Good Project, Bad Pictures

 KwikSew 3764 again.

But!

This time I traced the size I wanted to use (small for everything but the sleeves, which I traced in extra small.) I also took the opportunity to modify the under collar into two pieces on the bias--honestly mostly so it will be more obvious which part is the under collar than in any attempt to make it a More Proper Under Collar.  And the biggest thing: completely reconfiguring the back from "one sad center back seam" to "upper yoke + center back piece cut on fold + two side back pieces."  There's absolutely no shaping in the seams I created, but, hey--there's some visual interest.

Not that you can make out many details at all in my photos, thanks to the jacket being made from a thick french terry that is very greedy about sharing the photons it collects

As usual for me, especially in moto jackets, I edge stitched and top stitched just about everything.  As is also usual for me and all the visible stitching on moto jackets, I ran out of thread on one lapel and chose to pick out a lot of stitching so I could put the restarting back tacking someplace inconspicuous.

This fabric has a surprising amount of stretch in all directions, so I spent a lot of time trying to make sure I didn't stretch things too much while sewing.  This was most nerve-wracking on the sleeve hems, which I absolutely did not want to stretch while sewing.

I serged all exposed raw edges, including the edges of the sleeves before they got turned inside and top stitched twice.

Really.  That's what the photo shows.

It was easier to not-stretch the lapels and collar while top stitching, because of the interfacing.

Of course, the picture looks all wavy and stretched, but it really is straight. 

The interfacing wasn't perfectly stable and some areas did get stretched, like the end of the button tab here, but this was so close to being finished and also it's an area that no-one's ever going to look this close at again, so it's more than acceptable.

I added some twill tape to stabilize the shoulders, but I didn't think of doing that until after sewing the shoulder seam.  So. I had the idea to attach the twill tape with serging and then the rows of top stitching.  It's not at all pretty, but it's stable.

Even though this is cut in a small, it's still so very boxy.  Which is perfect for the snuggly warm knit jacket this is pretending not to be.

I did use some satin for the pocket lining, after considering using the black knit, but I felt like the resulting area might be too bulky--that decision was made even before I started sewing and remembering, oh, yeah...knits stretch.  So the satin helped with stability, too.

Low light blur photo of the insides, with all the serging and the loopy side of the fabric visible.  I'm still not super fond of french knit loop side texture, but it doesn't generate the animosity it used to.

This fabric was a recent Walmart mill end precut purchase, 2 yards for $4.  The pattern calls for 2 1/8 yards of 60" for this view, so it was fairly easy to ignore the cutting layout (but not the nap) and get it all out of the two yards.

And the back, which...listen, I do know how to take decent photos, I just don't wanna make the effort.

So here's a separate image to give an idea of the new seams I created for the back.

I might move the side seams in toward the center a bit in the future, or I might leave them so far apart as a space to add back appliqués or other graphics.

I'm still overall very happy with this!  It's the kind of basic neutral item that I usually don't make because I'm so distracted by bright colors and loud patterns.  I doubt I'll make a habit from it, but it is a nice change sometimes.