Starlet Suit Jacket: Plaid Wool

Originally posted on the Sew Weekly,  April 5, 2012

The Facts
Fabric: 100% Wool, acetate lining, gabardine leftovers for piping
Pattern: Gertie’s Starlet Suit Jacket from Craftsy
Year: 2012, vintage-inspired
Notions: 4 vintage buttons, hair canvas, interfacing, piping cord
Time to Complete: 3 weeks
First worn: this past weekend
Wear again? Yes!  I lurf it.
Total Price: ~37EUR
Price Breakdown: 17 EUR wool (end of bolt), 7 EUR acetate from the Bombshell Dress, 8 EUR interfacing, scrap cotton used for pocket bags, 2 EUR piping cord, 3 EUR for small amount of hair canvas.

piping and welt pockets

blue acetate lining

One of my sewing resolutions for 2012 was to make a jacket with a lining.  I was really intimidated by the very thought of this last year.  But, I guess I must have gained some confidence somewhere in the in-between because I decided I could tackle matching plaids, DIY piping, an acetate lining, bound buttonholes, and a welt pocket.  Oh, and some hand tailoring too; the upper collar is interfaced out of hair-canvas with pad-stitching. The first step was overcoming the fear of cutting into this fabric.  It was the end remains of a bolt of beautiful wool plaid with a really soft hand.   At the fabric store, I grabbed the bolt and bought it, but I fretted over what to make with it…

Then came Gertie of Blog for Better Sewing fame.  She makes everything look attainable.  Her Starlet Suit Jacket pattern and course came out in February, and that was it.  Starstruck and sold.  I proceeded step by step through the course and completed the jacket in fairly good time for this challenge.  I’m still marveling at how her bound buttonholes came out so smooth!  There’s something so polished about them when they’re done right.  It was my first time making bound buttonholes, and I think I might have overworked the fabric because I can’t steam the wrinkles out. So, now I’m on the hunt for spray starch, and having never owned such a thing, I look at my sewing space in amazement… invisible ink pens, hair canvas, a real iron, and now spray starch!  But, I’m also wearing a dandy new wool jacket with pretty soft blue lining!

collar + my hammy