The Jacket is Finished

I am finished the jacket and I think it looks great. I'll have to ask her mother to let me know if my niece wears it as much as I hope she might in the Fall. If it were mine, I'd be wearing it every chance I got!

First I finished the sewing part by putting on the tabs. Technically, these tabs should have another snap bottom on the band so you can really adjust the width of the bottom band. But since mass produced jackets don't have them, I'll leave them off here too.

Here's the tab pinned pointing the wrong way (to the front).

I've sewed it to the band and trimmed off the little bit of excess.

Now I've folded it so that it points to the back of the jacket and will sew it down in that position along the folded edge.

Time for the snaps! I only need 13 of them but I laid them all out so I could eliminate faulty ones.

Following the manufacturer's directions, I mark the spot where I want the first snap head to go on the first tab. I use a piece of hardwood underneath the working area to absorb all the hammering as well as the small holes that are created for the snaps.

In this photo, I have assembled the snap head and then I pressed it onto the band where the snap bottom will go. I made a slight impression in the fabric and then I hammered a hole where the snap bottom will go.

And here it is, all assembled.

The pocket snaps are a little tricky. You can't just hammer the hole-maker without a piece of wood behind it. I have a little piece of the hardwood that I can slip into the pocket itself so I can get the snap bottom in place. In this photo, I have already hammered the hole where it will match the snap head on the pocket flap.

Here, both halves of the pocket snap are assembled and ready to go.

I line up the snaps on the front of the jacket by first hammering on all the snap heads on the one side and then putting the top and bottom snaps in place. Then I can continue making impressions on the fabric with the snap head to line up with the snap bottoms are supposed to go.

Unfortunately, one snap had to go bad. It must have slipped off the metal template and one half slid sideways as I was hammering the two halves together. It's the one on the left in the photo. Now I have to figure out a way to pry the practically welded halves apart and hammer on a new snap bottom. I had some tiny needle-nosed pliers in my sewing room but even they don't seem small enough to uncurl the hammered metal. I'll have to think on it some more.

So aside from that one snap, here is the finished jacket. I am quite pleased with it. I used up nearly one large spool of thread (250m) which included winding 4 and 1/2 bobbins full. It took me about 13 hours in my sewing room which included the laying out, cutting, pinning, ironing, etc. and everything else that goes into making a jacket. The 13 hours didn't include blogging time. So now I know if someone asked me to make them a jacket like this, I would have to charge between $200 and $300 not including the materials. Not too many people would be willing to pay that, which is why I only sew for myself and for giving away presents to other people.