Style - knowing one's own (but barging ahead anyway)

Thanks for sympathizing, and offering constructive comments - so many suggested I delete the belt.  So obvious, why didn't I think of that?  It is better, although still not my favorite garment.

This experience does cause me to stop and think - and wonder why I didn't trust my instincts?  While I liked the look of the jacket on the envelope, I'm not that model!  I probably wouldn't have bought it for myself if I had tried it on in a store.  I'm not a frilly-frou-frou person, but this pattern has some of that (albeit with collar and lapels).  I don't care for raw-edge embellishment; this jacket had tons of it.  I am usually cautious around things that tie in the middle.  I threw caution to the winds.

I should have read the PR review of the jacket, which would have warned me it was too-long and kind of bathrobey.  I should have made a muslin; I would have learned lots from it.

I should have made a cleaner style - more like a blazer.  

I should have trusted my instincts.

In the Jalie jeans department, I'm not quite throwing caution to the winds.  I traced the size per my hip measurement, and after comparing the result to a tried & true jeans pattern I've made many times, I'm adding 1.5cm insurance to the side seams and inseams.  My fabric is stretchy, but I don't want the jeans to be skin tight!

The sweatshirt version ... meh

How do we choose our projects?  As previously explained, I had this teal ponte de roma knit and had thought to make a simple, unlined jacket.  Something I could throw on when the AC was too frigid, or to dash across the street to get a coffee.  It would look good with some dresses in my closet, and (of utmost importance) it would be easy to wear.  I was leaning towards making Simplicity 3631 when suddenly, and without warning, Vogue 2942 leapt out at me.  I had to make it.  I'm not sure why.

Well, it's done.  Meh.  As you can see at right - Exhibit A - my version (MV).  Below - Exhibit B - is the Vogue version (VV).

I do believe Vogue has engaged in a little pattern manipulation to ensure that MV does not bear enough similarity to VV to be cute and perky instead of .... bathrobe-ish.

The VV is visually square and blocky - looks fresh.  The MV not so much.  It is rectangular and droopy.

Both jackets are cut in the middle by the tie belt, but the MV tie is lower on the body.  The pocket flaps are higher on the VV.  The tie belt is shorter on the VV.

Partly this is explained by fabric choice - the VV is evidently made of a crisp silk whereas I chose a drapey knit.  But I think the proportions are off.

The VV is a veritable sampler of weird sewing/finishing techniques, some of which I chose to ignore.  Thinking about trying to describe them all makes me tired.  So here are some details of MV:

Pocket flap - This is a single layer of fabric with an applied facing edge, into which the trim is inserted.  The edge of the edge is raw, the trim has raw edges (VV had bias-silk Gazar; I used a thin jersey knit).

The underarm gusset and side panel.  The latter has wide 1" (2.5cm) seam allowances which are topstitched (I used a triple-stitch about 4.5mm long).  You leave two openings in this seam - the upper for the belt and the lower for the pocket (the flap is decorative).





I had to tack the belt to the back of the side seam opening to keep it from rolling down to the bottom of the opening, making the jacket look even more bathrobe-ish.




A covered snap at CF.




I'm moving on.  Time to tackle the Jalie jeans pattern, and I need a nice pair of shorts.

Next up - another jacket

Recently I bought some ponte de roma knit (a stable double knit) from Fabricland, to coordinate with my Simplicity 2369 mock wrap dress.  It's a teal-ish turquoise in colour, and I believe the fabric is RPL (rayon/polyester/lycra).  I thought to make the jacket from Simplicity 3631 again but then had a brainwave or perhaps a sort of heat-stroke (I'll tell you later which, once it starts turning out well or badly) and changed my mind.



I have had this Donna Karan pattern (Vogue 2942) in my stash since it was released but almost immediately wondered what I had been thinking, so hadn't touched it.  Seems like it wasn't a big hit because it's now listed as OOP on the Vogue website, and only one brave soul has reviewed the jacket on PatternReview.  Now that I look at the review, I'm wondering if I should have actually muslined this before cutting....

The style is very interesting but the finishing details are quirky and not really me, I thought.  The details are hard impossible to see on the pattern envelope photo, but the pockets and hem edges are bound from the wrong side and the binding (raw edge finished with small zig-zag) encases a bias strip (raw edges) of contrasting lighter fabric.

I happen to have a thin burnout knit fabric in a slightly darker tone than my ponte de roma which will curl interestingly when inserted in this way and do fine as the lighter belt/tie.  I'm omitting the lining but will do Hong Kong finish with the same thin knit fabric.  This fabric combination is completely different than imagined by Vogue - mine will be a sort of sweatshirt version of their very elegant all-silk affair.

Here's hoping it will work - fingers crossed.