Motorcycle Momma* - Burda 135

*No motorcycles were harmed or even photographed in this blog post. This blogger is only a Faux-Badass and the mere though of climbing onto such a vehicle makes her back away slowly until she reaches her knitting and cooking eating chair. Mmmm chocolate chip.

I don't want to jinx anything, but this might be the first FO of a jacket/coat extravaganza that might rival the "legendary" summer of dresses. Or maybe I just have tons of stashed coating taking enormous amounts of space in the fabric cave.  MOAAAR COATS IN EVERY COLOR OF THE RAINBOW!!!!!  Ok, Ok, let me calm down a bit and talk about Burda 135 first. Then we can get into Jacketrama/Coatpaloza....name pending.

In the spring I was being a good little stash buster and looking for patterns to pair with stashed fabrics.  Burda 135 caught my eye because I'm a sucker for a pattern with interesting design elements. This one has a three piece front, quilted elbows/hip area and fun eppulates   It seemed like the perfect thing for the lightweight wool/cashmere coating I'd bought on a whim/epic sale.  I was going knock this out right away but got stuck in the "the pants fitting cycle of hate" until the weather warmed up.  (spoiler, I ended up not making pants but making a gazillion dresses instead.) Well the weather's back to being cool and this baby finally got sewn up.

Now are you all excited to see photos of a jacket where all the interesting details are obscured by the color?   Yes? To compensate I lurked around one of my neighbor's fences to give you a new background to stare at.  PS. I've always said I don't like 80's fashion yet here I am wearing leggings and tunicy sweater. You win fashion cycle, you win.

I'm sassy cause I got my skull stud booties on. It's just a matter of time until I start putting studs on everything.

Obligatory back shot showing that I once again shirked my sway back adjustment. Seems wishing that I don't have one never works.

Pattern
Burda 3/2013 #135 Here's the technical drawling again since my photos don't do the design justice. Not shown in this drawing is that all the princess line seams are top-stitched which makes them even sharper looking.

Fabrics used
The shell is wool/cashmere herringbone coating from Fabricmart.com.  I bought this last December during one of their giant sales and was displeased to find it was rather thin.  A little stash marination and actually sewing with the fabric improved my opinion of it.  The quality of the blend is great and it worked up perfectly for a transitional weather jacket.

The lining is a roll end I picked up from Hot Patterns while they were doing a bit of fabric selling.  I loved that pattern so much that I conveniently "forgot" that ivory looks hideous next to my skin.  The fabric was labeled as a cotton but thankfully is very slippery and works great as a lining. Ivory problem solved!

Lining in coat cause I like flashing my linings *wink, wink*

Pattern changes/alterations
1. I started with the size 42 and graded up the waist and hip area using the method described here.
2. Normal 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment.
3. Sleeve cap forward shoulder adjustment also of 1/2".  Miss Leila clued me in on this trick for one piece sleeves and it works like a charm on two pieces sleeves as well.  Basically you cut the sleeve cap and move it forward the same amount as you did the shoulder seam.  Then cut down the over hang on the front and add to the gap in the back.  I promise to write a post on this with decent step by step pics, but for now just look at my sleeve post change.

5. After making up the shell in the real fabric I found there to be waaaaaay too much ease for the design aesthetic.  In my opinion, which you may take with a grain of salt, a motorcycle jacket should be rather trim and sit close to the body.  Instead the jacket was baggy like a duffle coat, which is fine if you were making a duffel coat, but so great for this jacket.  I took in both side seams removing 4" of ease. I know 4", that's cray cray!
6. This meant each armhole was 2" smaller so I had to get a little creative with sleeves to get them to fit into the new armhole.  I took in the underarm seam about an 1" and then eased in the rest in my sleeve cap gathers. Go wool, enabling my bad sewing!!!
7. The pattern calls for snaps to hold down the eppulates.  I only had gold and colored snaps on hand so I ransacked the button stash for some black buttons.

Confessions/Advice
1. I didn't do a sway back adjustment because of sheer laziness and I "thought" the muslin looked fine without one.  In retrospect I would put a small 1/2" adjustment in at my lower back area.

2. If I had took in the side seams at the muslin stage then I would have reduced the height of the sleeve cap to compensate for the smaller armhole.  Thankfully the black wool disguises that the sleeve heads are puffier than they should be.

3. I feel that the princess line seam on the front is too far away from the bust apex to give you any good bust shaping.  This makes the front boxier than I though it would be looking at the technical drawing. Not a deal beaker but it's a good thing to be aware of.

4. I was thinking about not quilting the hip area but the fusible batting is very thin and did not add much additional bulk to my already bulky hip areas.

4. I've made a decent number of Burda patterns and am generally fine with their basic directions and minimal notches. But on this pattern you had to trace together two shell pieces for the lining.  If I wanted to draft my own lining I would.  When I'm paying for a pattern that says it has a lining I expect to have the pieces drafted for me. Grrrr

Husband Comment
"It would be perfect if it had pockets."  What can I say, the man loves pockets and I did find myself trying to put my hands in the non-existent pockets during pictures. Hey sewing mice, magic me some pockets on here!

My Final Thoughts
I was a little heart broken when I put this on in the middle of the process and realized it was huge.  Thank god my on fly fitting mods were able to size it down without ruining the whole thing.  Now that it's all finished I think it's super cute and can't wait to wear it out.  Another bonus, other than the fusible batting needed for the quilty parts all other supplies were from the stash!  Ahhh such a good feeling to actually use things you half haphazardly spent money on.  Um I mean I successfully executed a project that I planned and bought supplies for.....yeah that's it.

Hey construction guys, what you looking at?  Haven't you ever seen a women set up a tri-pod and take about 50 pictures of herself before? No?

Me-Made-May Day 3 - A Very Belated Review

Watch out evil doers, this sewcialist is augmenting the fabric budget by bringing in a few bounties. Don't make me spray you down!

It's "water" theme Friday and I'm wearing my Salme Cropped Jacket and one of the dozens renfrews in my dresser drawer. They spawn like rabbits, you know.

So I when was perusing the closet for an outfit to go with my water gun, it occurred to me that this jacket never got it's proper blog reveal. Poor baby, it was forgotten in my 2 month Christmas sewing extravaganza.

Let's say we give this jacket it's proper review

Pattern
Salme Cropped Jacket 
Note, this is a pattern that comes without seam allowances so don't forget to add your own. (Guess who didn't on her muslin, this girl.)  This is the size 16 for big girls with boobs. ;)

Fabrics used
Black distressed leather from Marcy Titlon and some el-cheapo polyster brocade from etsy.  At the time it seemed like a good idea to use the brocade as lining, but I wouldn't do it again.  The brocade floats get pulled and it's not as slippery as lining should be.  I knew better, but got distracted by dragons.

Pattern changes/alterations 
First up the changes made because I was using leather
1. Converted the back dart into a princess line seam.  (3 pieces instead of one big one!)
2. The pattern has a large fold up hem.  I converted this into a sewn on facing.
3. Did not use the one piece sleeve provided.  Instead I swapped in the two piece sleeve from my Burda motorcycle jacket.  I feel a two piece sleeve hangs better in a jacket and it has the added plus of being able to put a seam in the middle of the under sleeve.

Style changes
1. Instead of keeping 3/4 length sleeves I added a 6" cuff to make them full length.  Also think it's a nice "design feature"

2. Leather lays a lot better with top-stitching so I added 1/4" stitch line on most of the edges. The back neckline is the one exception.
3. I drafted my own lining for the jacket using Jen's often used tutorial.

Fitting changes.
1. Dropped the bust dart a few inches to my normal location.
2. Standard 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment.
3. Extra width added to the princess line seam for the upper back area.

Confessions/Advice
Here are my self discovered leather tips.
1. Add additional seam lines to the pattern so that there are more pieces.  This gives you more leeway to work around holes and use the uneven edges to your advantage.
2. Leather has more stretch in one direction than the other. Check your skin before cutting and use the less stretchy direction as the grainline.  However, if you run short on area to cut pieces it's not the worse thing ever to cut cross grain.  On this jacket I had to cut one upper sleeve cross-grain since I couldn't get any more skins.
3. Layout all your skins and do a little pattern tetris before cutting ANYTHING.  Since every skin is a different shape this could mean the difference between having to buy more or getting the whole garment cut out with what you have.
4. A self healing mat, cans of soup (or another heavy weight) and a rotatory cutter work the best when cutting.
5. ALWAYS double check before cutting a piece. Do you already have a left side? Good thing you checked, now flip that pattern piece over.
6. Binder clips work great as a pin replacement for seams.
7. Always use a teflon foot or a foot covered with scotch tape on the right side of the leather.  It helps to keep the skins from sticking to the foot. 

Husband Comment
"It has no buttons, it has no collar to turn up against the cold, it has no pockets. It's Useless!!!"

My Final Thoughts
I LOVE the lapel treatment on this jacket, its so cute and fashion forward.  The boxy shape works on me because of the cropped length and lack of closure.  These features also made the pattern easy to fit, always a plus with me. While I love mine in leather, the jacket would look equally cute in a cotton or wool as a office layering option.

This was my first pattern purchase from Salme and I was pleased with the overall experience.  I felt the instructions were good and that the pattern was well drafted.  I would purchase from her again...maybe a pretty summer dress?

Cordova Enforcer

Hey, It's time you and I had a little talk, see.

It's come to my attention that you ain't been paying your "blog reading rent" money. What you think you get these crazy stories for free? Nah Nah, it don't work that way kid.  You fork over some "bread" cause it would be a darn shame if something accidental like would happen to your sewing machine.

Whaz that? Sure I take fabric as payment, why don't you hand over that silk there and some of that jersey knit.  Ahh that's a good kid.  Ain't she a good kid Vinny?  Here have a cookie, you're alright.

Ummmmmm...please pay no attention to the "Faux Badass" above.  Turns out you put a little faux leather in her Cordova and she starts getting crazy ideas and threatening people with hip curves.  She's been properly medicated now so everything is fine. Here's your fabric back, we're still friends right?

OK enough crazy stuff, on to a proper pattern review. 

Pattern
Sewaholic Cordova Jacket

Fabrics used
Royal Blue wool suiting inherited from grandma's stash.  Black Faux leather purchased from emmaonesock.com a long long time ago.   Flower print lining purchased from Gorgeous fabrics also far in the past. The stashed 24" black "metal"coil zipper was purchased marcytilton.com but you can also purchase them directly from Ghee's.  (It's a plastic coil with a fancy silver color on it)

Pattern changes/alterations
1. As discussed a bit in the muslin post on this garment, I went with the single peplum tier option and drafted my own 1 1/2" wide neru collar.
2. The jacket length was increased by 1 1/2" for my own personal hem preferences.
3. Forward should adjustment of 1/2".
4. Sway back adjustment of 1 1/2".
5. The side seams were taken in 1".  This means I had to make a 1" fold in the middle of the peplum piece which was tapered out to 1/2" at the hem.
6. Filled in the back armhole and princess line seam for a broad upper back adjustment.
7. The garment was oddly caving in on my upper chest and the armhole edge was too far out over my shoulder only on the front.  Too kill two birds with one stone I took in the front princess line seam 1/2" right above the bust and tapered to out to 1/4" at the shoulder.

Confessions/Advice
1. I wish there was someone regularly stocking faux leather with a knit back because it was VERY forgiving.  You do get needle holes but the knit backing keeps the fabric from weakening.  I had to rip out portions of the collar several times and the fabric still looked good in the end.  It's a pain to sew on the right side, even with a tephlon foot, so most of the seams were done on the wrong side.

2. I'm not 100% happy with my self drafted collar, it seems to want to cave in around the zipper.  Sewing together the seam allowance of the facing and leather piece did help but not as much as I'd hoped.  In hindsight I probably should have built up the neck line a little more before drafting the collar.  Also, don't face your collar in wool suiting, it's itchy.

3. I skipped the topstitching around the zipper just because I could not get it even .  Too bad, it would have looked good. (I was using the topstitching foot BTW)

4. Must have made a measuring mistake when lengthening the jacket because the center back hem was not long enough to fold all the way to the facing. I tacked in another piece to make it the right length but that added some extra bulk you can somewhat see while wearing.  A better option might have been to cut the piece down to a 5/8" seam allowance and given it a facing of it's own.

5. I sewed an orphan, peeps.  Going to have to make some black pants to go along with this.  Oh NO! Not Pants!

Husband Comment
"It looks like something a character on Star Trek would wear, except for the fluffy crap on the shoulders."  (Not a fan of shoulder pleats it seems, too bad cause I like'em!)

My Final Thoughts
This project benefited from some closet marination time.  The collar and back facing issues where right at the end of the sewing process and I was beating myself up about not catching them in the muslin.  Now that a couple of weeks have past I can say these issues aren't that noticeable. 

Looking at the photos has made me realize this jacket is pretty awesome!  Love the color/fabric combo and the zip front.  The style changes I made suit me rather well, just need to make some bottoms to go with the jacket. Now excuse me, I have to return these legging that have no butt room. (It never ends)