Two muslins

No progress on the skirt at all. I've been busy Tuesday evening and a part of Wednesday writing Sinterklaas "poetry". In Holland the 5th of December always is the moment in the year when children get presents. Sinterklaas is our Santa so to say. In the past 20-30 years the Sinterklaas event is getting less important for teenagers and grown ups, as with us too a lot of people give presents with Christmas. My family in general keeps to the old tradition, and Christmas to us is a feast of light, going to church on Christmas eve or morning, have a family diner, but no presents. Hard to understand for those grown up in another tradition I guess.

But the 5th of December is special if you do it with older children, like ours of 14 and (almost) 12 years old. We give presents and write a text that has to rhyme. And it is OK to make little jokes about someones habits or hobbies. It was great fun to hear the rhymes our children wrote, they're getting older, seeing and saying more and making good rhyming texts. I got quite some remarks about time spent on sewing sites, packages arriving with orders from overseas, and of course the time spent on sewing in general.

Enough sidetrack, back to the muslins for the BWOF jackets.
The first is for the jacket I want to make in the stitch and flip jacket class I'm going to take on Pattern Review. This class starts the coming week, so it had to be made now. The picture in the magazine doesn't do this jacket justice.

































From the linedrawing I thought the neckline might be what I was looking for and it certainly is. It is a bit standing away from the neck. I tried a jacket recently in a shop with this neckline and loved it.
I traced a size 40 and did an FBA. It's still a bit snug, and I'll add another centimeter or two in the bust. Further I'll add 3 cm in the length. Though I do that by default for blouses or t-shirts, I didn't do this now.


The other is BWOF 2007-08-115, that I loved by the picture of it in the magazine. But I'm not so sure now I made the muslin whether it is for me. This one is snug too (but I cut a 40 and did no alteration, so that's not so strange). Before taking the pictures I forgot to open the pleat in the back. It has to be longer by at least 5 centimeters for me, but my feeling is that the pleats are not wide enough for a stiff fabric. The muslin is made from remnants of light denim fabrics, and the fabric I want to use is a bit crisp brocade. I'm in doubt.

What do you think? Are there any other changes necessary for the first jacket (back?) and what is your opinion on the second one? I really appreciate your opinions.





















Q/A: Nancy asked what I wanted to use for the tabs. I planned to use a leather closing, but if I am making it, I might consider bound buttonholes and rather large buttons.