Thursday, August 11, 2016

Not like Coco



When I was gifted one metre of very loose weave wool/silk blended plaid by my real life sewing pal Angelika I didn't have a jacket in mind.  My initial idea was a pencil skirt, but such a loose weave wouldn't have withstood up to all that sitting and standing.  
The inspiration for the jacket came from a woman I saw walking down the main street of Sydney in a checked red and black unstructured jacket with wide lapels and leather (real, I think) sleeves.  She looked stunning!

Alas my one metre was not going to deliver wide lapels, so I cut a very old Burda pattern with princess seams for a "Cocoesque" jacket.  I think the faux leather sleeves rescue my jacket from looking frumpy.  Glad the sleeves serve a purpose because setting them into the plaid was very difficult and the results are far from perfect.  The welt pockets were also challenging.

I've worn it a few times - it was actually finished before I started on my tailoring project - but I lacked a photographer.  After putting up a plea on the Sydney Spoolettes Facebook group, I found I was not the only sewer with a neglected blog in need of a photographer.  Today enjoyed the radiant winter sun in Sydney's Hyde Park with with Susan from Measure Twice-Cut Once and Pamela.  Hope to turn it into a regular Thursday meet up.

I wish I could say I've finished my tailored jacket.  In my rush to bring it home, I really messed up the lapels.  So out comes the seam ripper for a re-make.  I put too much into it to accept second best!

Meanwhile happy sewing!

10 comments:

  1. Very nice! You did fabulous things with such a small piece of fabric. I LOVE the idea of black leather sleeves!

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  2. Love it! I too have several 1 meter pieces in the stash that need this sort of treatment. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  3. This is such a creative use of your 1 m of fabric. Turned out great. I struggle to get photographers too...shame I live so far away, or I could join your Thursday meet ups.

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  4. I think this is very clever. At first I thought it was a bomber jacket (your black jumper underneath looked like ribbing at first glance). Now that gives me an idea.

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  5. I think this is very clever. At first I thought it was a bomber jacket (your black jumper underneath looked like ribbing at first glance). Now that gives me an idea.

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  6. This is pretty on you Gail and I love the leather sleeves. I'm a big fan of leather accents although not of whole garments made of leather. My sister gifted me a beautiful, out dated brown leather jacket for cutting into to use in my sewing projects but it seems such a sin to do that!

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  7. That jacket is gorgeous, you inspire me to sew a bomber (inspired by your jacket) with a scrap piece of Prince of Wales fabric that was intended to be a skirt too. Great idea!! Thank you!

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  8. That jacket is gorgeous, you inspire me to sew a bomber (inspired by your jacket) with a scrap piece of Prince of Wales fabric that was intended to be a skirt too. Great idea!! Thank you!

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