Thursday 3 September 2015

Months in the Making

Stash busting 2015:  Jungle January Jacket




Yes, this is finally my 2015 Jungle January project. I picked up the fabric for my Jungle January project back in January. I even cut this project out during the time. What can I say, I'm late to the party.


The Pattern:



This Marcy Tilton pattern, Vogue 8975, is for a pull-over dress and unlined jacket. I have to say that I'm not all that convinced about calling this a jacket. It is more like a cardigan sweater than a jacket in my eyes. Let's just say, whatever we call it, it's extremely comfortable and fun to put together.  

The pattern for the cardigan-jacket is my favourite from this pattern even though at some points I did have to re-read the instructions and take a second look if I missed any markings. And this happened right from the start.  


The instructions ask you to sew buttonholes where they are marked on the jacket front (front and back are cut as one piece with no shoulder seams). However, my pattern piece does not have any buttonhole markings. Ooops!  


I figured it out easy enough, so this doesn't even qualify as a complaint rather just an FYI. And take care to transfer all the markings. You'll be glad you did when it comes to sewing the sleeve. And don't worry about seam finishing until you have it all pieced together. I finished my seams on the serger.

The Fabric:

The masala and grey animal print fabric is a light weight animal print that I found at Mitchell Fabrics. I picked up the last 1.6 metres on the bolt which happened to be the perfect amount for the jacket. Did I mention that this was supposed to be my Jungle January 2015 project [holding head in shame]. Maybe I should be starting Jungle January 2016's outfit now. But I digress...


I used a piece of Knit-N-Stable™tape where I placed the buttonhole. It is a stretchy fusible seam tape that provided some stability for the buttonhole sewn on a single layer of fabric.


I used the walking foot and the knit stitch (lightning bolt) on my sewing machine. For the most part, everything worked out fine until tried to speed things along. 


And this happened to remind me that slow and steady is the best way to go. Thankfully, I was able to push the fabric out of the plate without any visible damage and get back to work.


The Stats:

Fabric:            1.6 metres of lightweight knit @ $28.84 ($15.95/metre)

Ribbon:           1.5 metres @ $2.40 ($1.40/metre)

Pattern:           Vogue 8975 (already priced out when I made the dress)

Sewn on:       Janome 4120 QDC using the knit stitch and the walking foot. 

Seam finish:    Serged on Janome MyLock 234D.  

Happy Sewing!



6 comments:

  1. I love your cardigan/jacket! Very nice! Thanks for the tip for the button. I have never used Knit-n-Stable tape, I will have to try it out. Great job!
    Bonnie @ sewplus.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I'm new to this product as well. It is suggested for hems and seam lines. I think it might be a good product for stabilizing the edges where zippers go and I plan to use it on my next hoodie version. [Finger crossed for good results.]

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  2. I hate that when the machine tries to "eat" the fabric. Love the cardi!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, me too. I was quite worried that I might end up with a hole in my fabric. I was lucky to escape without any damage.

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  3. I love your jacket! I've been working up the nerve to try this pattern. Today I took it out and looked at the pieces and the instructions, and the neckline has me stumped. Is it a raw edge finish, with both the edges of the jacket and the facing sticking up above that knife pleat? If so, then I'm wondering why I might not just be able to leave the hems raw edge too? What do you think?

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    Replies
    1. I did stray from the pattern instructions on the neckline and omitted the knife pleat on mine. I just serged the edge of the facing and top-stitched for the casing and another line of top-stitching at the facing edge.

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