Floral Cascade Moto

 I really should stay away from the precut bins at Walmart.

But.

Since I so far have not, I'm trying to make more of an effort to sew at least some of it right after I get it.

So, this cloth I got 4 yards (for $4) of on Sunday

I turned it into another KwikSew 3764 by Tuesday night

 

I'm pretty sure it's a digital print, on 100% polyester french terry, and I'd guess it was made to be turned into RTW shirts.  This wasn't technically a mill end/leftover, though--it was a cut around some flaws (stray ink and a hole, easy enough to work around once I noticed them.)

Since I am not fond of wearing polyester as a shirt, I decided to make a jacket, and, since I've made four KwikSew 3674s already, it seemed like it would be easy enough...pattern  matching aside.

But the pattern matching went well!  ...as long as you ignore the zipper area...

Which is easy enough when it's unzipped

I made it in the medium size, and I'm not sure why, since the last version I made for me I not only made as a completely wearable Small, but I also traced the small pattern so it would be easier to cut out without having to cut under the lines on the pattern tissue when all sizes are intact.  And then I didn't make this a Small, so I did indeed have to cut under the lines on the pattern tissue.

I think my reasoning was "I'm going to cut the back as one piece, and the small I traced also has the multiple piece back alteration, so I will be better off using the original pattern and placing the center back seam allowance on the fold line" and then my brain not only forgot about the very possibility of using the existing Small copy for everything but the back piece, but that brain also further said "Not using the Small copy, so we won't make a Small at all."

Gonna say that lack of judgment was also involved in buying this piece of fabric (and the other two I got at the same time) in the first place.

Fortunately the construction itself was unhindered by bad judgment.  Mostly.  The details need not be shared.

And I think it was a good call that I chose to crimp on a new zipper stop and then also remove the big ol' #5 zipper coils above it completely, so the "this is the size the pattern calls for but it's still gotta be shortened" zipper tape could be folded relatively neatly into the seam.  It would have been a big lumpy, gently curving mess otherwise.

The zipper half set into the princess seam was probably technically also supposed to be shortened, but I'm never going to zip this all the way, so the length discrepancy is not an issue.

These sleeve cuffs are very wide as given, because they expect a zipper to be set into a slash, which is going to take out some of the width in the form of more seam allowances.  I was making this as a minimum-zipper project, so no sleeve zippers, and I realized I could trim some width from the sides, so these sleeves aren't extra extra wide.

As always, I pressed the cuff hems while the sleeves were still flat.  I probably could have set the iron temperature higher, but I didn't want to risk any scorching or melting.

As a minimum-zipper project, I also omitted the zipped pockets and added some at the side seams, like I did with another version of KS 3764 (which was also made from a Walmart precut...as was the black version linked above.  I admit, the Walmart precuts bin has been an excellent source of knits, and I think KS 3764 works best in knits, so it'll probably happen again.)

The inside is a bit of a mess, with both unserged edges and serged edges that are chewed up and rough, which started happening with that jacket I made for the kiddo last week.

  Looking into things just now, it's possible my serger blades aren't suddenly dull as much as they're suddenly all gummed up with invisible goo--I don't remember there being problems before the previous project, which was so ancient cigarette stinky while I was working on it...  I'll try wiping the cutting blades with rubbing alcohol (as advised elsewhere online) and see if that makes any difference.  (I mean, the blades could be dull--I've had this serger for almost 30 years--but the fact that the apparent dullness happened so suddenly makes me hopeful.)

Part of the impulsiveness of buying this cloth was the fact that it was rolled so the print was inside, and I couldn't clearly see the print at all, and figured it was a border print.  So! There were a lot of surprises, in terms of fabric design alignment and print colors, when I unrolled it.  I'm especially happy with the little charcoal flowers, which will make this easy to integrate into my springtime wardrobe of black T-shirts.

As long as I don't manage to stain it the first time I wear it.

Edit, August 28, 2022: I sent this to an online friend as a (welcome!) surprise