The Half Finished Jacket - Part 2

Okay so here's part two on my half finished coat project! You can read part one here: or you can read the short recap below!

Okay so I was given the pieces for a coat by an old friend, she had already cut it all out and basted in the interfacing, I finished said coat according to instructions including hemming etc, then realised I am NOT living in the 80's, so I took the whole thing apart to alter it again! 

The image above is how it looked the last time you saw it!

and below is the finished and altered jacket!

So I think we can quite safely say the fit is a lot better right? Its still got the big and slouchy vibe to it but The general fit is just better!

First of all I tried it on and worked out where the shoulder head needed to be on me. I marked this by standing in front of my mirror and using tailors chalk. 

So then I unpicked the entire thing, with wine, lots of wine. Because well if your going to sit and unpick an entire jacket you've just finished you are going to NEED wine!! Well actually I just unpicked the lining and then took out the sleeves and unpicked the side seams the neckline and the collar as well as the shoulder seams stayed intact!

I even unpicked the pockets and took them off [I was sure to mark a line where the top of the pocket needed to go though!] 

Then I measured how much I needed to take of the side seams and shoulder seams. A whopping 6.5cm which is slightly bigger than your average digestive biscuit. Luckily as the shoulders were drafted quite flat [I guess to accommodate the shoulder pads , which I also removed..... and burned] taking in the side seams just meant laying my pattern pieces back over the fabric pieces and re cutting the shoulder and side seam line as well as the armhole. That description probably isn't very clear which is why I took a picture of it one my phone, which Lil man then deleted whilst taking selfies........   If you want to see a really awful picture of what I was planning to do check out my instagram! [thanks by the way to all the guys who commented on my idea telling me whether or not they thought it would work!]

I did this for the fronts and back as well as for the lining, then I positioned the pockets centrally and sewed the whole thing back up! [I had to remove the pockets because they were placed within the 6.5cm I was getting rid off] 

I even did my fancy hem stitching again! Happily due to me re-sewing the sleeves I was able to set them in flat this time which I think is a better way of doing it! Plus I didn't scratch all my arms like last time!

All in all I think its a much better fit and I am glad to be rid of those darn shoulder pads!

Gosh this has been a pretty heavy post hasn't it? I'm actually surprised that I worked out how to alter a jacket and that I managed to do it and that my theory panned out! I guess that means my sewing skills are starting to improve? 

Yay I have a new winter coat! Although it still doesn't have buttons! And a huge thanks to Sue who gave me the coat to work with , thank you so much of thinking off me!!

Much Love

Frankie

xxx

The pink suit - book review

Sometimes you hear about a book and you know you have to read it. That's how I felt about "the pink suit" by Nicole Mary kelby. 

Luckily for me my sister and her husband brought it for me for Christmas! 

It follows the story of an Irish seamstress living in New York , who is asked to make the famous pink suit that Jackie Kennedy wore when her husband was shot! 

Well I presume its Jackie Kennedy, the person the suit is being made for is only ever called "the wife" 

I first came to hear about the book on Karen's blog, where you can also read an excerpt- http://didyoumakethat.com/2015/09/05/made-up-quotes-nicole-mary-kelby/

As soon as I read the excerpt I knew I wanted to read the book, even if the main story was dull I knew I would really enjoy the descriptions of sewing techniques and fabrics!

I'm not sure how much someone who doesn't enjoy sewing would enjoy the book, there's a lot of talk of basteing, and fitting and whilst you don't need sewing knowledge I do think that the best written parts of the book are about dressmaking. 

All in all I think it's a wonderful book! I loved the sewing descriptions and the romance plot is very good too. It's quite hard to write a review without giving it all away, but I'd say it's definitely worth a read. I finished it in about 3 days of casual reading. 

Have you read the pink suit? 

Much love

Frankie 

X

Fitting!

Today has been busy! 

Dropped lil Knitwit at nursery

Had a shower

Braved tesco in search of nappies!

Picked up lil Knitwit

Went to my old school to sign the condolences book for a sadly missed teacher

And then went to check in momma Knitwit! 

Momma Knitwit suffered a fall yesterday (she does this quite often!) so me and lil Knitwit popped round to provide some cheering up and humour! And doughnuts we also took doughnuts!

Anyway I between my busyness I managed to fit in some fitting! 

My Robert dress that I made AGES ago was in desperate need of some TLC! I actually couldn't wear it, like at all. I'm not sure if it's bad sewing (probably) lack of fitting skills (definitely) or the fact I seem to have lost a lil weight but now if needs work! 

Due to having a new dummy I just worked off her (we are basically the same size !) 

I'm sure I've not put the darts in the right places but at least ilm be able to wear it now ! And no I don't have any before photos! Too embarrassing! As you can see I'm also taking a good two inches off the hem! 

And I think I'm going to change my ribbon back closure for a button. More security! 

Hope this works! If not it'll be the unpickers for me! 

Much love 

Frankie 

Xxx