Thursday 4 June 2015

Chilling: V8930

Back in October of last year, I fell in love with a coat. This one! Oh, Yoshimi - I want to come to Japan and steal your coat - is that too evil of me?

Well, probably yes.

I don't really have plans to travel this winter, so for now I've had to make my own jacket from the same pattern, Vogue 8930. Yoshimi used an amazing double faced wool that I imagine was a real challenge to finish along the long edges of the jacket, but I used a boiled wool (so much easier! so much quicker!) in a lovely berry colour.  My fabric came from Tessuti fabrics, and while they don't look to have this colour in stock any more, they do have boiled wools in grey and black. Oh and the dress I'm wearing is this one in merino wool, made back in 2011.

# V8930 : drapey in boiled wool
The V8930 pattern comprises a front pattern piece which extends into the ginormous collar, a cut-on-the-fold back pattern piece and a sleeve piece. There are two options for jacket length and hem shape, and there's a choice of patch or side pockets, depending which view you sew.  The shoulders are dropped low and the jacket is a loose fit, which makes it easy to throw on top of other warm clothes - although I should mention due to a purchasing error I sewed the size L here, and normally I sew a size M, so I guess mine is looser than the designers intended.

My jacket is basically view A of the pattern, with the length from view B and the side pockets from view C.



# Side pockets for cosy hands in V8930
View A is the single layer of fabric version of the pattern, and it has a raw edge finish that's refreshingly quick to sew. The pattern suggests a single line of stitches set in from the edge, but I added a second parallel line of stitches about 0.5cm further in - I thought the single line of stitches was disappearing in the fabric, and that a second line might make the stitches look more intentional. Plus boiled wool likes to fray, and two lines of stitches seemed safer than one.

# Close up of edge stitching and mock flat felled seam, V8930
Speaking of simple modifications, the sleeves as drafted on this pattern were a bit short for my liking. Looking at the line drawings, the sleeves are apparently intended to be 3/4 length and to show sleeves from the layer you're wearing under the jacket, though this isn't mentioned in the pattern description. I really didn't want cropped sleeves on a snuggly coat, so I cut my sleeves 1.5 cm longer, and later trimmed the edges back by 0.5 cm instead of the 1 cm in the instructions.  I also gained a few centimetres in sleeve length by having narrow shoulders (finally, a narrow shoulder win!!) and by making a larger size than usual. So all up the resulting jacket sleeve lengths are perhaps 3 or 4 cm longer than the standard lengths, and exactly as long as I wanted.

I also took the opportunity to cut out the jacket with a few extra centimetres of length in the body - I figured it's easier to subract than to add length later!

# Very dropped shoulders on V8930
And one more change, a small detail. Given I don't intend to wrap that huge collar around my head, in step 8 for views A and B, I lapped the right side of the front sections over the right side of the back. The instructions tell you to lap the wrong side of the front sections over the right side of the back, but this results in an exposed seam when the collar lays flat on your back, and I wanted instead to have the neater right side of the collar uppermost when the collar was laid flat.

In the interests of fabric frugality (and now I have some left over!) I cut the back of the jacket as two pieces and sewed a mock flat felled seam on the centre back. [I used 2.6 m of 150 cm wide fabric, but the pattern suggests I should have needed 3.9 m; I'd bought 3 m.] The majority of the seams on this jacket are exposed seams where one piece of fabric overlaps another, and I know that sort of seam is trendy but I think I prefer the look of flat felled seams, and they're not too much harder to achieve with a well behaved wool.

# A back view, V8930
Did I mention how easy this pattern is? It's rated Very Easy, and that classification is absolutely spot on. Sure, you could pick a tricky fabric to up the challenge level, but with an easy fabric - and specifically, something that doesn't fray much - this is the sort of jacket you could whip up in on a quiet afternoon.

# V8930, draping like a waterfall cardigan

I'm really enjoying the way this lighter fabric drapes and folds... it's a bit like a waterfall cardigan. Having said that, I'd still really like to own this jacket sewn up in a luxuriously thick fabric, just like Yoshimi's...


Thanks for reading, and see you soon!



- Gabrielle  xx



28 comments:

  1. Lovely! I do like the colour & shape ;)

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  2. Thanks! The colour is lovely - a bit grownup but not too boring, and things that drape are always good, aren't they!

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  3. Thank you Sharon - yes, just right for today, but nowhere near warm enough for the freezing cold days!

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  4. Thank you Carolyn - I'm very happy with the way they work together too :)

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  5. Thanks Maria, bossy voices from the wardrobe are not to be ignored! I think everyone is crazy busy these days - not just the working mums - we all seem to have so much on our plates these days!

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  6. Fabric Epiphanies4 June 2015 at 19:19

    I am loving this style of jacket at the moment and the fabric is gorgeous.

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  7. It looks fabulous! It's a timely one given the Tessuti Sydney Jacket has just hit the airwaves too. The two are reminiscent of each other, especially the lapped seams, raw edges and draped shawl collar. It's a beautiful colour! I thought the reason to use boiled wool on this type of garment with edges kept raw was that it DOESN'T fray??? Aghhhh then I'm in trouble as I just made the Sydney Jacket in a boiled wool for that very reason. Enjoy your coat :)

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  8. Oh my. You've discovered the magic of boiled wool and a flowing style jacket. Love the colour.

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  9. Sew, Jean Margaret4 June 2015 at 21:36

    Lovely coat. Simple yet stylish.

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  10. I know, I was very lucky to get that fabric! It's such an easy to wear style - and everyone on this side of the world seems to be making drapey jackets lately!

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  11. Yes, the drapey jacket is EVERYWHERE lately, isn't it! I do love yours - sorry I haven't yet commented! I missed the Sydney jacket's launch somehow (hmm by being off social media for a bit) but I've now gone back and checked it out - it's very similar in many ways, indeed! Umm yes, I thought it wasn't supposed to fray either, but mine definitely does... Actually Colette's blog post about making her primaluna Sydney jacket mentions her wool fraying too, but she suggests washing on a hot temperature to cause some felting. The felting would be useful but I am not interested in the shrinkage that would come with it!

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  12. Yes I really have Maria; two new discoveries at once :).

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  13. Thank you! It's a style that's new territory for me but I really like it - actually it reminds me of a similar coloured cardigan you made a while back, I think it was a StyleArc pattern?

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  14. Ha, I'll bet they've been chatting on the phone late at night! Have you been listening, and letting it boss you about? I much prefer sewing the fun stuff but there's no denying the basics get lots of wear!

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  15. Thanks Erin, they are definitely versatile BUT they're a bit plainer than what I usually want to make!

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  16. Thanks Sharon, it can be interesting! I heard some research recently that the majority of adults (I think it was over 60%) have a "voice in their head" which I guess can be equivalent to a bossy wardrobe, so it also sounds absolutely normal :). I should definitely try grabbing 10 minutes here and there, that is very sensible!

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  17. Thanks Sarah :). I'm glad to hear you agree re raglan drafting - it's one of those things that's really been annoying me lately! I will have to check out that Named pattern - I should have thought to look at their patterns, they've got such solid drafting qualifications!

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  18. Oh good - it works, does it! I love that we came up with the same solution with the Libby!

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  19. Thanks Amanda! I still really want to sew the fun stuff though - argh, the eternal internal battle between sensible and fun! Everyone is time poor these days, aren't they, but those short bursts of sewing time do sound the go - I MUST try them. BTW I cannot imagine your 6am gym sessions, getting up that early must be hard - I barely cope with shuffling around the house at 6.20am in PJs while getting the kids into school uniforms!

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  20. I hope you're asleep now then, the late late nights are such a bad habit - I'm trying to to get to bed by around midnight at the latest since writing this post (though obviously it's now 12.15am oops). You sound like you are very organised, but it sounds like your life is way busier than mine - I don't have too much kid taxi driving around to do, and only a bit of weekend sport! And you're another vote for short bursts of sewing - the ayes have it!

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  21. Lovely. Gorgeous rich colour. You look nice and cozy in that coat.

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  22. Totally snug! love the colour and the way the fabric falls.

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  23. So stylish! And comfy too...and easy to make you say...uhm! I'll keep it in mind for next winter. The colour is lovely...
    Easy, huh? At least easier than going all the way to Australia and steal yours!!!
    Always a pleasure reading your posts!

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  24. Thanks Beajay - isn't the colour marvellous? I couldn't resist it

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  25. Thanks Gail, this is the first time I've sewn boiled wool and it was such a delight - it really drapes so beautifully!

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  26. Thank you Merche, it was EXTREMELY easy to make, and I think it would be the perfect weight for a Spanish winter - you could so easily whip one up for next winter. But if you do decide you'd prefer 30 hours of flying, I promise I'll open the door and let you take this one :P.

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  27. Wow! I have always been a big fan of Yoshimi's coat and now yours too! it's truly lovely Gabrielle! So perfect for chilly winter weather.

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  28. Wonderful...I want this in my closet exactly. It looks marvelous on you.

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