Plaid wool suit

I often just pin a zipper in and then sew it without basting but with this very nice fabric I decided to baste as well. I even basted both sides down from the top, as opposed to basting down one side and up the other, to keep the sides as even as possible. I pinned the zipper down the stitching line and then basted down the outside edge of the zipper tape, so I wouldn't machine stitch into the basting thread. That just makes it difficult to pick the basting thread out afterwards.

Once the zipper was in, I basted the lining to the skirt (wrong sides together) and started pinning the facings on. I prefer converting darts to ease, depending on the fabric and this skirt was no exception. This was how much fabric I had to ease in to the facing.

I take up tiny bumps of fabric with each pin I put in, in a much longer space than would have been occupied by the dart.

Once I have slowly sewed over all those pins, trimmed the seam and given it a first press, this is what it looks like on the outside. I still have to understitch the facing and then give it a final press.

I decided I would make patch pockets for this jacket. The pattern calls for them as an option and the plaid is "informal" (compared to a pinstripe, say). I like having pockets although I rarely put anything in them because it ruins the line of the jacket. I matched the front edge of the pocket with the plaid because of the dart that goes up the middle of the front piece.

I wrote earlier that I had matched the vertical lines in the plaid at the shoulder - this is it.

This is what it looks like sewn and pressed.

It's looking good so far! All the plaids are matching well.

You can see under the arm that I chose to match the plaids at the top, because they can't be matched at both the top and the bottom of the underarm seam. Hopefully, the sleeves will also line up with the horizontal stripes when I sew them in.