another UFO crossed off the list

I was cleaning up the wardrobe that houses (half) my stash and the extensive UFO/wadders pile on the weekend, not due to nesting but due to a need to cram more stuff in there! I came across this jacket that I made but didn't finish years ago, which I had started working on again a month or so ago and still didn't finish it, so I guess it has the ignominy of being a UFO twice over..... It also has a skirt to match, still stuffed in the back of the wardrobe which will stay there until my waistline returns. I have gotten bored already with sewing cot sheets and other useful things for bubs, so a diversion was needed and I decided to finish this once and for all.

The pattern is a now OOP Vogue 2461, an Anne Klein suit that I can't find any reviews for over on sewing pattern review or on google in general, which surprises me because it's not a bad looking pattern. The reason this became a UFO was a combination of my less than stellar jacket sewing skills at the time, but also the pattern design itself I now realise. Coming back to the '10,000 hours of practice makes you an expert' theory discussed by Erin, Carolyn and Shannon at their respective blogs, I firmly believe that succesful garment sewing comes mostly from an innate fashion sense to pair patterns and fabric, a fair amount of creativity and patience to do the requisite fitting and fiddly sewing, but hours and hours of practice to get technical quality can't hurt either! So when I made this years ago I certainly didn't have as much practice at jacket sewing as I do now, and I completely stuffed up sewing the notched collar, the fit around the shoulders and arms was way too big (I now know that I have narrow shoulders) and I hadn't eased in the shoulder cap properly. Oh, and I also had tried to line it with a lightweight cotton because I wanted it to be a cool summer jacket, but I fully accept now that linings do work best when they are slippery and can slide over the clothes worn underneath even if it increases the sweat factor.

Anyway, now that my sewing skills have improved somewhat I redid the notched collar and pulled it off pretty well, see:

I reduced the shoulder width the best I could since this was already cut out and doing that change successfully is best done to the pattern before cutting the fabric. But after sewing the shoulder cap and putting in a shoulder pad, I realise the pattern design is mostly to blame for the poor fiting shoulder/arm area. The pattern is a two piece sleeve, which isn't unusual, but what is different to other patterns I've used is that the join runs down the centre of the sleeve, matching the shoulder seam instead of seams on the front and back of the arm that meet the princess seams of the jacket. Even looking at the pattern photo I can see that the shoulder fit on the model isn't so great either.

I also rounded off the bottom of the two front panels, just because it's a look that I like at the moment. And I also did a standad button placement, rather than having it button up offset as shown by the pattern envelope. So here's a photo of it looking a little wrinkled from wearing it out which makes the shoulder look pretty bad still, but I am still happy enough with how it turned out to wear it.

Oh look, there's that belly that was hidden in the last post LOL. It's made from a white cotton with a thin green stripe through it, and I used some vintage buttons from the stash on the sleeves and jacket front for a bit of embellishment on the sleeves (although since I certainly can't do it up right now even the front button is for embellishment too!). I had five buttons, this used five buttons, so it all worked out perfectly, except that I didn't have any green cotton so I used white cotton to sew them on. Eh, still looks ok in my books:

Now I realise I have already failed the Dressember challenge with today being the 1st of December and I wore this jacket with white pants out today but I have a good excuse, honestly! I had to see the obstetrician this morning, and since they always want to see my belly I didn't want to wear a dress because they'd see a whole lot more than just my belly! Of course I do realise that in about 25 days (eeeek!) they'll be seeing a WHOLE lot more of me 'down there', but until that time comes I like to keep my lady parts covered for now! I did wear a dress out yesterday, so that sorta makes up for it I figure.

Anyway, the ob said I was measuring on track with my weeks that have progressed and the baby is not at all engaged which means it is very unlikely that this baby will come early. Now that I know our building works won't be finished in time (the framework is done and the roof is on but there's still too much to be done in 3 weeks), I just want the baby out! Weeks ago when I was bragging about how easy my pregnancy has been has come back to bite me in the butt, because now when I waddle I can feel the strain, I have to pee frequently (sorry for TMI), I'm doing that old person groan every time I have to get up or bend down and hello, indigestion as well! Ah well, not too much longer now....