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Jul 5, 2014

Herringbone Twill Jacket Update



The jacket continues to come together, albeit slower than I'd originally hoped.

I think tailoring projects are a little like childbirth -- if you remembered how hard they were you'd never do them again, but somehow you forget until it's too late to turn back.

No matter how many jackets I make, I always find new challenges, many having to do with the fabric I'm using.  As I mentioned yesterday, despite being a casual fabric, this cotton herringbone is unforgiving: it's dark and solid and shows every flaw.  Since this is a summer-weight blazer, I decided to have patch pockets, but they've taken as much time as double welt pockets, if not more.  First I had to line them, then turn them, carefully press and shape them, etc.  I was going to pick stitch them, but then I remembered my pick stitch skills are nonexistent.  In a desperate moment I decided to stitch them on by machine.  The result looked awful, just really cheap; sorry, no photo but take my word for it.  Fortunately, I'd attached only one pocket that way.

In the end, I sewed them all on by hand.  By hand!  But I really like the result: if you look closely you can see this was not done by machine and that's exactly what I like about it.




I decided to use my vintage polka dot poly for the half lining.  Yes, it smells like moth balls when you iron it, but only when you iron it, otherwise it smells just fine.  And I think it looks smashing against the navy.



As you can see, I used some floral shirting for my inside welt pocket.  There's going to be a lot of color inside this jacket!

I managed to get one sleeve attached and it came out fine but the silhouette of the shoulder (below) was sharper than I wanted.



I ended up removing the sleeve, trimming the high sleeve cap, and then reattaching.  The result is a softer shoulder that reads a little less dressy.  With luck, I'll finish this tomorrow or the day after that.

In other news, you'll be happy to know that my flight suit, the miracle find from yesterday, is in the laundry this very minute. 

And that's it!  More salad for dinner tonight.  It's been salad, salad, salad all month.



Don't forget to tune in tomorrow for my Sunday vlog.

Have a great day, everybody!

15 comments:

  1. The jacket is looking great, love, love, love the colour and prints inside the jacket!

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  2. The pocket looks great. How did you handstitch it?

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  3. You are an excellent tailor Peter, your stitching is always so neat - (you put me to shame) Gemma (UK)

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  4. I love the combination of navy, polkadot and floral!

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  5. Peter what pretty hand-picked pockets! x

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  6. Gorgeous! The lining and pocket welt are fantastic.

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  7. Love the jacket interior, looks great.

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  8. Can't wait for your vlog and.... maybe you could share a few of those salad recipes with us? They always looks so good!

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  9. Hold it, you reshaped the sleeve head and did not need to alter the armscye? Easing magic??

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  10. Love the combination of the red polkadot and the floral. Looks wonderful!

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  11. Childbirth IS like that, but how did you know?!

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  12. I just want to point out that I have never forgotten the misery of childbirth. And my kid's an only child.

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  13. Love the inside of your jacket! I wish I could mix prints like you do. Salad looks yummy too. We've eaten a lot this summer, but my creativity could be better with those, too.

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  14. Salad for Dinner all month? It's just only 6 days so far! Try Stampede Breakfast of pancakes, sausages and hash browns for a whole week!! Healthy umm!

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  15. Darling, it's the hormones that go with childbirth that erase all the painful memories. I suppose there are hormones to erase the pain of the tailored jacket (the ones from compliments and the pleasure of wearing it).

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