Tweedy-plaidy-bouclé jacket

I have a bumper crop of finished objects this week.  Here's my latest jacket, as I wore it today.  You might recognize the top...

After my pattern modifications (reducing dart take-up in back, lengthening at hem in back, adding width through the midriff, inserting light shoulder pads and sleeve heads) I am left with this quite lovely shape.  It's fitted without being tight, and the collar sits nicely away from my neck.


I'm wearing this with my black pants; I have some dark navy pantweight wool in stash.  It would look better with the blue-green wool.  I just have to find it.  And make the pants.  I wonder if I can do it before July?

Now that I've got this lovely new rather thick wool jacket, temperatures in the 20s (C) are forecast.  It figures.

Inordinately pleased

Yes indeed!  The Vogue Leaf Yoke Top is done, and I love it!

And I'm going to enjoy wearing it.  My next task is to finish the jacket which I think it will look good with, and figure out how to slot it into my wardrobe.

But for the moment, let me share with you why I'm pleased with these edges.  The neckline and arm openings are finished with i-cord.  It's devilishly clever (although I followed Vogue's instructions which are slightly different from those illustrated in the video).

I changed the hem, thanks to the very generously shared ideas of others who had made this and posted about it on Ravelry.  Vogue wanted a turned back hem which I thought would be bulky.

10 rows of simple lace & i-cord at the hem

Things I learned:

• Trust the math.  The pattern called for a gauge of 19 stitches and 26 rows in a 10cm square; my yarn swatch showed 24 stitches and 30 rows in the same space.  I realized that if I knit according to the size large, the finished garment would be the right circumference.  
• If it's not right, rip it back and re-knit.  It doesn't actually take very long, and the not-quite-right feature would really bug me.  I think I knit the front just below the lace yoke 3 times before I was satisfied.  I knit the lace and i-cord hem twice. 

OCD?

The Sewing Lawyer is a tad on the perfectionist side.  She has a seam ripper.  And she's not afraid to use it.

Before.


















After.

It's a good thing this wool is very thick and forgiving!

Knitting work in progress

One can try on a WIP if it's being knitted from the top down.  All I had to do was transfer about 25% of the stitches to a separate circular needle so I could put it over my head.

This will fit looser than the Vogue version but I think it will be just fine.

Jacket progress

It has been so long since The Sewing Lawyer made a jacket, she thought she had forgotten. But she hadn't.

A forgiving, cushy wool fabric helps.

Remembering to cut it out single layer to (more or less) match the  plaid is also a good idea.  Although this guarantees that the seams practically disappear.

So far so good.

I adapted the pattern to add extra fabric around the edges of the upper collar and lapel facings, since the outer layer of this thick fabric has to travel farther than the under-layer. In this photo, I have pinned the upper collar/facing layer to the under collar/jacket layer, matching the neckline seams exactly.  When the upper collar is folded over, the raw edges are quite even at the back.

I'm going to have to fiddle with the under collar at the leading edge.  As you can see here, it seems longer than the upper collar.  I think I'll trim the curved edge to exactly match the upper collar before sewing the two layers together.  This will avoid any risk of the collar flipping up after it's constructed.

What the Sewing Lawyer does when she's not sewing*

I live in Canada.  It's cold and snowy for months at a time.  Staying indoors is not really an option.  So I enjoy winter sports  in my somewhat inept way.  You already know that I curl.  I also cross-country ski.  I'm incredibly fortunate to live within a 20 minute drive of Gatineau Park, which has over 200 km of ski trails that wind up and down hills, past beautiful frozen lakes, rocky cliffs and through mature forest.

Today there was fresh snow, the temperature was -13C, and the skies were blue.  Fantastic!

So I didn't do much sewing....

*  Or working as a lawyer.  Now that would make for a boring blog post!

Give-away winner

I thought I'd generate a bit of interest, but was surprised by the number of people who have been pining for a Dritz Bound Buttonhole Maker.  Then I looked to see what prices these things command and goodness me!  Some folks have paid more than $40.  Not me, I can assure you!

I wish I had more of them to give away, but my random choice is ... (drummroll) ...

ParisGrrl

Please get in touch with me at KayJYoung at gmail dot com, and tell me where to send this holy grail of gizmos.

To the rest of you, I promise to be on the lookout for more of these or other interesting tidbits.  Maybe I'll have another blog giveaway before another 27 months have passed.