LEATHER/SWEATER JACKET
Before Christmas I was shopping in Nordstrom's and in their Designer department I saw a leather and sweater jacket that I loved. It was $500. You can imagine that I had no intention of paying $500 for a ready made jacket. I will pay $500 for designer fabric but not ready made!! So I set about looking for leather and sweater knit.
I found it on line at Mood and ordered samples. Surprisingly the samples were perfect so I ordered what I needed.
When I got home from the holidays the fabric had arrived and I then proceeded with the following steps:
1. Find a pattern that came close to the desired effect. Found in my stash of patterns.
2. Alter the pattern to get the design I want.
3. Make a muslin for fit and design. (Well, I skipped this part after I was able to kick Susan - Susan Khalje, my couture instructor of www.susankhalje.com, out of the sewing room and locked the door. Actually I also kicked my cat out at the same time!)
4. Test the fit of the paper pattern on my dress form. That went well. Yea!
5. Arrange the pattern pieces single fold on the leather and sweater knit. (Susan crept in for a spell, but I quickly, after this step, kicked her out again.)
The rest is pretty routine. Sew it together, fit, etc. I did the sweater seams in a Hong Kong finish and left the leather seams unfinished. And since I do not have a walking foot for the machine at the condo, I used a teflon foot for the leather. I would have preferred to use a walking foot, which may be a good reason for getting one for the condo machine!
The design was a challenge, as I had neglected to take a picture in Nordstrom's, and was going on a rough sketch that I made. Placement of the zipper took numerous tries, as I had wanted a shorter zipper, but could not find one in a shorter length, thanks to living in Springfield, Ohio and my impatience and not wanting to wait and order one. The lapel had to be cut in half to be the correct drape. But all in all it turned out nicely and I love it.
This is my second project of 2015. The first was a quickly made, no couture at all, tunic.
Next is a Chanel style jacket that I have quilted and put away until my next sewing time is available. Headed back to work tomorrow.
I am happy with the final product, which comes really close to the Nordstrom's Designer Jacket.
The jacket can be worn three different ways. This is one version.
This is the original pattern A floppier version of the front.
with no alterations in design
The back which is sweater knit only.
And the jacket with the front zipped shut.
