It seems like I'm becoming one of those cliché bloggers who start every post with 'I'm back guys! For real this time!'
I mentioned that things had been crazy in my previous post, and that that was why I had not posted in so long. Well guess what: it got crazier. My relationship of over ten years ended during lockdown and I had exams about a month later, and then a summer of healing, taking care of things and picking up the pieces. I remained somewhat active on Instagram and eventually started making things again, but I didn't have the energy to take blog worthy pictures and write a post. Until now! Me and my roommate Julie were showing a friend around the city, and we took a moment or two to take some pictures of a jacket I just finished.
The fabric for this jacket was bought in Paris during the Paris Sewcial in 2019. It feels like forever ago. I visited the Malhia Kent store with a few people and spotted this stretch jacquard. It was about 40 euros p/m but I had never found a more 'me' fabric. One meter came home with me, firmly destined to become a bomber jacket.
Then the search for a pattern. I didn't want raglan sleeves because I thought the diagonal shoulder seams wouldn't look too great in the print, I wanted a higher (ribbed) neckline and I wanted a lining. It took some searching but then I found the Amelia bomber jacket through Wanderstitch's version. It had all the features I was looking for, and after reading a few reviews I went for it!
Here's the result:
I love it to pieces, but it was a journey to get there. The pattern company (Wardrobe by me) was completely new to me so I made a muslin, and while the fit was pretty spot on I decided to shorten the jacket a bit to make it more cropped (which looks better to me with high-waisted skirts and trousers). This also means I could squeeze it out of my tiny piece of fabric, sleeves and all!
I also opted for welt pockets instead of the pattern's side seam pockets, especially when I read that they were kind of small. I just like the look of that contrast welt at the front, and used a black cotton sateen to avoid print matching. These pockets are tiny as well because of the croppedness of the jacket, but they hold a face mask!
Now sewing this was... Interesting. I consider myself a pretty advanced sewist, but the instructions for the hem band/facing had me stumped. If I sewed the seams and pressed them in the directions indicated, there was no way the hem band could be attached without weird funky stuff happening at the corners. In the end I unpicked what I had done and did it in a way that made sense to me, and it worked out. I felt a bit frustrated because none of the reviews I'd read mentioned this... Looking back I noticed that most blog posts were by pattern testers, and it looked like there was a difference between their version and mine: the woven part of the hem band seemed to be one with the front and the facing, while mine was a separate piece. I reread the instructions for this post and that part still doesn't make sense to me, so I wonder what's going on there...
I'm really glad I figured things out in the end, but it would have been a very frustrating experience five years ago! All in all, I LOVE this jacket. Even with farting frogs on it. It's a good step in the process towards feeling like myself again.
