In Theory, Yes : Vogue 8916 Jacket

In theory I should be very fond of this new little jacket:

but even though I love the fabric (a small and sparkly cotton/ viscose/ poly remnant from Tessuti fabrics ages ago - stripes AND sparkle!), and love boxy cropped jackets in general, something about the way this fabric and this pattern have come together doesn't work for me.

And yet I look pretty happy in these photos, don't I!

Well, I was happy! I was thrilled to discover a new and secluded photo location at home, after another of those frustrating afternoons of trying to take blog photos at different places in my garden and discovering neighbours in all directions, monitoring my suspicious antics (well, more like gardening and being curious about the weirdo taking photos of herself).  SUCH a relief.  Though it's only secluded if I sit down - when I stand up I become visible to a few neighbours again.


The jacket itself - well, let me tell you the positives...

• The pattern (Vogue 8916) itself is a positive - an extremely easy jacket pattern that comes together quickly and neatly, with shoulder darts and princess seams that would let you work on fit without too much hassle. 

• Oh and the fit on this jacket was pretty good for me without any fiddling. 

• The fabric is very interesting - it has stripes AND sparkle, as I mentioned above. The side I've used as the fabric outer has silver flecks, and the reverse side is matt with the stripe colours reversed. 

• I love the midnight blue silk I've used to line the front panels of the jacket, and after interfacing, these pieces felt like a good weight for facings.

• Due to fabric limitations (I had just 0.95 metres of the striped remnant) I went for a "misaligned stripes" look and was surprised to find I like that look.  

• I love the little pockets I've included on the jacket. The original pattern has small pockets that are set into the princess seam at about waist level, but no matter how I moved my pattern pieces around, I just didn't have enough fabric to make them. So instead I decided to try making pockets in a new horizontal seam in the front panels - and I think they worked really well: 

• I ran two strands of white thread as a hand stitch around the sleeve opening and all the lower jacket edges except the front panels and although my hand stitching is a bit chunky looking, I like the result. It does an OK job of holding the lining at bay too!

And now for the negatives: 

• My lovely fabric is too stiff for the pattern, This pattern would look much better sewn in a linen or wool.

• My lack of fabric. The front facings are meant to be made from the same fabric as used on he outside of the jacket, but my 0.95 metres wasn't enough to include facings. I also didn't have enough of the blue silk to use it for anything but the front facings. 

• A simple and quick to sew jacket pattern means shortcuts. I wish this pattern included a neckline facing pattern piece, and that the lining lengths were shorter - I could have drafted a neckline facing for myself, and I could have cut the lining shorter but didn't think of it :(. And to me, lining fabric that comes right the edge of a garment looks a bit shoddy. (Edited to add: Though both amcasey and Sharon have pointed out to me in the comments below that lining to the jacket's edge is what Chanel did, so I guess it's more my own lack of skill in finishing the jacket that's annoying me - I hate the way the lining peeks out at the end of the sleeves and at the back of the jacket!)

Put it all together and sadly, I'm not a fan. I'll keep the jacket in my wardrobe for a little while in case distance from its sewing helps me overlook its shortcomings, but for now, I suspect this little jacket is just not going to get many outings. Oh well, they can't all be winners, can they! 

Happy sewing!

- Gabrielle x

Print Charming

In the weeks leading up to Melbourne Frocktails I had grand delusions of sewing myself a whole new casual wardrobe to wear while in Melbourne - some denim culottes, a cool top, a skirt in a great print and a vintage swing jacket. Of course there wasn't time for all that sewing, but I did manage one thing on that list: a cool top which I wore all day on Saturday before the party.

I think the colours are pretty true in the above photo - I don't normally like butterflies but the flowers and lovely orange, teal and pink are right up my alley!

I bought this fabric from Tessuti's Chatswood store a couple of months ago, within about a day of seeing someone in Melbourne post their purchase of the fabric on Instagram. Instagram is just terrible for making you realise there's a fabric you need, but it can also get you on the case quickly before a fabric sells out :).  This fabric is a digital print ponti, and it came in two colourways - both sold out very quickly so unfortunately I doubt you'd still be able to get it anywhere.

I only bought about a metre as from memory it was quite expensive - I think it's an Italian fabric, and it is a beautiful quality, but I don't like spending too much on stretch fabrics for some reason! Anyway, I soon had buyer's remorse and wished I'd bought more - I would really have liked to be able to make something like Kirsty's dress.





Oh well, with my little metre it had to be a top or a skirt... I thought I'd get more wear from the fabric as a top, given I spend my weekends in jeans and weekdays in a fairly conservative office, plus the colours seemed pretty good on me when I held the fabric up against myself, so a top is what it became!

I can see in these close up shots that the top had wiggled to one side - oops :). When it's not moving off to the side the shoulders actually fit very nicely!

And what pattern is it, you ask? Well this is very boring, but for a basic top, these days I seem to be using the same pattern over and over... and that staple pattern is Vogue 8916. I've made the top pattern before both as a t-shirt (my Splat! top) and with lengthened sleeves as a sort of sweatshirt (this pink / striped top).  It's very simple, but I really like the fit - it's about a million times better than the Papercut's raglan-sleeve Undercover hood on me!


As usual I sewed a size 14 in this pattern as it runs a bit smaller than the Vogue designer patterns. I cut the body to hip length according to a bit of tape measurement work (shorter than the pattern) and lengthened the sleeves based on my arm length. The neck band is a simple addition; a rectangle of fabric folded in half lengthwise, and pinned to fit to the neckline with the excess length trimmed away at a small centre back seam.

I think I have the fabric at 90 degrees to the right way up, but the fabric stretches in both directions so this direction feels fine on. And this orientation allowed me to place the flowers and butterflies where I wanted - an orange flower with a starring role in the front, pink flowers on the shoulders, and butterflies positioned to be less noticeable on the front. I know there are butterflies up high on the back, but as I can't see them they won't creep me out :).

In terms of sewing techniques, this was dead simple - I used a straight stitch on all the seams (yes, heresy, I know, but I think a straight stitch works perfectly well on a stretch seam so long as that seam isn't under stress!) and then used the overlocker to tidy everything up. The hems are top stitched with a single line of coordinating teal straight stitching at a stitch length of 3. Easy peasy!

I've come back from Frocktails incredibly inspired to sew and blog - in terms of sewing, the denim culottes are still on my radar but they're now competing with some really fun fabrics from Darn Cheap Fabrics and a couple of Named pdf patterns I bought in their recent sale. Where to start!!! And blogging - well I still need to get photos of my frockails dress and cape (sorry, I had too much on this weekend!) but I've also got a bit of a backlog of basics to blog (maybe consolidated in a single post so I don't bore you to tears) and a new top made over a couple of evenings last week with some of that Darn Cheap Fabric...


See you soon!

- Gabrielle xx

Splat! Top

I am running so behind with posts. This one was going to start with 'Yesterday...', then 'A week ago...' but it's longer than that now! Hopeless ;)

So. A month or more ago after the pants fitting class at Tessuti Fabrics I picked up a lovely fabric that I remembered seeing on Rachel's blog late last year - just a small remnant, but it looked like enough for a top.

I'd been hankering after a big boxy top (preferably in scuba fabric - wouldn't that be cool! Erika B has just made an awesome neoprene dress...), and I thought if I made this top a size too big with a thick fabric it might approximate the look I was after :). [Can a lightweight ponte ever approximate neoprene? Hmm? No? Oh....]

The pattern is this one, V8916, a Vogue wardrobe pattern (top, skirt, jacket and dress). The pattern shows a top made from lace, and lace and eyelet are the recommended fabrics, but the tech drawing showed potential as a basic boxy tee, and it didn't look to need much fabric.

I normally cut a size 12 in the bust in Vogue patterns, a size 10 in the shoulders and a size 14 in the waist, but to get the oversized shape I was after I cut this top out in a straight size 14.  

Back view - nothing much to say:

The house elves seem to have taken the pattern, along with half of the wearable school socks, but I remember this as being a ridiculously easy sew. As it's a stretch fabric I haven't used a centre back seam; the top doesn't need a zip or button closure. I didn't finish my seams (wait - am I allowed to admit that? is it contentious?) but I never finish t-shirt seams, and as none of my t-shirts have fraying seams I don't think I'll be starting any time soon. The neckline is just the fabric folded over and stitched down with a twin needle, as are the sleeve hem and hem, and as usual I've stabilised the shoulder seams with clear elastic held taught but not stretched. And I tried something new - something Megan at the pants fitting class recommended - instead of stay stitching I used tearaway stabiliser to keep the neckline from stretching out - it worked, but I'll need to experiment with a few more projects before I decide whether I prefer it.

The top passes the jump test - some riding up, but absolutely no constriction - and jumping always gets a smile, so I guess that's a PASS:

Here's the pattern envelope picture in case you're interested to see what a delicate beauty the top is supposed to look like. The model obviously needs to try some jumping:

I will TRY to be back soon with more backlog projects. Actually I've got even more than before because my mum's handed over two of her own sewing projects for me to keep - two very, very different tops from the same pattern!


Keep jumping


- Gabrielle xxx