Forest Green Twill Sienna Maker Jacket by Closet Case Patterns

I have a new favorite wardrobe item... please welcome my Sienna Maker Jacket.

This is yet another instance of Closet Case Patterns releasing a pattern for an item I had never even considered owning, but after making it, I don't know how I lived without it. I've worn it every day since finishing it.

While all of the samples were amazing and envy-worthy, as usual, the one that really struck me was Carolyn's. Not only did her version make forest green seem the most lovely shade in the world, but it also reminded me of a piece of orphaned fabric I had in my stash.

Orphaned, you ask? You see, I bought this stretch twill with every intention of making pants. It wasn't even an online purchase, it was bought locally, and I was convinced while in the store that it would all work out well. The first problem was the color-- it was an odd shade of medium green, and I had in mind a pair of black pants. So I purchased a couple of packs of Dylan black dye and threw the whole mess in the washer. This did not work out as planned... instead of black I got this dark green, which isn't bad at all, but if one was expecting black, it is rather disappointing. I have since read up about dying things black, and apparently it can be quite tricky to get a true black, especially with a cheap packaged dye. Dark green might not have been a deal breaker, except for the fact that when washed, the twill ended up weighty and without the kind of recovery one hopes for in stretchy pants. I worried that for the pattern I had in mind, they would just bag out and be saggy. That was a couple years ago, and it has sat in the stash ever since, causing me a bit of consternation every time I looked at it and wondered what in the world I would do with it.

Then came Carolyn's Sienna, and I knew just what I had to do.

Out came the dark green twill, and I laid it out with concern... could I fit the pattern pieces on my 2.25 yards? I had my heart set on the mid-length, with sleeve pockets and the very cool wrap tie-belt, which calls for 3.25 yards, not including the sleeve pockets. While all logic and the pattern envelope asserted that this would not be possible my pattern layout intuition thought it might be possible... and it somehow was. I didn't measure, but it must have been an especially wide fabric. The facings were cut from a piece of scrap linen, and the belt was pieced together. It is a touch shorter than the pattern called for, but I'm only 5'4" so this worked out fine. After cutting, I only had a handful of tiny scraps left.

Concerning sizing, I merely graded between sizes based on my measurements. If memory serves, I decided on a 14 shoulder, 18 waist, and 16 hip, and 16 arms. I made no muslin. With the intended fit being fairly loose, I figured that precise fitting would not be necessary.

For a relaxed fit jacket, the fit is perfection!

The directions were superb as usual. I followed them step by step just because it was fun.

Since the coat is unlined, clean seam finishes are called for. Having previously sewed a rain coat using true flat-felled seams for strength and waterproof-ness, I would call their version of a flat felled seam a "faux flat felled seam." And their faux flat-felled seam, where one serges and stitches down the seams, might be a faux-faux flat felled seam? However, in this case, since all was needed was a nice seam finish, I used what I would call a faux flat fell, where one trims one seam allowance and wraps the other seam allowance over it and stitches it down. There were a couple of exceptions... for the second sleeve seam I used a french seam, which is easier to do on a closed tube. And I serged the armhole seams, since I was feeling too lazy to fuss with binding or flat felling on the curve. Carolyn serged hers so I felt in good company.

The facing edges are bias bound with bias made from my striped linen. The way the inside pocket is stitched down under the facing is an unusual detail, but it works!

Stretch is not suggested for this pattern, and this twill is very stretchy. To balance this, I interfaced pockets edges with strips of interfacing, and I also was very careful not to stretch when sewing. There was sometimes a bit of a wave after sewing a seam which was fixed with a bit of steam from the iron.

Hanging look loop interferes with my personal brand tag... didn't notice this until I took pictures. Might have to move that tag down. 

I had a bit of fun with hardware. The rectangular rings I found at Joannes, I wish they had an antique brass finish but since I didn't think ahead, I had to take what I could get. The antique snaps I had in stash from a previous project. I accidentally added the snap to the wrong side of the collar, so I had to add another to the correct side. The rivets were from a leather project and were too long for riveting fabric, but after snipping the ends they were perfect.

Sleeve pocket detail.

Not perfect. Not apologizing.

I haven't yet figured out what to do with sleeve pockets, but I'm enjoying the detail anyway. They strike me as a good way for someone to sneak up behind you and play a little prank... but anyway.

The patch pockets in the front are HUGE. 

Facing on the front patch pocket. The pattern has cut-on facings, I drafted this facing on the fly due to lack of fabric. 

As I said, it's been hard to take it off since finishing it. It is also very satisfying to have made it from a piece of stash fabric that had been a disappointment for its original purpose, but is very satisfactory for this jacket. I actually sort of hope the cheap dye I used will continue to wash out and add to the aged look. 

I'm already dreaming up other versions. The collar has definite trench-coat vibes, maybe a long wool version with a shoulder flap and back vent? Or a short (view C) version with repurposed denim....

Jasika Blazer by Closet Case Patterns in Herringbone Linen: A Pattern Review

I'm so happy to share my finished...

... Jasika Blazer!

When Closet Case Patterns released their blazer this winter, I'm couldn't get my copy fast enough! I had the pattern and all the notions in tidily in hand before the sew along started... and then I realized there was no way I was going to be able to immerse myself in a jacket sewing experience at that time of the year. Far too many things going on between family and my artistic/academic career. All good, but... I was sort of disappointed to fall off and then have to sit aside and watch longingly.

However, at the end of this summer, I decided that it was time to finally realize my blazer dreams of glory! The anxiety of the new academic year always has me wanting just a few fantastic new wardrobe items.

I've been wanting a linen blazer for years now. Well, at least since I became aware that linen and blazers were a thing. I have never found one in the store even worth considering purchasing within my meagre wardrobe budget. Even if I found one, it would have been very unlikely to fit since blazers almost never fit comfortably around my quite significant armpits and biceps, and in order to get a comfortable fit in the arms I have to size up until the shoulders look ridiculous. I got into blazer sewing early in my sewing career largely because my arms are such a fitting problem in RTW.

Over the 8 years or so that I've been sewing intensively I've made a number of blazers and coats using both traditional and "fast" tailoring methods. I'm entirely self-taught, from books and online resources. Almost all of these makes have been patterns from Simplicity, Burda and Vogue. In every one, fitting has been a total nightmare-- I've done multiple muslins and re-drafted parts of the patterns to get them to fit the way I want them to. Worse, the directions in these patterns are, as I've said before, worse than useless. There's always a number of points where the sewist is left in the dark, problem-solving some sewing quandary with a mix of ingenuity and internet searching. I always appreciate a good challenge!

It is probably no surprise that sewing the Jasika blazer was nothing like these past experiences. 

First of all, the pattern itself is drafted to fit the dimensions of a real female body. At least, one like mine! My first muslin, based on my dimensions, was a 16 bust graded to an 18 waist/hip. The overall fit was quite close to being correct. However... it wasn't quite perfect...!

The biggest problem was that I was quite far from being able to button it (3 inches) which is pretty much entirely due to the fact that I now carry extra weight in front. Thank you babies! Everything else was pretty close... the darts were angled correctly and ended in the right place and produced an acceptable amount of volume for my chest. I didn't want to just add to the side seams, since this would have meant messing with the bust and pockets. I ended up doing a "full tummy" adjustment. My one tiny disappointment was that this issue was not addressed in the "fitting ebook." Certainly I'm not the only woman out there with a tummy? Anyhow, the internet provided a solution. For some reason I only found it in reference to men's suits and shirts, for example, in Seamwork's guide of "common pattern adjustments for men." The illustrations below show what I ended up doing. I don't know if this was the right or wrong thing to do, but it seemed to work because I could now button my jacket, and the bust darts still looked right. 

I also was concerned with the tightness of the armhole. I tried a full-bicep adjustment which is often necessary for me, but this in this pattern it added volume that didn't seem to be necessary. I also tried scooping out the bottom of the armhole by .5 inches, and this didn't seem to help and it made mobility worse. I ended up adding .25 inches to the back side seam, starting below the armpit and ending near the hip, to take a bit of tightness out of the back, and this also seemed to help shoulder mobility. So I decided that maybe it would be okay? Spoiler alert-- it was not okay, and I ended up altering late in the process, which sucked!

The fabric I decided to use was a herringbone linen that I've had in my stash for about 6 years from Marcy Tilton's online store, just waiting for the right blazer to come along! It is a gorgeous weave with sky blue threads in one direction and beige in the other, giving the surface an almost silver-y look. Back when I had been considering starting a Jasika with the sew-along in the winter I had selected a tweedy wool that was less "precious" to me than this linen, but in the moment I decided to just go for it. This linen is *mostly* opaque, but perhaps just a bit of light comes through if you hold it up to the sun... so I was left scrambling to switch out my dark interfacings and notions for lighter ones, both color and weight. Fortunately I had the perfect light-weight, light colored weft interfacing in my stash. I could not find my light colored knit interfacing, so I decided to just skip it! I hate not doing anything Heather suggests, but I thought I might get away with this.

I love to immerse myself in projects... so I sewed this mostly over the course of a single week, with cutting done on the big tables at work and most of the sewing crammed into a single weekend. I might have ignored such mundane tasks as cleaning my house and laundry!

Mostly, things went very smoothly. The thought put into the pattern, direction booklet, and online course was incredible, and all of this was clearly visible in how cleanly and smoothly things came together. I loved how I could watch a video, then just follow the steps in the instruction book and the two would match up, step for step. I did totally screw up the first double welt pocket... in the future I'll measure rather than rely on the pattern pieces since the welts have to be exactly .5 inches, so that when you sew them down the middle, you end up with two .25 inch welts taking up the opening. I think mine were a touch too wide, throwing off the entire pocket. I unpicked and the second try came out acceptably.

The collar and collar stand came together so incredibly beautifully. The shape of the collar stand is genius. The very precise sewing instructions made all the seam allowances press perfectly. This all added up to the most gorgeous collar I've ever sewn, with almost zero frustration. 

I also had another "duh" moment as I was attaching my front facing to the jacket front. I couldn't figure out why things weren't matching up... then I realized I had forgotten to make the full-tummy adjustment that I had made on the front jacket piece on the front facing (palm slap to forehead!). Rather than unpick my whole collar, I ended up adding a wedge of fabric to my front facing. Let's just call this an impromptu design line! 

Another area where this pattern really stands out from the rest is in its very precise and thoughtful instructions on interfacing and support. This is such a vague area on other blazer and jacket patterns I've sewn, with decisions on this very important area left up to a sewist who was probably hoping for a bit of guidance. I loved that there was a very clear interfacing guide in the instructions and significant time devoted to the subject in the online course. 

I also really appreciated having Heather demonstrate proper pressing techniques. Can you believe that I've never really known the correct usage of the seam roll that I've owned for years? 

The back vent was another area that was just so thoughtfully worked out, and it came together beautifully. In every other jacket I've made, the back vent has been a stumbling point for me, I always struggle to get it to lie correctly, and connecting the lining is generally problematic. This vent was so well thought out and explained that it went as smooth as butter. 

I LOVE that patterns were included for shaped sleeve heads and shoulder pads. I made my shoulder pads out of flannel and lambswool, and I made the sleeve heads out of a double layer of flannel. The shaped sleeve head is such an elegant solution, I can't believe I've never seen one before. 

I added the lining and tried it on... and the armholes were even tighter than they were on my muslin. It was just a touch too tight through the armhole, sleeve, and back. It occurred to me that I'd never be able to get it on comfortably over a long sleeve shirt. So I went back in and took out the back side seam and the back arm seam 3/8inch. Unfortunately, doing this after the armhole was already graded meant I had to add little wedges of fabric to the seam allowances. Totally time consuming and annoying. But in the end, it did the trick. When I put it all back together again the fit was perfect, with room to layer a long sleeve shirt. 

I also changed up my sleeve lining. My lining fabric is a gorgeous rust-orange linen, but this clearly wasn't working in the sleeves-- it was causing too much bulk and the friction between the two linens was causing the sleeve to rumple in an unflattering way. I solved this by re-cutting the sleeve lining in rayon bemberg, and making a cuff-facing out of the rust linen so that the linen would show when I rolled the sleeves. 

After these changes, the finishing touches came together quickly. I made a corded buttonhole for the first time, and the final press did wonders for wrinkle-prone linen. 

In looking back over the experience, I really enjoyed making this blazer... the incredible attention to detail in the creation of the pattern, instructions and course made it a very rewarding process to sew. It was also gratifying to see that many of the self-taught techniques that I use are right on track, and I learned things that helped to fill in gaps in my knowledge. I wish this pattern and course had been available years ago, it would have saved me so much frustration and trial and error. 

Having a new blazer has me waiting impatiently for fall to set in! 

My new Jasika is worn in these photos with my white Ginger Jeans, a short sleeved Liesl and Co Classic Shirt, and my Hasbeen sandals. 

Wiksten Kimono in doublecloth linen

I am in love with the Wiksten Kimono pattern. I can't stop dreaming them up. 

This one is in an incredible doublecloth linen from Fabrics-store.com. I've never even heard of a double cloth linen, but when I saw this one I knew it would be perfect for another kimono jacket. 

In this one, I sewed the Medium instead of the Small, thinking that it would be more of a layer to be worn over shirts, possibly even a light sweater. 

I was loving the feel of the collar on my last one, so I stuck with a weft interfacing rather than the medium weight interfacing that would be the rational choice. Since the layers were puffing out a bit, I decided to "quilt" them together with lines of parallel stitching. One of the Wiksten samples looks like it was done this way. 

ON this version I drafted yet another pocket. I decided I wanted a curved pocket that went from the collar to the sideseam. The top of the curve is finished with a facing, the bottom is serged, turned under, and stitched down. 

For the sleeve and bottom hems, I separated the layers of the doublecloth, turned each side in one inch, then topstitched the edge, creating a hem that looks the same on both sides. I could have used a similar technique for other seams, but I decided just to faux flat fell them, since this also looks lovely on both sides. 

And thus, it is reversible.

Wearing it here, I have the sleeve cuffs turned up for contrast. Both sides of the collar are the darker side of the fabric.

Now that the mornings are cooler, I reach for this all the time. It is just so soft and cozy. 

I have more kimonos planned. I think I need one in an Italian wool that I've been hoarding. Can one have too many kimono jackets? Am I going to tire of this silhouette and wonder how I ended up with so many kimono jackets?

In other concerns, does the untucked shirt tail look silly? My husband criticized me for the front tuck, but then said he had noticed that other women were wearing their shirts that way too. Traditional dressing would say your jacket should cover your shirt, but I break this rule all the time, do you?

Wiksten Kimono + Amy Jumpsuit in Black Linen

The Amy Jumpsuit is such a quick, fun sew that I had to make another, ASAP. I loved wearing my first one dancing, and I'm not totally opposed to wearing it to work, but such a distinctive pattern is more of an occasional wear item in my wardrobe.

This one is in black linen. I just love black linen... I want to make EVERYTHING out of black linen. Especially this lovely smooth fine-weave linen. I was also hoping that I'd feel that this jumpsuit was more work appropriate, since it is so comfy that I want to wear it every day!

However, I don't feel quite comfortable with the narrow straps and bare shoulders at work these days. I just want a bit more coverage, for modesty and also for chilly AC. Fortunately, I had just obtained the Wiksten Kimono pattern, so I sewed up a quick sample with some leftover pieces of black linen. 

I wasn't really sure that I needed another kimono pattern, but there is something about the proportions of the Wiksten Kimono that are quite elegant and feel very "now." There is a version of this pattern that you can download from Making Magazine, but I decided to go with the newer version from the Wiksten blog and store. By all accounts, the shape is just a bit more refined, and the sizing is a touch less oversized. My scraps amounted to a little over a yard in pieces, so I sewed a small (I measure a Medium), no lining, with shorter sleeves. 

Since I wasn't lining it, I faux flat felled all of the seams. I only realized after cutting that the seam allowance was only 3/8 inch, so I borrowed an extra 1/8 inch from each seam and made narrow seams. Next time I'll add another 3/8 if I intend to flat fell. 

For the collar, I would have used a medium weight interfacing... but I didn't have enough in my stash. So I used the heavier weft interfacing that I usually use on coats and blazers. I actually rather like the structure it adds to the collar. 

To get a clean finish on the collar, I pressed the seam allowance on the collar and topstitched from the front, catching the pressed edge. The sleeves and hem are just turned up and stitched.

I drafted a new pocket just for fun, adding a curve to the upper edge and finishing it with a facing.

The Amy Jumpsuit is the same black linen. I added 1/2 inch to the back crotch curve, to give a bit more bum room. I also ended up shortening the straps 2 inches... somehow this jumpsuit ended up hanging lower on the bust than the last one, and I also wanted a little tiny bit of extra coverage for work-appropriateness. All seams are frenched, including the side pockets. 

All said and done, this one is a bit of a wiggle to get into, and I fear stretching out the neckline when I do it. Sort of wishing I had gone with the zipper-- but not so much that I will go back and add one. Maybe on the next one? 

I did fuss around a bit with trying to cross the straps... but as I feared, such a modification is not trivial since the design relies on drape. On the plus side, though, the straps as drafted mostly stay on my shoulders, which is actually quite remarkable. 

It's been ages since I wore anything to work other than collared shirts and shirt dresses, so it is very fun to have a new silhouette to play with.