Vogue 8701 nearly done, but ...

Ok this time it wasn't all my fault.  It's the Vogue jacket.  It doesn't like my fabric.  Too many seams perhaps? But also a few faults of mine.  I'll walk you through it ..

Here's the lined and semi-pressed still unfinished jacket.  It looks OK I hear you say ...

 

Well, something has gone drastically wrong with the collar notches .. not really sure what as I followed all the instructions and both were OK until I trimmed them to get sharp points.  Then (top pic) a large scoop became apparent on the left, while the right has a smaller scoop but a scoop all the same.  I reckon it can be fixed with a little patience so no huge disaster...

The lining went in very smoothly and I was very very pleased with the stitching - I really don't like working with slippy synthetics, but this lining was OK and didn't fray too much.  There were alot of pieces just like the jacket so it was quite time consuming.  The whole thing is stitched together via the outside edge, and turned through the middle where the back peplum is then constructed.  This is the bit that remains unfinished.

BIG mistake number one - remember I shortened the back?  That's fine.  What I shouldn't have done was shorten the front.  I'm not sure why I did this as it had previously taken a considerable amount of experimentaiton and brain wracking to learn that petite stature/big bust means shorter back length but longer front to accommodate "bust rise" .. why why didn't I remember this hard gained wisdom when I decided that the jacket was too long for me???  You can see the effect here clearly - the waist line slopes upwards from the back.  While the untrained eye probably wouldn't notice, it's not a good look overall and doesn't improve the comfort factor of any garment!

Overall, I like this jacket but can summarise my experience quite succinctly as follows:

• Fabric for this design is far too thick - it's car upholstery remember?  There are too many seams in the design which cause too much bulk with my car upholstery.  Bulky fabric means these seams - however expertly they are trimmed, remain lumpy.  

• The light tailoring I did on the collar and lapels was probably not necessary because of the seams joining the jacket and collar - a tailored jacket is cut in one piece and therefore needs the tailors tape stays and the pad stitching to make it all bend and fold the way it is supposed to.  This has seams to serve that purpose.  I learned this while making this jacket!

• The sleeves of the jacket were far too wide for the fitted design.  I narrowed the sleeves without narrowing the armhole by mistake.  It wasn't a problem (infact the sleeve setting went like a dream), but in a different garment, this may have made things very difficult!

Although, I have to say, that mistakes are my reference library - it doesn't bother me that they happen because I learn so much from them,  I don't mind telling you that I am a little dissapointed.  I liked everything about this (proposed) jacket. The fabric, the design, the buttons (!).  It will probably finish up quite nicely but I have decided not to spend any more time on it for the time being.  Lots of reasons for this, but those are for another post, another day.   I very rarely see other bloggers sharing their bad work .. is it just me who has "OMG I can't believe how much I can't sew!" moments?