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Sewing: Red jacket, V8343

I’m working on a red jacket now. I’ve been meaning to pick up a red jacket, but I’d never found a dark red jacket with clean and simple lines… so now I’m making one. It helped that there was a sale on Vogue sewing patterns, and that I’d stumbled across this deep red wool while W- was picking up fabric for the dining room cushions.

In other news, sketching is so much easier in a vector drawing program where I can edit my mistakes. Thank you, Inkscape!

Short URL: http://sachachua.com/blog/p/5297
  • http://Facebook Nancy

    This is the jacket that I’m making, Vogue V8343 View A. I wrote you on another thread (Thinking about organizing patterns) about the back neck facing and back lining piece not fitting together.

    The facing, Piece #7, measures 5 1/2″ between notches and is supposed to fit onto the back lining Piece #6) upper edge that measures 3″ between notches with the pleat sewn in.

    I can’t imagine that I’m supposed to clip and stretch the back neck lining edge so severely to get it to fit onto a piece that is 2 1/2″ bigger between the notches.

    Thanks for trying to help! I contacted Vogue Patterns and their answer was to send me a jpeg of the printed instructions (which I have!) I hope you still have the pattern so that you can refer to the pieces.

  • http://sachachua.com Sacha Chua

    Nancy: Hah, you know what, I think I got the back neck facing in and either forgot or gave up on the front facing, because I’m looking at my lining and I don’t have the front part indicated in the diagram. <laugh> Still hangs okay, although it might wear out a little faster. I’d give more details about how the back neck facing’s attached, but it’s hidden behind the lining right now and I don’t want to push my luck. It doesn’t feel _too_ eased, though, so I might’ve either done the wool-shrinking trick or ignored the notches and trimmed the excess. *boggle!* I’d like to think I sew more carefully now, but I’m still learning a ton!

  • http://Facebook Nancy

    Thanks for your input. I “slept on it” meaning I put it aside and went after it the next day. Here’s what I did . . . First, I reduced the pleat by a fraction as I had taken the stitching out anyway.
    Then I ran an ease stitch between the notches (like you do on a sleeve shoulder, drew it up a bit and bodged on the notches (meaning I allowed them to not meet by about a 1/8″ on each side).

    Then I clipped and stretched the heck out of the back lining piece.

    I’m really hoping that I wear this thing . . . but in preliminary try-ons, I’m not happy with all the fabric under the armholes. All along I thought I’d add a fabric belt and I think I’ll need it to cinch it.
    I can never get professional looking carriers, especially when they are sewn in four places, rather than just side seams.

    But that’s another week.

    I was just tickled to find a blog about the very pattern I was working on. Do you have a photo upload function here, so if I ever finish it, I can take a pic?

  • http://sachachua.com Sacha Chua

    Have you ever thought about starting your own sewing blog, or posting your pictures on a public site like Flickr? =) I’d love to check out your pictures!

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