[Client Work] A tweed jacket for my mama

A while ago my mama and I went fabric shopping. I think that she loves fabric shopping almost as much as I do, but of course there's a twist: my mama really dislikes sewing. I know, how is that even possible? However, when we visited Stoffen Pauwels she fell in love with this tweed fabric. So we bought it and decided on the spot that it should become a Chanel-inspired, classic tweed jacket. So I went to work. If you've been following me on instagram, you've probably seen about 50 pictures of the making of this jacket, but I decided that all of the time and effort should be shown in one blog post! I'm warning you, this one is picture heavy!

Details

• Pattern: Vogue V7975 - naaipatronen.nl
• Shell fabric: Lightweight tweed - Stoffen Pauwels
• Lining: Stretch microfiber - Stoffen Pauwels (We picked it purely for color. It's also super soft and amazing)
• Interlining: Cotton Batiste - Moens Modestoffen
• Thread: Amann Mettler Sheen Polyester
• Extras: self-edge strips of silk organza - stoftotverven.nl, heavy chain: - Brico
• Education: Craftsy - The Iconic Tweed Jacket with Lorna Knight*

Construction

I followed the steps as outlined in The Iconic Tweed Jacket class. I will do a review on this class later, but I can already say that I really liked this class! This is how the jacket was made: Muslin

• First there were a couple rounds of muslins. In the first muslin, arm-movement was restricted, so I had to fix it. I did a 'broad back'-adjustment and added some overall width to the upper part of the jacket
• After I achieved a good fit on the jacket, I cut apart the muslin and cut of all seam allowances. These pieces were used as pattern pieces.

Cutting

• The lay-out of the pattern pieces took me about 2 hours. So many stripes to match!
• The shell fabric was cut with a 2.5 cm (1") seam allowance.
• The lining and interlining was cut with a 3 cm seam allowance

Stabilizing and quilting

• After cutting, silk organza strips were sewn inside the hem, neckline and front seam of the jacket to stabilize these areas. These were al hand-sewn.
• With the organza strips in place, I could start sewing! The order of construction for this type of jacket is different from a tailored jacket. It all starts with quilting together the shell fabric, interlining and lining. When you do this, you have to make sure that you leave enought space at the seams so you can still fold them back onto themselves when you sew the lining.
• Quilting was fairly easy, I used my walking foot and the seam-allowance attachment and it worked like a charm. Yay for the walking foot!

Sewing

• After I was done quilting everything, it was time to sew the jacket together! First, all outer seams were sewn. I made sure not to catch the lining fabric into these seams.
• When the seams of the shell fabric are done, you can start sewing the lining. By hand. Seam by seam. It's actually a relaxing job!

Finishing

• When I was done sewing, I attached a chain to the bottom of the jacket, right below the lining. This chain should be fairly heavy to give the jacket a nice hang. I found mine at Brico. Cutting it took quite some time!
• I made fringe using strips of the shell fabric and fraying them. When they were all the desired width and had the right amount of fraying, I used seam tape to hold them together. I played around with placement untill I was happy!
• To finish everything off, I added a label to the inside of the jacket.

Thoughts

Sewing this jacket took a lot of time and was a lot of work. However, I noticed that I really enjoy working on a more elaborate project! Handsewing is something I really love. I like the fact that sewing by hand forces you to slow down. It has a meditative aspect to it and allows your mind to relax. To me, this type of sewing usually brings up the things I'm uncomfortable with. It also gives me time to reflect on why I have these feelings. It lets solutions to problems naturally rise to the conscious level, since there's finally time to think without distractions. Whenever I felt like a break, I would also combine sewing with episodes of New Girl, I must admit. It's also nice to give your brain a break from hard thinking!

Resources

Fit-adjustments: Fit for Real People - Pati Palmer & Marta Alto Sewing a classic tweed jacket: The Iconic Tweed Jacket - Craftsy Reasonably priced silk organza in Belgium/The Netherlands: Stof Tot Verven 25 episodes of Project Runway, New Girl and Shark Tank combined. So. Much. Handsewing! Now tell me, have you ever embarked on a project that took a long time to complete? How do you feel about handsewing and going slow? Do you have a particular make that fills your heart with pride and joy? I'd love to hear!