2011 #4 - Gray wool jacket

Sewing:

The gray wool jacket, FSG 1945, is finished. See?


I thought I'd post a review of the pattern here (I don't do this often so bear with me, please):

Back view

The pattern comes in sizes 8-18, with finished measurements provided for each size. In her book, Nancy explains how and where to measure your existing clothes to get an idea of which size to make. If you're thinking "I don't have any clothes that fit, what am I supposed to measure", stop right there. We're not talking measuring a perfectly fitted garment here so measure what you do have. You can take a shirt that is a little too tight and a shirt that is a little too loose, measure both, and get a good idea of where you want to start. You're going to fit this pattern in tissue or muslin anyway before cutting into your lovely fabric, right?

In the fitting pictures, you can see I followed another suggestion of Nancy's - to fit the 1945 front on one side and 1945A on the other. The back pattern pieces are the same for both jackets (and all the other ones in the series). This way, I have all the pieces ready to go when I want to sew, no further fitting is necessary.

I used size 8 because its finished measurements on the envelope came closest to those I took from my existing clothes. With Nancy's help and a lot of pins, I came really close to what I had envisioned. Then before cutting the fabric, I made a last-minute decision to raise the armhole another 1/4" which delayed the cutting because now I had to redo all the affected pattern pieces.


The fabric for this jacket has been in my stash for a little over a year. It's a tropical wool from Metro Textiles. I had made a dress from it (no pictures) and possibly something else because I distinctly remember ordering 10yds but when I measured it before cutting, I only had 6yds left. I block-fused this lovely fabric with Textured Weft, mostly because I truly dislike cutting that stuff. I figured block-fusing is easier and will make cutting more pleasant (it did). And the lining is Ambiance, which is my lining of choice. I buy it by the bolt in my basic colors - black, gray, and white.

With the matching dress

I didn't make any style line changes so that jacket looks a lot like the picture on the envelope. I omitted the pockets and sleeve vents. I'll never miss them. The instructions in the pattern are good and the book has additional insights so they're definitely worth reading. The parts where I veered away from those instructions were sleeve heads and the hem/facing/lining intersection (see Mastering new techniques). I plan to continue using these new-to-me techniques because they are awesome. And easy, too.

I often wonder how other people organize their sewing time. I usually sew all the seams I can before pressing. That means, in this jacket's case, sewing all the front seams, back seams, sleeve seams, undercollar seam, facing seams, back lining seams, sleeve lining seams, and front lining darts. The only thing I didn't touch in that first sewing session was the collar because his buddy, the undercollar, had a seam to be pressed first. Then I pressed all those seams. The second session meant sewing the collar and the shoulder seams and side seams on both shell fabric and lining. Then press those, and go on to the next sewing session. Is this how you all sew? Or do you put the body of the garment together first, then focus on sleeves or collar?

Now that this jacket is done, I have serious dreams of filling my closet with many different versions of it. It would mean using up some of my stash, refining the fit, and perfecting my existing jacket-making techniques as well as, hopefully, learning new ones.

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Pursuit of happiness:
Opening the windows to let in the sunshine - it is finally warm enough to do that. The weather has been glorious the last few days - warm, breezy, and sunny. I hope it stays that way. Forever would be great.