We finally had the time and the proper weather to go take pictures of the illusion jacket from the Burdastyle 10/2012, number 113. Actually proper weather may not be the right word because it was SO COLD! With its ponte knit sleeves, this jacket is definitely more of a late fall-early spring kind of thing !
It's very versatile and I love that you can wear it in many different ways !
The main fabric is 100% wool from Marc Jacobs. I got it at the Mood store but it's also available online, the quality is stunning !! I actually have another coat to show also made in the same fabric but the olive green version, more later about that...Going back to this jacket, the grey lining and the ponte knit are also from Mood and the closures are from M&J Trimming. It was also my first project using a serger (just got Juki MO644 on Craigslist)!
The sewing was pretty straight forward once I was done with grading the pattern down to a 34 and doing a petite adjustment. The only tricky part is probably attaching the knit sleeves to the main coat but since it's hidden, if it's not perfect it won't show. The over sleeves are lined separately than the rest of the coat (both by machine). I sort-of-bagged-the-lining (for tutorial go here, the next coat I'll show has a fully machine stitched lining) that you turn by one armhole before attaching the knit sleeve and hand stitching the lining in the armholes.
If I was to make it again, I would probably take away 1" or 2 at the center back, it's a little wide (but that's also what makes it comfortable). The hem of the sleeves is attached by hand.
Now, for the epic journey, I wanted to have the wool professionally fused with weft (from Guide Fabric, the best interfacing place in the city) somewhere in the Garment District. It was quite an interesting experience. I went to look for a place recommended by FIT (I take an evening class there) called "Sun Fray". I went to the address and I was told by man at the reception desk that the place was gone. I said thank you and was about to leave, not knowing what to do. I probably looked desperate because he called me back, told me to wait and used his walkie talkie (fun fact: in french it's called a talkie-walkie) to ask somebody else where they moved. He gave me an address 2 blocks up but when I got there I had forgotten the floor. I tried random places asking for "Sun Fray". Everytime a door opened, it was a chinese garment factory with no one speaking english. I felt as if I got transported to an alternate reality... Anyway I finally asked for fusing and was sent to the right floor, which is actually called "Sun Fay"!! They fused 5 yards (2 for this coat) in 10 minutes while I waited for 20$, it saved me soooo much time that it was completely worth the trouble of finding it!I was so cold taking this pictures that I ended up acting silly...
Next post will be about the coat I made for my final project at FIT (I'm in the 3rd semester of the Draping Certificate). I'm also super excited because I will be on holidays for the next 3 weeks and it will be a staycation that I will use to take a full time winter course at FIT (Patternmaking I). Lots of sewing to come!