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 Half Finished Jacket Part 1

Okay so this jacket was given to me by an old friend, I used to go to school with her daughter and then I used to serve here in the pub! [Stella shandy, half and half, the fact that I can still remember drinks orders like this but don't know where my slippers are is highly amusing] 

Anyways she was moving and she started this jacket when she was in college [which was a little while ago, I ain't going to start divulging peoples ages!] and she offered it to me! As well as an awesome sewing box that folds out! 

P.S This is my first finished jacket so prepare yourself for a long post! 

The jacket was already cut out and all of the pieces had the interfacing attached and the pad stitching had already been done! The pattern was vogue 1446 , which as you can see is VERY 80's!!!! The jacket that was cut out was the middle one [view B] and a good portion of the work had already been done. 

Here's a list of what had been done:

Cutting out

Pad stitching

Pockets attached to front pieces

Fronts and backs of sleeves sewn together [They are in two parts]

Sewn side seams [As it goes I undid the side seams and sleeve seams and re sewed them because I know how seam allowances can vary from person to person]

Anyways I finished it!!!! Woop woop! I had actually forgotten just how good vogue instructions are!

I had to attach the collar which went in easy and attach the sleeves which was less fun, vogue has you set then in with the side seams sewn up and I scratched up my arms because of all the pins I had to wrangle around my sewing machine!

Then I had to sew and attach the lining, I sewed most of the lining to the front facing by machine but the neck area was stitched by hand just so I'd have more control and be able to achieve a neater finish.

I love how this turned out because you can barely see the stitches!

I hemmed the sleeves by hand as well.

The fabric was a British made wool and is LUSH! its like the most beautiful fabric in the world and I think I fell in love with it! Surprisingly it pressed really really well! Although I did use a pressing cloth so I wouldn't scorch it. The lining is just a typical lining fabric. The combination of the two makes a lovely snuggly coat!

I finished the hem using the "taped hem" method [At least that's what Jamie from male Devon sewing calls it!] Basically I turned up the hem once and whip stitched it down and them I covered the raw edges and the whip stitching with a strip of ribbon and some very neat stitches!

Then I top stitched around the edge of the whole coat, at this point I'd given up with the instructions and was just going my own way! I also left the buttons off because I just wasn't feeling it!

Okay so here's the deal , whilst I had a blast sewing this up and I love the fabric and I do genuinely think its some of my best sewing....... It is very 80's. I mean very 80's it has shoulder pads for gods sake! Now I know this slouchy style is very on trend however I think this might be a bit too slouchy for me [The lady who gave me this would have looked fab in it, shes very tall and by here own admission has the shoulders to carry it!] I however am quite short and have very little shoulders so It sort of drowns me, which is why..............

I have altered the living shenanigans out of it!!! Haha yep I went on a full hacking spree on this bad boy and now its bad-ass! But you'll have to wait for this until part 2!!!

Much Love 

Frankie

xxx

P.S if you made it to the end I'll be well impressed because this was a well long post!