Once I got past my resistance to cutting into the turban fabric, this Rambo project was a lot of fun!
To catch up on this project, read Seamstress Erin's blog.
I especially liked the stripes at each edge of the turban. The striping pattern was asymmetric, and I immediately knew that I wanted the stripes to go down each sleeve. This meant that the stretchy direction, for the sleeves, would go up and down the arms, rather than around, but I decided that it was a worthwhile tradeoff. I cut the rest of the jacket so that the stretch goes around the body.
I wanted a denim-style jacket, so I spent quite a bit of time looking at various pattern options. There really aren't that many denim-style jacket patterns that have all of the features that I like, but I finally settled on a Burda "youth" pattern, 7018. (If I'd had more time, I would have ordered the Style Arc Stacie jacket, which has all of the features I wanted.)
Because I had very limited yardage, especially in length, I had to make quite a few changes to the pattern, as well as my usual alterations:
- I had to eliminate the collar.
- I had to eliminate the bottom band.
- I omitted the pockets and pocket flaps in the front yoke seam or, as Margy called them, the "boob arrows".
- I had to shorten the front bands, so I shortened the jacket at the hem but I also lowered the neckline about an inch.
- I had to finish the neckline with a bias band, cut from a stretch plaid fabric with a Burberry feel to it.
- Because this is a very stretchy fabric in the long direction, I stabilized all horizontal seams with twill tape.
- I wanted to make a welt pocket using the stripe, but I didn't have enough stripe left for two welt pockets, so I made one pocket, which I drafted. I put the welt pocket on the perfect vertical, since that is the direction where the fabric is completely stable. I used the plaid fabric for the pocket bag.
- I did a princess seam FBA. (Of course.)
- I narrowed the shoulder by about 1/2". (Less than usual.)
- There is a lot of sleeve cap in this pattern, so I cut it down a bit.
- I had to piece the back yoke. When I cut it out, it slightly extended into a stripe, so I sewed the seam allowance so that the stripe is to the outside. (I love serendipitous details like these.)
- I cut the two-piece sleeves to be as long as possible, which is about 3/4 length. I left the sleeves unhemmed, using the fabric selvedge.
- I hemmed the jacket with a bias binding, also cut from the plaid. Because the fabric is so stretchy in the horizontal direction, I sewed the hem completely by hand, including attaching the binding.
- I finished all raw edges. Some I turned under and sewed by hand, and others I finished with bias binding.
- I wanted oversized, decorative buttons, which I purchased at Britex. I sewed them on using silk buttonhole twist from Japan (also from Britex). The jacket closes with a snap.
- I wanted to topstitch the seams with topstitching thread, but I couldn't find my stash of topstitching thread and JoAnn's was out of cream and white, so I used two regular threads through the needle.
Due to a lot of handwork, this jacket took a long time, but I really enjoyed the process. It's very comfy to wear and I expect get a lot of wear out of it this spring, and into summer.
Thanks so much, Erin, for inviting me to participate in this fun challenge!
