transitional jacket

I’d like to have followed up on my success with the pink coat by making another coat, but a lack of sufficient fabric for sleeves prevented me. That’s okay, as a sleeveless jacket will make a good transitional item in this westcoast climate. I did want more practice with coat-making, though, so when I saw some pretty heavy duty fabric at My Social Fabric House, I decided to snap it up, even though there was less than a yard of it.

The pattern is Burda 6989. I was most attracted to the long version, but thought the short version showed potential for some kind of in-home cardigan.

This was a pretty easy project. The fabric, a smooth felted wool, was really easy to work with. I thought originally that it could be left unhemmed and unbound, as specified in the pattern, but slowly decided that wasn’t going to work. I bound the armholes in the fabric of the jacket, and then found some chiffon to bind the collar edges. I stitched the bottom with a coverstitch.

I added fairly large patch pockets for a bit of interest (and convenience), and added a button and buttonhole.

There is one thing I don’t entirely like, and that’s the width of the shoulders. I cut off quite a bit, scaling back from a size 14 to a size 12, and then cutting off the seam allowance too, as the pattern instructed. Still, I find them too wide.

I’ve thought about cutting off another inch or two. Then I’d have to rip off all the binding and make fresh strips. But I wonder if I would like the shawl collar to extend beyond the shoulders. I’m not sure, so I’m just going to take this puppy out for walks this autumn and let it tell me whether to make changes or not.

Good thing I just made a red scarf. The Canadian election was today and red (liberal) won. So I’ll be taking my walks under a fresh government. The new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, just said things in his winning speech that I’ve never heard a politician say. It’s a new era, I think.