Marfy Free Jacket Pattern - The End!

Back in April this year I wrote Part 1 of the Marfy Free Jacket Pattern.  It is now officially Spring and I'm finally at the end - writing the blog post!

After I got the muslin fit to where I was comfortable - that alone was a 5 week journey, on 25 April I got to cut my real fabric.  While that sounds quite straight forward, sadly not because of my fabric choice.  I bought this lovely wool coating from The Fabric Store - it's so soft and bouncy with a medium weave - so it easily frayed but not so much that it was uncontrollable.

I cut all pieces on a single layer, carefully ensuring I had all the squares in the right places for each piece.  While this was a little time consuming it wasn't too hard - the pattern pieces didn't have any seam allowances, so where the pattern piece fell was indeed the stitching seam.

Pattern matching at centre back

After I thread traced and cut the fabric it then sat on the shelf for weeks while I tried to decide how I was going to construct it.  I couldn't decided to make a quilted Chanel inspired jacket (LFJ) or whether to take a more tailored approach.  This was my too hard point - I couldn't see how my fabric could be tailored but I could see how it would work as a LFJ; but I couldn't see how the collar would work if it wan't tailored ... *brain explode*

Finally, I decided to wait for the sew-along to get to this point, and take some wise direction from Leisa.  There it was, tailor the jacket!  Part of me was jumping up and down because I could sew the lining together using the machine and then insert, rather than having to hand-stitch each seam of the lining as is required for a LFJ; another part of me was still unsure how the pile of this fabric would behave.  What the hell ... just do it!

Leisa wrote this amazing post about pad stitching the collar.  This was like a light bulb moment!  The collar would behave differently depending on the direction of the stitches.  I decided that I wanted the back of my collar to stand up and the front to have a beautiful soft roll.

Pad stitching a stand up collar

The rest of the jacket came together pretty nicely from here.  I used a medium weight hair canvas for the front and collar which followed through to the bottom of the arm pit.  The shoulders are reinforced with a second layer of hair canvas and the bottom of the jacket has a 2" lining of silk organza.  I also draft a back stay from some scrap cotton lawn that I had lying around (sorry no pictures of that one).

The sleeve of the jacket is a one piece, which is okay, but next time I would definitely convert to a two piece and add some elbow ease.

inside of jacket

For the lining I chose this lovely silk satin from The Fabric Store - yeah it was pricey but the weight of the lining matched the jacket beautifully.  I constructed the lining using the sewing machine but then inserted it into the jacket by hand - a lovely wee fell stitch :-)

Now it is 29 June and I'm finished the construction of the jacket, only to be faced with my next dilemma ... what trim to use.  I initially thought I would use a sold black grossgain or satin ribbon and attach very close to the edge.  I bought enough of both to try, but once I pinned it in place I didn't like it - it was just too heavy for the jacket.  So once more, the jacket just hung around waiting for me to make the next decision.  Finally I settled on these small round fabric bobble buttons  - they're just giant knots really.  I was going to place a loop on one side so the jacket would close, but couldn't get that to work.  I ditched the loops and just went with the buttons, so for now the jacket doesn't close and I'm okay with that.

I also decided that the jacket didn't need the patch pockets - less is more!  I love it :-)

I finally finished the jacket on 19 July and have worn it a few times since - I never really know how I feel about anything until I've worn it a few times.  It is super warm - most definitely a winter jacket.

Would I make this pattern again - you bet I would.  Next time I would:

• add a wee bit more ease to the back, possibly return the princess seams on the back to the original size 46
• widen the arm at the bicep and convert the sleeve to a two piece pattern
• lengthen jacket to original length of pattern - this version is 3" shorter

I've never owned a jacket even remotely similar to this, so I feel real grown up when I wear it!

Way more photos over on my Flickr -->

Hello Chloe

Chloe is a semi-fitted, mid length A-line dress that hints towards a 60's mod style - a pattern by Canadian company Victory Patterns.  I purchased the pattern from Dresses and Me together with the Lola pattern - you can read about my Lola here.

I really like the capped sleeve and contrast effect of version 2 and I chose a wool with a very fine red pinstripe which runs vertically.

I know this is really boring but I selected to contrast with a solid black cotton.  It goes really nicely with my red circle top.  Or on this day it was my black circle top and red boots.

I chose to make a size 8, knowing that on my muslin I would have to downsize the bust and increase the hip area.  Here is exactly what I did to the pattern, after taking the dress off and on about eight times!

Side back piece: widen the hips by 3/8" at the side seam; take out 5/8" from the side seam at the armpit; to keep the side seam perpendicular to the floor I had to take 5/8" out of the bottom of the skirt at the side seam.

Centre back piece: widen the hip 1/4".

Side front piece:  bring in by 5/8" under the arm on side seam; widen hips 3/8" on side seam; adjust the curve of the princess seam around the bust by straightening the curve above the bust by 1/8" and creating more of a curve underneath the bust by 1/4".

I absolutely love this dress and have worn it every week since I made it, which was about 3 weeks ago but a full on work schedule and then the nasty flu bugs all got in the way of taking some photos.  I have since made a second Chloe - photos of that one yet to come.

More photos on my Flickr -->