Purple Reigns Again

The minute I saw this jacket from the January issue, I wanted to sew it immediately! Now that I have a 4 week vacation from work, I found the opportunity to sew this.

If I had to summarize my experience with this pattern it would be, "One step forward, then one step back". I humbly confess that I probably made every mistake imaginable that warranted constant use of my handy-dandy seam ripper.

Pattern Description
Rating: Three Dots

"Let the sunshine in! The yellow luxury fabric highlights the clean cut of the double-breasted jacket with cuffed 3/4-length sleeves, rounded collar, and self-fabric belt. A knee-length pencil skirt of the same fabric joins the jacket for a sporty-feminine costume/ suit." My version is more like "I Heard It Through the Grapevine."


Size
I traced and cut a Burda "40".




Fabric
For my first/muslin version, I used a rayon linen from Fashionista Fabrics. This was left over from a New Look shirt.


Favorite Features
*Pleated sleeve caps
*Double breasted style


Not-so-favorite Features
*Really roomy bodice which necessitated a belt to cinch the waist. I probably would have gotten away with a "38", but still a 40 at the shoulders. This time, I found the shoulder width a little narrow for me. Possible cause: tracer's error.

* If only I was able to fully understand the ambiguous directions! I almost gave up on this jacket due to my many misinterpretations (which caused my dependance upon the seam ripper).


Pattern Pieces
Come on, come on, come on trace it!
Trace another little piece of my Burda WOF

There was extensive fabric cutting which I had anticipated after tracing the pieces a month ago. As mentioned in the "cutting layout" section, there were pattern pieces that were embedded in the main front portion of the jacket. For instance, I traced (with seam allowances) and cut the front facing, front lining and pocket pieces that were drawn in the front piece.

To make the cutting task more motivational and fun, I put on some background music: 1982's "Success Has Not Spoiled Me Yet" by Australian-American rocker Rick Springfield (still lookin' good and touring at 59). His website has some good-length samples to listen from his current (reminiscent of 70's rock) album while you are reading this. My favorite new song is "She" which is very Beatles'-Sgt Pepper's sounding. From Amazon.com (wow...free shipping), I purchased some CD's to replace some worn-out vinyls, cassettes, and 8-track tapes in my collection. The 80's has never sounded this good in a long time. Precautionary note: rocking out can cause some cutting errors...


Directions
Burda WOF is two-faced. It can be sparse and cryptic and it can be verbose and still be cryptic. Despite being lengthy and detailed for a Burda WOF (4 columns worth of directions with technical drawings and cutting layout), I was baffled and frustrated by certain steps (i.e. welt pockets) due to the lack of illustrations.

The WELT-To-Do
It would have been delightful if Burda assigned this "exclusive design" as the "sewing course" of the month! I spent the most time deciphering the construction for the welts with the built-in belt-carriers which reminds me of two "cell phone" cases sewn onto the front of the jacket. I experienced major difficulty in situating the welt and fabric pocket piece before stitching along the marked stitch lines on the top. I did not see a mention (unless my eyes deceived me) of where the pocket lining was to be situated prior to stitching, so I assumed that it was to be sewn over the welt.


Welt with error: I forgot to sew the bottom seam. So I had to remove the basting stitches on the lower side edge, turn the outside in and stitch the bottom edge.

Placement of welt and pocket piece:

Placement of lining piece over welt:

Sewing the pocket lining piece from the inside of the jacket (as directed by Burda):


Just as I had done with Heather's peacoat-styled jacket, I should have used Kenneth King's method for single welt-pockets that he fully described in his Cool Couture book. I persisted in using the method described in Burda WOF and came to the conclusion that Kenneth's method is sleeker in minimizing the bulk in the corners (and elsewhere) after slashing between the two stitched rows formed by the welt and pocket piece.


Collar, Are You There?
Since the big collar pieces had a unique C-curve to them, I was somewhat uncertain as to how to attach the nearly "elliptical" collar stands to them. From what I saw, each collar piece would have to "surround" the collar stand. So, I took a leap of faith and matched up the curves, taking into account how the collar will appear on the neckline. I did not recall (unless my eyes deceived me again) seeing on the pattern sheet additonal symbols where the pieces would align.

I had to use my seam ripper because I stitched beyond the lapel (curved portion next to the collar band). Other than that the collar construction and application was straightforward. Even though I am familiar with collars and facings, I was still confused by the verbosity of the directions. It would have been better if Burda mentioned, "Place entire collar with stand on the neckline with facing over it." Up to this point, the back facing had been unattached to the neckline of the jacket and the front facing nearly fully attached (sewed the neckline up to a certain point that I somehow missed to mark on my pattern piece!).

I "sandwiched" the entire collar between the neckline of the jacket and the facing (= little back facing and two large front facings). The under collar with its stand was sewn directly on the neckline of the jacket and the top collar with its stand (over the under collar) was beneath the facing.


Liner Notes
I made sure that I cut the front lining piece sans the front facing and the back lining piece sans the back facing, but with the ease pleat (additional 2 cm). Since the sleeve lining pieces did not have the upper pleats, I cut the sleeve lining pieces from the sleeve pattern pieces with the pleats pinned pinned in place (per Burda directions) to avoid the pleats in the sleeve lining. Since I already spent quite a bit of time on this jacket that, I decided to to use my swift and familiar "bagging" technique. One of my next goals to take my sewing to the next level is to use a couture technique for lining construction. Just a note to myself: not to sew when you are tired. I realized later that after sewing the lining to the jacket, right sides together and turning the jacket inside out, the wrong side of the lining (back pleats showing) stared at me. I was too tired to reach for the seam ripper...


Modifications
* Redrafted my own belt from left over fabric (4 1/2 width). I added a temporary "D" ring for decorative purposes.

*Omitted the sleeve vents and cuffs. I like the look of the sleeves the way they are.


Conclusion
I most likely will not use this pattern again, since I have more to try in my stash. I would have to redraft it if I want to eliminate the belt.

You might be able to breeze through this pattern and not encounter any ambiguous sections while reading the directions. I would recommend this pattern due to its classic styling and if you are up to the challenge.