Monday 2 July 2012

Something for nothing Jalie 2795 jacket

I have just returned from Esk, where our family spent 3 days cycling the converted rail trails on mountain bikes with our local cycling group, a terrific, albiet muddy and slightly tiring trip.
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Wait, this post does have sewing content.
On the Wednesday morning prior to this trip (leaving 8am Friday) daughter the second told me that she had outgrown her polar fleece hoodie, and in fact, had nothing warm to wear for our mini holiday. She has grown very little in the past 2 years, so I was not very impressed with the timing of this statement.
As the overnight low on Sunday was forecast 4* C,despite my inclination to sew something else for me, me, me.. I had immediate visions of a teeth chattering teenager who would rather freeze than wear an ill-fitting jacket, and  pulled out the polar fleece for my daughter. This fabric takes up an incredible amount of room in my stash, so you can imagine my shock when I discovered that, apart from some rather thin and unsuitable stuff from Spotlight earmarked long ago by daughter the first for a dressing gown, I did not have sufficient polar fleece in any colour to make an adult sized jacket.
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Fortunately, colour blocking is not completely unfashionable at the moment, and my trusty Jalie 2795 has a lot of pieces already, so I combined 2 colours of Polartech 200 (source Seattle Fabrics) for the main sections of the jacket. I did not have enough Polartech for the (added) front facings, so used a thin Spotlight fleece remanant in another purple shade for these.
However, I found the contrast piecing visually unpleasing, although it is cut  (mostly) according to the pattern, as the underam sections do not meet the princess line seams at the armscye. I also felt that the 3 colours did not quite work together.
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The jacket needed a little distraction IMO. I appliqued polar fleece flowers randomly to the body (prior to pocket construction) using the two polartech colours and the Spotlight polar fleece, with some scraps of green for leaves. This applique took only slightly longer than the entire actual construction of the garment.
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(I hand basted the zipper at the seam intersections to get them to match at these points. Jalie does not mention this step, but theirs match anyway, very clever of them)
I have made this pattern several times previously, and like to approach the zipper fastening differently from the Jalie instructions.
First I like to add a facing, as, not being in Canada like Jalie, our jackets are often worn open, and the Jalie instructions leave a raw edge and the zipper tapes exposed when the jacket is worn in this manner.
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To this jacket I have also added a zip guard, fluffy side out due to operator error.
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I prefer an enclosed seam for the bottom band zipper attachmentl. Here I have left the inner section of the bottom band free, so that I can fold the band inside out over the end of the separating zip and sew this over the original zipper tape seam.
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 (The fold is marked with a tailor tack). When this is turned right way out, and the facing catch stitched down  by hand over the free section of the inner bottom band, the inside has a clean finish in the sections that are visible when the jacket is worn open.
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I did not tell my daughter that the jacket was made from remnants.
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She was quite pleased with it when I handed it over, although I had to induce mild guilt to convince her to pose for photographs on a nippy evening during our holiday.  I hope she still likes it after she reads the post.

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22 comments:

shams said...

Karen, that jacket is so cute! Definitely do not tell her it's made from remnants. ;)

velosews said...

Isn't this approach to making the jacket environmentally friendly? Or being green? Or upcycling?
Ok. I'll stop renaming such a cute jacket that I'd love to own :)

katherine h said...

This looks very snug. And now that you have removed such bulky remnants from your stash, you'll have room to buy more fabric!

Carol said...

You are incredible! You deserve more fabric.

Judith said...

Watch out! She will be asking you for another one soon - it looks super...

Uta said...

I love the applique! Do you mean your daughter reads your blog? That's worth even more than wearing jackets made out of remnants :)

SewRuthie said...

Fun fleece jacket!

Jillybejoyful said...

Things I'm impressed by:
1. How well you pulled those colors together out of stash.
2. You did ALL that in such a short time!
3. You reduced your stash by a HUGE amount (trust me, I know how much space it takes up - time to stock up!)
4. DD ends up with such a good looking jacket
5. And you made the inside look as good as the outside to boot!

Janine said...

Your daughter looks gorgeous in her new jacket - from the computer screen the colours seem to go together at least. SHe is very lucky to have a mother that would do this with such short notice- not many mothers would do that. I hope she does read this blog post to see all the compliments you are both receiving. I am now only sewing my eldest daughter a tunic she has been -ahem -nagging me about for the last 3 months.

Summer Flies said...

Wow, that looks great! I love the applique.. it looks really unique and although I love the warmth of the fleece they always look so "blah".. not so this one. Love it! I love the sound of that biking trip too ...not the cold however.

pdiddly said...

what a great looking fleece, and as you say something for nothing (apart from your time).

Karin said...

Nice save mom! You really did pull a rabbit out of a hat. So satisfying to make something useful, attractive, and appreciated and all out of small unusable pieces. Bravo! I'm glad your daughter likes it, it is super cute.
We enjoy a muddy long weekend on the bikes too.

liza jane said...

The applique flowers are my favorite part. Such a neat feature!

Gabrielle said...

The "distractions" really make this jacket for me - it's seriously cute and looks perfect both for a teenage daughter and for muddy, cold bike-riding trips.

Audrey said...

That jacket looks toasty warm and fashionable at the same time. I especially love the floral applique on the inside of the hood and the way just a bit when the hood is up. It is like the winter equivalent to wearing a fresh picked flower tucked in your hair.

Marie said...

Gosh, I was recently lamenting to husband about not being able to use my remnents for my kids like I used to do. Looks like I can keep holding on to all my left over fabrics still.

The jacket look great - not pieced together at all.

Janine said...

THanks for your comment . Actually I think my husband is pretty good about choosing fabrics - I have given a few subtle hints about french fabric , lace and european sewing magazines. THen the is the added backup of a teenage daughter !

Carolyn said...

Ver clever! You did a fantastic job with scraps, and I think the colours look great together. The instructions for facing the zip are very clear and well described, thank you so much for taking the time to explain this properly.

(thanks for your comment, and it was your remark in your previous blog post that led me to that rant-y post on tutes in the first place ;) and like you I was having a bit of a tongue in cheek dig at myself as well. I did agree that Bunny had a point, but I am still not sure that anyone is even the slightest bit interested in my own ham-fisted attempts to explain sewing things ;) )

fabric epiphanies said...

That is a very nice jacket. I will keep in mind your tip of hand basting the zip because that is one of my own frustrations with this pattern. Those darn things move as you stitch them.

The Slapdash Sewist said...

Just love this sentence: "This applique took only slightly longer than the entire actual construction of the garment." Hee.

Very cute little hoodie, and I'm jealous of your mini-break! I want a mini-bike vacation. Hmmm....

MushyWear said...

What a fun jacket. You did such a nice job with this pattern. I can't wait to make this pattern myself, and I love to see the different versions of it. Thanks for the inspiration.

HeathersSphere said...

Such a terrific looking jacket on your lovely daughter!