Friday, May 13, 2011

Reversible jacket finished

My pink reversible jacket is done!

I am especially pleased with how comfortable it is. It is soft and cozy and unrestricting. I decided in the end to sew on large snaps as fasteners. I had thought of using the hammer-on snaps, knowing they would show on the outside of the garment but when it occurred to me that I could sew them on inside the fronts, I realized they would not show on the outside and so make the reversibility even less obvious. I had some 11 mm snaps but went out and got the biggest sew-on snaps they had - the 15 mm variety.
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Going back to where I left off, I did a flat fell of the entire underarm seam (as usual). This jacket has to look as good on the blue side as the pink side. The fabric is a little bulky, being double-sided, but it isn't as stiff as 10 ounce denim so it wasn't that difficult.
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It's always fun to sew down into the tube of the sleeve and come out at the far end of the sleeve. I put this photo in for a friend in my writers group who sewed his own shirt recently and wondered how flat felling this seam worked.
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I made a sort of "couture" hem on the back (and then the sleeves). I used a single layer of the pink fabric that I got from the selvages and folded it over the raw edge of the hem. This photo is at the back where the side seams meet and the front bands end. On the right, everything is unfolded and on the left, I have started to pin everything down for top stitching.
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Here are the cuffs, before and during hemming. Another friend said I should make turned-up cuffs in the contrasting colour, even though I made a point of really limiting the amount of contrast elsewhere on the jacket. I thought she was right.
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Here's the jacket, almost finished (I haven't sewed the snaps on yet) with the cuffs turned up. Now that I have been nominated the next president of the board at BCA, it will be nice to have another bright pink jacket to wear for certain occasions. Breast cancer has surely appropriated the colour pink and it will serve to promote our charity.

15 comments:

StuffandThings said...

Wow! The jacket looks awesome. You will represent well!

JuliaR said...

Thanks Terri!

Wendy TC said...

Jacket looks so full of texture b/c of the quilted fabric. Very nice. Congrats on the nomination.

May said...

It's a beautiful jacket Julia. I'm looking forward to seeing around the 'hood in it.

JuliaR said...

Thanks Wendy. In fact, I pre-washed it twice before I cut and made the jacket, so it is even softer than otherwise it would be.

Thanks May! I look forward to seeing YOU around the 'hood. :) I trust Tilly is doing well at obedience class. Too bad about all this rain.

Audrey said...

The jacket fabric is so interesting, and you picked the perfect jacket style and finishing techniques for it. It is a really lovely jacket.

Sarah J said...

It's really beautiful!
I am so impressed by your attention to detail.

JuliaR said...

Thanks Audrey and Sarah! I am glad I modified this jacket pattern, instead of sticking to the original. It worked out well.

Tommy said...

Do you have a fabric shop? Those fabrics that you hold dear and wait for the perfect pattern....those fabrics I would love to see. I have a stash too, cause some of these fabrics cannot be found again, right? Enjoyed your jacket tutorial.

JuliaR said...

Tommy, there are two fabric shops I go to, Fabricland because it is close and cheap and Darrell Thomas because he gets the most beautiful fabrics in. I am learning to stay away from cheap fabric because it doesn't wear as well as the better quality stuff.

Robyn said...

Great idea to make a reversible jacket - I have recently mislaid my box of patterns - must go & find them

Unknown said...

Wow Hunny! You are a sewing machine! I really like the fact that you decided to go with 2 different types of fabric yet, not bulky on the lighter side. Great technique!

Jade@How to Sew said...

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Rags Then Stitches said...

Your jacket turned out great! I love the fabric choice and that is is reversible. I just started a sewing blog and I would love for you to check it out if you are interested!

http://ragsthenstitches.blogspot.com/