobe. I did change the blue linen jacket to B5143 that I thought would look better with the cosmo dress.

I cut it out and just could not get motivated to fuse the interfacing on the collar and facings. I kept thinking something was wrong. I checked my cut pieces: They looked fine and on grain. Finally, it dawned on me. That beautiful 100% linen is just too heavy for the dress. So, I went with a white tencel jacket, S2938, that was originally planned for the June Capsule Contest and never got started. White is good. The wardrobe mojo is back. I'm about half finished with the jacket. Hopefully, I can post the finished jacket soon!

Mini Wardrobe 8/08

Here's my wardrobe plan for the Pattern Review Mini Wardrobe Contest! I actually got it uploaded!! Now all I have to do is finish sewing it, take photos, and post it by August 31!!! Hey, compared to learning to use Adobe, that should be easy (lol). The contest requires 4 different outfits. Mine are:

1. Dress

2. Dress + jacket

3. Pants + blouse

4. Pants + jacket

Now that I have gotten this far, I am thinking about changing the jacket. This boxy jacket doesn't quite have the "flow" that goes with my frolic theme. I'm thinking about using B5143, View A . I'll have to think about that!