Jacket finished

The jacket is fnished. As so often there is a bit room for improvement on fit (the back mostly), in general I'm pretty satisfied though. I have to think about styling this. Because of the fabric I used it's more formal. A nice scarf would loosen the look a bit. Any thoughts?
And I love a special lining!
 I'll let the photo's do the talking:

Constructions - part 2

Some further construction details for the jacket. I think a lot of how a jacket looks when it's finished depends on the details on the inside. Bulk reduction, mentioned in my previous post too, is part of that.
Most of the corners of seams are therefor cut at an angle.

The seam of the facing is graded. The facing is cut shorter than the front pattern piece. In general the seam allowance that is closest to the outside of the garment is longer.

For the corner at the hem I cut back as in the following picture.

I folded the corner in the direction of the facing and gave the point a good press (only the point!). After that press I unfold the corner, cut away the facing at an angle, fold again and turn. While turning I keep hold of the folded edge.

The armhole seam is trimmed to 1 cm at the upper part, only half a centimeter at the lower part. Mostly this is 2/3 and 1/3 of the height. In this case I cut the side panels to a smaller seam allowance.

For the sleeves I use a sleevehead and shoulderpads. The smallest shoulderpads that I can find (in height), as they are not used for getting height or width (the 80's are a long time ago), but just to give the shoulder area and the top of the sleeve a bit more support.
Sleeveheads are never mentioned in Burda instructions, nor were the shoulderpads part of the construction for this jacket. I just prefer to use them anyway.

The sleeve head is attached on the inside of the sleeve. I use basting thread, very close to the seam. On a tailoring course I once took I learned that basting thread was often used on the inside, because it's not slippery.

I'm close to finishing. Hemming still to be done and of course the lining. Hopefully sometime this week.

Construction - part 1

The closure for the jacket is in the waist seam line. This means you define the width of the buttonhole at a very early stage of construction, so it's important to know which button you use.
Though my button stash is limited (I don't stash buttons, most of what I have are taken from garments that were at the end of their life cycle) I still have four options. The good think about them is that they are all the same size.

The picture doesn't show the fabric too well, it has black, brown and dark blue in it.
Burda magazine did use a smaller button. I measured with one of my buttons and the green line in the second picture defines the new buttonhole length. The red marks are the original pattern marks.
Another thing to check when using a larger button is to make sure the button will not go over the edge when finished. That was ok with my buttons.

Reducing bulk

The pleat in the front is sewn and folded down. Burda gives no instruction how to handle the bulk that as a consequence is in the waist seam line. the inner part of the pleat is in the way of the buttonhole. 

My solution was to cut away part of the fold and zigzag the edge. After sewing the waistline seam I held it in place by a catch stitch. Not the most beautiful hand stitching, but it works and will never be seen. 

After this I sewed the shoulder and side seams and could put it on to see the fit. I think it's promising to be good. Too dark to take photos, especially as the fabric is rather dark.

A jacket - Burda August 2019

Change of plan, instead of showing recent makes, I'm documenting the making of a jacket, to share and for my own future reference.
The pattern is jacket number 113 from August Burda. A lovely design that I planned to make since I saw it. It's been quite a long time ago that I made a jacket and I really felt an urge to make one.

Pattern tracing and changes

• I traced a size 40 at the upper body, grading out to size 44 at hip height.
• Added 3 cm to the upper body pattern pieces (default change for me).
• Sleeve length looks fine, no initial change. Decision will be taken later.
• Did an FBA to the front and side panel.
• Compared the pattern pieces to my sloper. Looks fine but a bit more ease might be better, so I cut with wider side seams.

Preparing the pattern pieces

As always, I'm not following Burda instructions and doing things my way. That is, the way I learned from several real life or online teachers and books over the years. 

• The front pattern pieces were interfaced with a heavier fusible interfacing. The area for the pleat was cut out. I think it will make the pleat less stiff, but it's a "call of judgement" that I'm not sure of.
• The side panel has an extra layer at the top.
• The back pattern pieces have a light weight interfacing. Both the center back pattern as the side have extra interfacing at the top.
• On the front I've added a shoulder shield, to prevent a dip of fabric in that area

You may notice there are pencil lines on all pattern pieces. Those are the seam lines and notches. In this fabric and with the interfacing on top these lines won't be visible on the outside. So I didn't bother with tracing paper or wash-away pens.  As always I prefer to work with actual seam lines over default seam allowances.

Shoulder shield

This article in Threads magazine discusses the (inner) construction of an Armani jacket. It might have been the first time I read about a shoulder shield. Later I saw it used in a Craftsy (now Bluprint) class by Alison Smith. I've used it in many jackets since. 

The canvas is cut without seam allowance and 2-3 mm inside the seam at the front/neckline in this case. A fusible interfacing is cut that is slightly larger at the shoulder seam, the armhole seam and front, but does not cover the whole canvas at the bottom. Fusing this over the canvas makes the canvas stay put.

This preparation took quite some time. I hope construction will go smoothly.

Tracing and marking a pair of pants from December Burda

Hmm, could the title be longer? This post is exactly about what the title says. I started making a pair of pants from the Burda december issue and in this post will show you how I use a pattern from the magazine.
A short aside: a comment was made yesterday on my post on the missing cutting layouts that Burda will bring them back in the March issue (see here (text in German), thanks Beate for sharing this information and Burda for listening to their readers!).

This is the pair of pants I'm making, omitting the flap in the waist. It's pattern number 102 from the December 2018 issue and available as pdf from the Burda site: Link to the pattern.

A very easy pattern, 4 pattern pieces and made in a stretch fabric. It's more close fitting/slim fit than I would normally make. I intend to wear it with a longer cardigan,

Dress Burda June 2018, construction picture

Once in a while a pattern shows up in a magazine that I want to make immediately. This Burda dress from the June issue is one of those.

It’s mainly the linedrawing that’s interesting, as the fabric they used for the magazine issue is not really showing the design lines. There would have been better accent options for the piping they uses.
If you’re like me and in general don’t look at the Burda instructions but do it by experience or your way anyhow, DON’T go on autopilot with this one.
Sleeveless dress: I close shoulder seams at the last possible moment. Not here, as you have to sew the bias band in between the center and side parts. The band has no seam (and I wouldn’t add one, too many layers of fabric), so the shoulder has to be sewn earlier than I’m used to.
Darts: I was inclined to sew all darts as first step and realised really just in time that the front dart is taking up the edge of the band. Front and back band! I was stupified why the angle of the band was not matching the side seam, until I studied the line drawing again and realised the edge was taken up by the dart too. Which as you can see in the photo has a very special effect on the side seam.



It’s a pattern that’s drafted very carefully and very beautifully. Would be awesome in a striped fabric, using stripes in different directions too. This time my advise is to use the instructions or at least think about how to construct this before starting sewing.
In my photo you can see a bit of gathering in the back. The band is cut on the bias and has to be attached stretching it to match the back pattern. It will probably help with the fit, getting it closer to the body.
Even though I love this pattern, it might be put on hold for a few weeks. My agenda is very full before we go on holiday and I don’t want to rush this.

Update July 2018: Though the fit was good, I didn't like the light blue colour as a dress on me. I dyed it but I didn't like the result. It's been tossed in the bin. Wrong choice of fabric. Maybe one day in another fabric?