Burda 7286: from UFO to wearable white jacket

Ahhh, UFOs. As hard as I have tried in the last few years not to create any new ones, the sad reality is that sometimes I get frustrated by a project and then distracted by a new project. I started this jacket about two years ago, got a bit frustrated with some fit issues and put it down for a while. And then it got lost in the mess that was my sewing room, only to be rediscovered recently during a clean up. But now it's done, I'm relieved to have finished it but I'm a bit meh about it sadly.....

The pattern is Burda 7286, which I bought two years ago and is already out of print. I think it's a lovely pattern, but there are no reviews on Pattern Review and I could only find one other finished jacket from this pattern so I guess it wasn't too popular.

Since it was a Burda pattern and I've sewn so many of them I felt pretty confident that it would work without the need for a muslin. I assume the envelope patterns are drafted the same as the magazine patterns because they are from the same company, but this jacket was very big around the shoulders and bust which was a bit annoying.

Looking at the pattern is looks like it is drafted with very square shoulders for shoulder pads which I despise, so I narrowed and re-sewed the shoulder seams to match my sloping shoulders. I put in a sleeve header and interfaced the sleeve head and shoulder area, but it still seems to collapse terribly and cause those awful wrinkles on the sleeves:

I quite like the front though - it has an inset collar which is probably my favourite style and I do like the curved fronts. I left off the patch pockets because and made faux welt pockets instead because I think that looks a bit more formal. However, those pockets are just the welts because I thought the pocket bag might show through too much - the fabric is a stretch cotton sateen that I have block interfaced with whisper weft interfacing but it still shows the seam lines through a little bit.

It is a very shaped jacket though, and looks far better done up than worn open:

The back is princess seam which gives a lot of opportunity for fitting. I thought it looked ok in the mirror, but I guess taking photos is more accurate than twisting your head around to look in the mirror! I can see from this photo that I have a bit of excess fabric at the waist:

Funnily enough it's a very similar style to another white jacket I made earlier this year from a vintage Vogue pattern, even down to the same button (it was a packet of two!).  Since that version is made from a wool blend it's more a winter jacket so I think they can both stay in my wardrobe - I highly doubt anyone pays that much attention in real life to what I wear anyway!

So it probably seems I'm being a bit negative about this pattern but I like the jacket enough to wear it.  The pattern came together very easily because these style of collars are far easier than a traditional notched collar style and as usual Burda's drafting is spot on - all the pieces and notches matched up exactly as they should. And being one of their envelope patterns there were actually some diagrams to help decipher their vague instructions which is a bonus!

So will I make it again? Yes probably, especially in a winter weight fabric because wool is so much easier to steam and mould into a well fitting jacket. Plus I found this gorgeous version on the Tessuti blog which has totally inspired me to do a better version next time.