My Brown Jacket -- FINISHED!

As promised last week, here is one of the garments I completed at my recent sewing retreat.  Now, let me just say that I sewed up this jacket five years ago and have been wearing it for all of that time but it never had a closure!  Here's the rest of the story:

I try to not wear black.  I don't succeed in that goal because black is just too convenient, especially for travel.  My leather jacket is black.  I wear black pants and shoes.  I even own a black dress or two.  But I really look better in navy blue or brown.  So a few years ago I decided that I needed a brown outerwear jacket to go with my ever-increasing brown wardrobe.  I found this piece of heavy wool coating at G Street Fabrics.  I bought the buttons there, too, unique wooden ones with a curved shape (they cost more collectively than the fabric did).  I used Louise Cutting's By Popular Demand pattern, a pattern I had used before, but cut a size larger for wearing over street clothes.  I used a satin coat lining with a flannel back for extra warmth.  I added interior pockets and changed the patch pockets from the pattern into a rounded shaped.  I laboriously topstitched every seam.  When it came time to make button holes I balked.  The fabric was much too thick at the center front for a machine-made button hole.  What to do?  Well, for several years I did nothing.  I simply wore the coat open.  I finally decided the answer was large snaps with the buttons sewn on top.  So this past weekend, while I was at my sewing retreat, I sewed on the snaps and buttons.  I like how the shape of the button is mimicked by the pocket.

What I was unprepared for was how warm this jacket is now that it is closeable!  We have been having some extremely cold weather here in DC and this jacket is the best!  I can't believe I waited 5 years before finding out what a useful jacket this is.  And stylish, too.  I'm happy.

New Beginnings

A new year.   A time to set goals and begin fresh.  Each year I vow to become more organized and, on a macro level, I’m happy to say that I achieve that – year end finds me a little more organized than the beginning of that same year.  But there is still a lot of room for improvement.  Particularly in my sewing space.  It could use a lot of help.  Each time I step into the closet (an act that is becoming increasingly difficult with each passing week) I see projects that need completing -- UFO’s (that’s Unfinished Objects for those of you who may not know).  One year I vowed that for each new project I started I needed to finish a UFO.  That didn’t last long.  Once again, this year, I am hoping to finish a few of these long overdue projects.  The satisfaction factor is pretty high with UFO’s – not only do you get the usual satisfaction of completing a project but you get the bonus of feeling virtuous about clearing something out that has been hanging over your head.

Back in 2006, before my first child was born, a very dear friend asked me to make her a dozen bags that she could give to clients at the successful completion of their work together.  This is a friend that I would do just about anything for so I readily agreed.  I enjoyed creating a label to go inside the bag and quickly whipped up four of the bags.  Well, along came child #1 in late 2006 followed by child #2 in late 2008 and the other eight bags remained uncut fabric in my closet.  When my friend asked me about these bags recently I knew that I had to finish them for her and clear my conscious, along with my closet.

The Safari Bag is made from chenille upholstery fabric in an animal print.  The outer fabric is soft and drapey so I knew I would have to provide some sort of stabilizer for the bag.  I contemplated fusing interfacing to the pieces but rejected that idea as too time consuming and a risk for crushing the nap of the fabric.  Instead I purchased heavy black canvas (duck) for the lining fabric.  With that stable layer on the inside the bag holds its shape nicely.  This bag will be my bag of the week for this week – look for the post on Wednesday along with a tutorial and pictures on creating the bag. 

(And if you ever need a realtor in the Annapolis, MD area contact The House Huntress, you just might end up with one of these bags for your very own).