My friend Sue invited me to raid her stash a couple of years ago and I have been trying to use each piece of fabric for special projects. Sue has exquisite taste and instead of playing fantasy shopping cart with online fabric stores (like me), she tends to check-out.
I’ve been enjoying wearing my pink Barbara jacket so much that I decided to make a second one with this gorgeous wool I got from my raid of Sue’s stash. I had already gone through the pain of adding seam allowances to all the pattern pieces so it would have be rude not to! Gabrielle from Bibbity-Bobbity-Buttons organised the #alertlevelfourmakefour challenge whilst we were under a four week Government enforced lock-down due to Covid-19. I was driven by the challenge to make four things which were slightly more challenging.
I chose the Barbara jacket along with an Olya shirt, an Archer shirt and a Libby skirt. The image below shows my finished projects which will all be blogged soon!
Getting back to the jacket – the wool has a nice soft drape to it but I wanted to add body to the fabric. I interfaced both the front and back of the garment with mid-weight interfacing as well as the sleeve hems. I added shoulder pads to the jacket to make the sleeves hang nicely.
I made the same shortening adjustment to the pattern as my pink Barbara jacket. I’m 165cm tall and the length in my body is through my legs rather than my torso so I find tops and jackets often need to be cropped to suit my proportions. Check out this post on the rule of thirds if you want to know more.
The jacket is fully lined in a rayon bemberg. I left off the pockets from the outside this time. Instead, I added a small internal welt pocket it’s the perfect size to hold my bus card! It sits lower in the lining than I thought – serves me right for eyeballing it!
The jacket can be done up as a double-breasted jacket however I think it looks best worn open. I felt like the buttons framed the style of the jacket perfectly.
As you can see I love the jacket with this Libby skirt which is a free pattern from Tessuti. I made a 14 but I wish I made a 12 as I’d prefer the skirt to sit slightly higher on my torso. The skirt is a lovely simple A-line skirt pattern with an internal facing. I’ve made it twice and both times I enjoyed sewing it. The exterior fabric is wool crepe which I heavenly interfaced. I had my heart set on a skirt in a bold green but I could not find the fabric anywhere! I’ve had this fabric in my stash since the last Fabric-a-brac. I have enough for another garment but thought maybe a matching top might be too mad – let me know what you think in the comments!
The skirt is lined with rayon to help prevent my tights sticking against my legs and to hide the underside of the interfaced fabric.
I love these two pieces of my #alertlevelfourmakefour challenge. I know both pieces will get lots of wear. This lock-down period has had me digging into my stash to use those special fabrics I’ve been saving for a special occasion. I’m no longer doing that – the occasion is life! Make it – love it – wear it!
Has Covid-19 affected your sewing practice? I’d love to know.
Emma
Emma's Atelier 
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