Dress rain jacket with silk lining

My favorite "dress" rain jacket is now about 12 years old.  Despite its age, the lovely aqua color is still in style and fit is still so good...however, there are stains and discolorations that dry cleaning can't fix.  As sad as it is, I think it's time to pitch it.  Well, this is one of those times when I'm so, so grateful to be able to sew.  While my new version doesn't replicate that exact jacket, it's definitely a reasonable replacement.

I am a huge fan of this Burda Style pattern (B6747), especially after seeing the final product.  First off, it's actually designed for petites!  I didn't make a single petite adjustment (though the sleeves could be taken up by 1/2"...)   I sewed a straight size 10 and it fits well, with enough room for a sweater underneath.  The silhouette is obviously not fitted, but has a slight a-line shape.

The pattern has some thoughtful details, such as side seams moved forward to allow for a more ergonomic placement of the pockets, a different pattern piece for the upper and under collar (important for a good roll), and a collar "stand" that also contributes to the pleasant shape.

  

The original instructions call for a faux button over snaps.  I hadn't planned ahead for bound buttonholes, and I don't have the skills or gimp to hand finish a button hole, so I went along with the written directions.  However, I wanted to cover the male side of the snap, to make it slightly less obvious when worn open.  If you didn't see it the other day, I posted a little tutorial for covering snaps when working with thick fabric.

Horn buttons from Britex!

Yep, the green color is a bit bold.  Online it looked more "spring green" but in person it looks more "shamrock green".  Regardless, the color is definitely growing on me.  It's from Mood and listed as a water-resistant cotton canvas, intended for outdoor cushions and whatnot, but it is a great weight for this type of jacket. 

The jacket has a full lining and to up the luxury, I went with another bold choice--apricot gingham silk taffeta (also from Mood)!   I know the colors aren't a perfect match, but it was so beautiful and spring-y, I couldn't resist! 

Here are the jacket innards.  The sleeve hems are sewing on the machine (using a bag-type method) but I hand sewed the hem, with a pleat for the lining.

Action pleat in the lining! 

Overall, I am thrilled with my new jacket.  I love color, the vaguely vintage style and the lining just makes me happy.  I would be happy to make this pattern over and over again, as my jackets get worn out. Bring on the rain (but just for like, a day, please :)  

Tutorial: Covering snaps with thick fabric

I'm making a jacket which calls for non-functional buttons over snaps and since the garment will be worn such that the male side of the snaps may show, I really wanted to cover them.  I couldn't use the standard method for applying the self fabric (gathering the fabric behind the snap with a running stitch) because my fabric (heavyweight water-resistant twill) is way too thick.  As a matter of fact, the fabric was so thick that I couldn't cover both halves of the snap pair, so I opted to leave the female side uncovered, since it wasn't going to show anyhow.   Here's a clean and easy way to cover the male part of a snap if you have some heavy-weight fabric.

So first off, trace the snap half on the back of a fabric scrap.

Use a small punch to create a tiny hole right in the center of the circle, as a place to start cutting with tiny scissors.

Carefully cut around the starting circle to expand it to just smaller than the "male" part of the male snap. This might take a trial or two--you don't want it too big, and too small is no good either.

Apply Fray-Check liberally to the back and front side of the hole edge keeps it from fraying to bits. 

Then, cut around the original drawn circle.  The amount to cut beyond the drawn circle will vary a bit, based on the size of the snap.  A good place to start is about half the diameter of the snap.  This snap is a bit less than 1" and I extended the circle by about 3/8".

The male part of the snap can then be pushed through the hole, even before the Fray-Check dries, since Fray-Check stiffens the fabric.

Flip the snap over and begin cutting triangles out of the edge of the circle, stopping 1/8" from your drawn circle.  More triangles means a smoother edge around your snap when you draw the fabric underneath, so don't be quick to finish!

Apply Fray-Check around all the cut edges of your little gear :)

Once the Fray-Check dries, begin sewing the fabric underneath the snap.  Start by inserting your needle into one "gear tooth" from the underside.  Then, insert the needle through a gear tooth on the opposite side of the snap.  

Continue going from one side to the other drawing the teeth together (kind of like a corset), pulling the threads tightly as you go.

Done!

This method is more time-consuming for sure, but results in a beautiful finished snap, without a huge amount of bulk underneath.  As I mentioned, I didn't cover the female side of the snap, but a similar method could be used.

Thanks for stopping by!  In the next few days, I'll reveal my lovely green jacket with half-covered snaps!  

P.S.  I wanted to share one of my Christmas gifts--an adorable punch felted pin cushion from Foxtail Creek Studio.  How sweet is that?  Those trees remind of the truffula trees from The Lorax! Thank you to my family for finding such a gorgeous addition to my sewing room!  

Adelaide in chambray

I didn't even know it was "Pattern of the month" when I selected the Adelaide pattern with my Seamwork credits. Nice!  And this is only the first of two I've made...

I really wanted another chambray shirt dress after I chopped off this one to make a top (scroll down the page a bit), so I bought a bunch of chambray fabric at Stonemountain and Daughter.  I still haven't found the perfect shirt dress pattern, so when I saw Adelaide, I thought it was a good stop-gap for the summer.

As a student in Apparel Production, I looked at the printed pattern and immediately recognized some issues.  The back arm scythe was shaped a little weird (see above, the original line is the solid blue line and dotted white line) so I redrew it to have a more shallow curve.

Additionally, the seam at the shoulder strap was angled the wrong way, at least for the smaller sizes (see pattern section, above). I really can't fathom why the shoulder seam would angle up for the smaller sizes and angle down for the larger sizes.  In any case, it should angle down, so I redrew that, too.   Final alteration was to reduce the bust dart intake, for a quick-and-dirty small bust adjustment.

After the minor adjustments, I sewed up the pattern as written and it fits beautifully!  For sizing, I went with size 0, grading to 2 at the hips.  In the end, I don't think I needed to grade up, but having a row of snaps down the front made me want to allow for a bit more wiggle room.  No one at the boys' school or the grocery store wants to see a peep show, so best to be a little conservative.  

Speaking of snaps...I've always used the standard blue pound-it-with-a-hammer snap tool.  I hate that thing for so many reasons.  So I splurged (with my 40% off coupon at Joann's) to buy the next level up in snap tools (kudos to Shams for going all the way!).  Holy crap, kids, how did I live without this?  It makes applying snaps FUN.  And QUIET.  Seriously, guys; fun AND quiet.  I planned another Adelaide so I could apply more snaps (and bought specialty colored ones to match my garment!).  Then, I applied snaps to the cuffs of the top chopped from my former shirtdress. I {heart} snap pliers.  

Initially, I thought the dress did a good job of hiding my bra straps, but then I saw this photo (above), so I'll modify that to say that it does an OK job at hiding bra straps.  Certainly better than most tank-style dresses, so that's cool.  

Overall, I'm really happy with this garment.  It's a work-horse type of dress for me.  Something I can wear to the park, class, strawberry picking (like I did on Mother's Day, in this dress, in the mud), woodworking (like I did today in my son's Kinder class, in this dress, a mere three days after I wore it last), cycling (well, maybe next week) or cleaning toilets, and feel comfy the whole time. Multifunctional, I tell you!  Final words: by the snap pliers, and, I'd definitely recommend this dress, with the caveat that I had to make some drafting changes to the pattern.  Once my navy blue snaps arrive (tomorrow!), I'll be done with version 2!