Self Drafted: Collarless Blazer

When I think back to when I made my first blazer I remember being insanely overwhelmed by the idea of making another one. Then the instructor/teacher/callherwhaterveryouwant told us that the feeling will not go away for a while. It will stay with us for the next ten blazers we make without any help or instructions, and then it will start to go away. And after we have made at least 20 we'll start feeling like at home. I guess now I'm reaching the big number 10. Well not reaching, but this is actually the 10th blazer I have made. And I can say that she was right. The feeling of deep fear and insecurity is starting to go away. Sure, while drafting the pattern sometimes feels wrong because every body is different and the shape of the pattern is different and when I get to cutting the thing out of the fabric, my hand does shake a bit but that's all things I need to push through. Because I know what I am doing. I only need to get more confidence and trust myself more.

 So here's the milestone blazer. A collarless cream jacket. It's a very basic piece with no pockets, vents or any other sort of additions. Mrs.Kd wanted a very simple piece to wear to work and she saw a picture of The Blue Skies Jacket and she knew she wanted something like that. But with a V-neck. Mrs.Ks wants, Mrs Kd gets.

The fabric is a linen/polyester blend and it was raveling like it was it's job! Despite the fact that the blazer was going to be fully lined, I had to additionally serge all raw edges or I wouldn't have had anything left from the pieces after the fittings. So this blazer got to feel the love from all of my machines. For the lining I used a viscose lining fabric.

I also used interfacing for the front pieces, facings and tops+bottoms of the back and sleeves. And to secure the facing from peeking from the insides I topstitched the front and neckline in place.

The fashion fabric was a delight to work with(apart from the raveling part), It didn't wrinkle much and behaved really well under the sewing machine. Plus it molded really well with the help of some steam.

Hanger loop. I hate these things but the must be in blazers and coats for random reasons.

 Overall I really liked making this blazer. With every blazer I learn more and get a bit more confidence. And for some reason this blazer reminded me a lot of the blazer I made for my mom two years ago(even though they are nothing alike). Since then my mom has lost around 15kg and is swimming in it. I can sense me having to take it in for her in the future.

So what have you been up to my little unicorns?

Self Drafted: Men's fall/winter coat

Sometimes I feel like I'm Eddard Stark. There's always a voice in my head telling me that the winter is approaching. Even during the (short) summer when there's 30 degrees Celcius outside. And I hate winter. I hate the cold and dark time of the year. And here it's about 8 months every year. Right now it's pitch black outside at five in the evening. No joke. But if there's anything I like about the cold season it's making coats(not wearing them, getting dressed during the fall/winter is a chore)

So here's a winter coat I made. This was a bit of a challenging/nerve wrecking project. The person who I made it for lives in London. I have never seen him and he couldn't come in for fittings. Yikes. So his wife came here, gave me his measurements(after I had given her detailed instructions on what I need and how to take them) and then I started the work. Luckily she brought a coat that fit Mr.London but that coat had raglan sleeves so...I had to improvise a lot.

The coat has wide peaked lapels, a classical collar, side pockets with flaps, a vent in the back and pockets in the front facing on both sides. I also added a buttonhole and a button on the lapel so he could close the front in full length when the weather gets particularly nasty.

As I didn't have to do any fittings, I drafted the coat like I would with any project, cut it out with 1cm seal allowance on all seams and started the work. Usually the pocket placement is determined in the first fitting but this time I could make the pocket before I attached the front to the back piece so it was so much more comfortable to sew. Less bulk on the table=win. Also for menswear the sleeves are cut out after first fitting(at least I'm taught like that) and now I could cut out the sleeves at the same time as the rest of the pieces so there's another win for ya.

Pocketzzzz

The front pieces, front facings and collar pieces are fully interfaced, the back pieces and sleeves are partially interfaced. I also used additionally a heavyweight interfacing to support the breast area. I could have used hair canvas for this but on coats it's not necessary and interfacing will do the job just as well and without adding too much bulk. I did use hair canvas to shape the lapel and the bottom of the collar.

I also did quite a lot of top stitching for this thing. I am one of those weird people who actually loves top stitching. So the back seam and the front, the lapels and collars and pockets are all top stitched. I think it gives a very nice classical look to a coat.

And again: My favorite way to make pockets to the front facing and then connecting the facing to the lining. This right here is my jam, people.

And guess who forgot to take a picture of the back of the coat? This girl!

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On a personal note. I have some news! If you are following me on Instagram you already know this, but I GOT ENGAGED! Mr.Man popped the question and promoted himself to Mr.Fiance. We are thinking about summer wedding and I will be making both his suit and my dress. I'm thinking lace, corsets and vintage vibe.

Self Drafted Linen Dresspants

So I'll break this sewing post hiatus with a bang. This week I finished a pair of dresspants for a customer who I'll name Mr.Suit. And the pants were....wait for it..from linen. Yes, I sewed something from linen. Even though I've had years of dislike towards linen, I think it's starting to pass and I think it has a lot to do with having a few victorious projects with linen.

So the pants. The pattern is drafted by me. The pants has slant side pockets, invisible button fastening and classical men's waistband with belt loops and a ribbon on the inside to  have a clean finish, classical look and good fit(I really have no idea what it's called in English. Even here a lot of the stores don't have it anymore and it's hard to find but it really takes the pants to another level)

Back view

Inside shot. The white is the ribbon thingy

I encountered a problem when I was cutting out the pants. The pattern didn't fit the fabric. And this is one of the reasons why you should always contact your seamstress/tailor before you go and buy the fabric. But luckily there's a method how I was able to fit all the pieces on the fabric. When sewing trousers, you're allowed to cut the back piece in two pieces if needed. On the inside leg seam(if you look REALLY closely), you can see a little triangle. That's the back piece and the extra seam I created to be able to get the pants out of the fabric. If you're ever in the same situation, remember, if you start to measure from the inside leg/crotch seam and measure a triangle that's up to 7cm wide and 14cm long(after sewing, so remember to add seam allowance according to your pattern), you can save a lot of fabric and time. And when done right, you won't even notice it there.

Can you find the extra piece?

I serged all the seams and hand stitched the hem with invisible stitched. I also sewed the pocket seam twice for security.

Pattern: Self drafted
Fabric: Linen (and cotton for pocket fabric)
Time spent: About 4 hours (3 for sewing + 1 for pattern drafting)

And the best part it that Mr.Suit was so happy with the pants that he ordered a suit jacket as well(hence the name Mr.Suit). So if all goes according to plan, there should be a post about a classical men's jacket popping up sometime next month. And it's also from linen(same fabric as these pants), so it's going to be one good looking summer suit(and major linen therapy for me).

Stay tuned!

This post has been linked up at Sewing Saturdays where you can see other this week's awesome projects from all around the sewing community.

Self Drafted Blue skies jacket

Oh I am on a roll. Three posts in three days? I must be going through some sort of a mental breakdown. Or maybe it's the urge to  get all the posts with the old dress form out of my way and to forget the lousy fit of garments on a dress form that's a million sizes smaller than the garment. Whatever it is, it's making me chatty.

After a long-long time of making jackets from synthetic blend fabrics I had started to forget the unbeatable feeling of handling real woolen jacket fabric.  So you can imagine my excitement when starting to work on this beauty. It's inspired a bit by the Chanel jacket. It has no collar and the corners of the front are rounded off. I inserted pockets into the front princess lines and a classical slit in the back. Unfortunately there's no lining on this one(sigh) but we can't have it all. Wool is such a pleasure to work with, the ease how the seam allowances press apart is just orgasmic and it feels like play doh when pressing and shaping it.

I used heat fusible interfacing to maintain the shape in the front and upper areas of the back and side pieces. For the pocket fabric I used a piece of cotton I had lying around in my stash.

Pattern: Self drafted
Fabric: 100% wool
Time spent: 20 hours

The slit in the back

To finish the neckline, I used pieces of fabric I cut out in the same shape as the main piece(not sure what the term for this is in English. Feel free to correct/help me). I also serged all seam allowances to avoid raveling of the fabric in the future(and believe me, this ish ravels a lot) I also topstitched the whole edge of the neckline and front closure to make the fabric stay as I wanted it to stay.

I really like this fabric. It's not just plain old light blue, it has some spots of dark blue and red in it so it has that something special every garment needs. And I quite like the little pop of shine the buttons have. Though I was quite offstandish about them at first. But it worked out.

God, I love natural fabrics. Except linen.

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Fooniks
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