No, this isn't a photo of me, or my jacket. Wouldn't life be different if both were true?! This is Butterick 6106, a jacket I've made twice this year, with varying results. Here's the story:
When I cut out the pattern pieces, I tried placing them where they would take advantage of the stripe. I didn't get fancy about matching stripes anywhere. I just wanted the stripes to appear in a balanced fashion. Not a perfect job, but I'm happy with it.
The fabric, which is all cotton, was a breeze to sew, and it stands up pretty well to the collar design. I was really pleased these buttons from Sawyer Brook matched the paint so well:
Sewing this design is like putting a puzzle together because of the asymmetry at the lower fronts. It's not difficult, but it requires patience and attention to detail. As I put the pieces together, I discovered two errors on the pattern. The first involves a mis-placed notch:
The notch at the top of piece #4 should have been about 1-1/2 inches to the right. I only figured this out when I went to attach it to the right front and found the notches were quite far away from one another.
The second error is on piece 13, the right front facing. The lower edge needs to be extended on one side and tapered to nothing on the other side, as shown below:
If you don't do this, you won't have enough fabric to cover a seam later on. So it's pretty important to fix it before you cut. You can see the problem if you lay piece 13 against the right front piece. It's just too short!
Aside from these two errors, the pattern sewed up really well, and was fun to construct. I really like this jacket and expect to get a lot of wear from it, since it's in a good-for-me basic color.
Oh, and one thing about the design of the lower left front. As you can see in the photo above, the lowest piece does "stand out" from the jacket. It's a bit odd, but I've grown to like it.
*****
Three months later, in late November, I decided to make the jacket again.
And I'm not so happy about this one. First of all, the color is a stretch for me. Even though my eyes and hair are brown, it's hard to find brown that enhances my cool skin tone. I don't think this is bad, but it's not my best color. Agree?
The second problem is a larger one, and it involves an unhappy marriage of pattern and fabric. This is a lightweight denim of cotton, polyester and lycra. It is soft and drapey. Not the right fabric for this collar style. The collar can barely stand up, even with a facing and interfacing. And see the drag lines on the upper chest? Too soft a fabric.
And lastly, the fit of this jacket isn't good at all. I don't know why I didn't notice it back in August when I made the first one. The shoulders are just too wide on me. I should have cut this version in a smaller size. The style is loose, to a certain degree, but I don't think the sleeves should hang off the shoulder by more than an inch. I simply wasn't paying attention.
Oh well, on to the parts of this jacket I really like: the printing.
Diane Ericson's Bamboo Forest and Brush Alphabet stencils were a perfect pairing for embellishing this fabric. I used black Neopaque and copper Lumiere paints, which enhance those colors in the fabric (and the buttons, which are from Sawyer Brook).
What a lot of fun this printing was! In fact, I love the printing so much, I'm not all that unhappy with the jacket. I just don't know how much I'll wear it because of the color, the baggy shoulders, and the drag lines. Honest opinions - would you wear this jacket if it looked like this on you? If not, what would you do with it? I welcome any and all comments!
