Goodbye Burda 6800

 Hello Know Me ME2011, which may very well be the motorcycle jacket pattern of my dreams.

(image copied from the Simplicity site)

Granted, I jumped right into it by making a lot of changes before cutting any fabric.  Since the pattern is "men's" size, I started by folding out 2"/50mm of length in the torso.  Then I looked at the set of zippers I was going to use, which I had ordered to use in Burda 6800, and shortened the jacket another 1"/25mm, re-drafted the side pocket zipper opening marks to be shorter, took two inches out of the sleeves at the zipper, and omitted a pocket completely, all so so I could use those stashed zippers. I also shortened the sleeves by another inch, which may have been unnecessary.  And then I intentionally cut the asymmetrical front pieces opposite of how the pattern wants.

Since this was an entirely new pattern for me, and I made so many preliminary changes that I wasn't entirely sure about, of course I decided to go ahead and use some thrifted vintage fabric that I'd been saving for years, with the idea added in the last few years that it would be perfect for a motorcycle jacket...but...not Burda 6800.

(As an aside: I can imagine situations where Burda 6800 may be used, especially for mixing fabrics.  I do still like Kwik•Sew 3764 for quick moto jackets made from knits. Someday I will revisit Vogue 1714 for an elegantly be-peplum'd motorcycle jacket.  McCall's 8121 was all around disappointing.  And, at this point, I'm not sure if I'll ever try the other two motorcycle jacket patterns in my stash, McCall's 7694 and Butterick 6169.)

So I dug out the intended fabric, which had been stored with a coordinating lining fabric, and immediately realized that there was about a yard less fabric on hand than the pattern wanted.  I knew the fact that the pieces were now shorter would save a little fabric, but not much.  I also knew that the way I generally fold only enough fabric to cut one pattern piece at a time always ends up using less fabric than the patterns want, and that's with paying attention to nap/print direction, and sometimes even squeezing in a bit of print matching.  I made plans for which pattern pieces I felt I could cut from a contrasting fabric in a way that would look intentional, and saved cutting those for the end.

I got everything cut with a piece to spare that was big enough that I could have re-cut any one piece if needed to avoid the loathed repetition of print elements on either side of an opening or seam, which could have been an extra danger in this fabric, because the print is a single spray of flowers in a dropped offset with no variations.  I did not, however, need to do anything to avoid that.

 Everything, as they say, came up roses.

Since this was my first try with this pattern, and since I trusted the fabric was so fantastic that whatever I made would end up fine, I started with the idea that I would not add the snaps, and so also not the epaulets and front snap pocket.  I mean, yeah, I have the snap dies for the grommet press, but all the snaps I had were silver/steel tone, while the zippers I would be using were brass.

However.

Once I made a little more progress, I realized that I very much did want to add the snaps, so I hopped on eBay and ordered a bag of 100 sets of antique brass snaps, and a bag of several hundred brass tone ¼"/6mm grommets for the belt part of this.  Well, for this and for future moto jackets made with the brass zippers I already have, plus, of course, every other possible opportunity to use brass tone snaps and small grommets.

 I made the shell, including going back and adding the flap pocket and epaulets, and the lining, then paused construction while waiting for the snaps to arrive.

 

Even though I have the grommet press, I still had to use a hammer to flatten the bulk in the lapel point on the side with the zipper on the edge, because I hadn't trimmed enough of the zipper tape inside.  We'll see if I remember that in the future.

For the snaps on the collar and lapels, I think it would have been no problem to add them over/through the lining, which means I may be thinking of going back and adding them to the Burda 6800s I've already made, because I like the way it's a detail that makes everything a little less obviously home made.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with things looking home made.  I just like the idea of home-making things that look Extra Not That.

 

I have not liked gold tones for a very long time.  I used to like antique brass/fake bronze, and so had this buckle in my stash, salvaged from one of my many early 1990s belts.  I don't have may other brass tone belt buckles in the right size, so I may have to get creative...or spendy...on future brass zipper versions of this jacket.

I used the eyelet gear on the buttonholer to reinforce and finish the hole made for the buckle prong.  I also wedged the buckle under the presser foot so I could machine sew the belt end down around the buckle. You know me and hand sewing.

Since I did have a long term vague plan to use this fabric for a moto jacket, the zippers were ordered specifically to go with this fabric--not a perfect match, but still intentional.

The lining fabric was just as thrifted as the shell fabric, and there's a lot more of it, so I'm sure it will show up again eventually. Yes, it's brown, which I am not generally inclined to use, but it's a very rosy brown, and I do like a plaid.

The pattern wants you to hand stitch the lining to the lower facings, and, again: I'm not doing that.  I was able to machine sew the entire bottom edge of the lining to the lower facings, although it was a very awkward endeavor.  There were about 5"/125mm total of unavoidable hand stitching on each side, to close where the front facings meet the lower facings.  I think I did decently on those.

 I put the effort into shortening the body and sleeves and didn't even think about narrowing the shoulders, not until the shell had been constructed and I didn't want to deal with taking that many things apart to correct it.

 

 I decided instead to lean into the 1990sness of this project and add shoulder pads.

Which I made.

 

 I do have a small stash of shoulder pads, salvaged from 1990s clothes, but I generally use them as patterns for making more shoulder pads.  These are three layers of lightweight batting each--not enough to completely make up for how much narrower my shoulders are than those the pattern was drafted to fit, but enough to keep the shoulder seams from slumping halfway down my arms.

I have already gone back and made a tuck in the shoulder pattern pieces to narrow them by 1"/25mm, as well as let the last 1" tuck out of the sleeve pattern pieces.

For the most part, I didn't follow the pattern's instructions.  I did check it as reference a few times for things I hadn't encountered on the other motorcycle jackets I've made, like the belt loops (which I wasn't sure if my sewing machine could handle, given that it would be nine layers of twill at that point, but my machine, equipped with a sturdy needle, stitched them just fine.)  This jacket's instructions had some aspects I completely tossed, like the direction to sew the lining to the sleeves at the cuffs, then machine sew the sleeves to the shell and then half machine sew the sleeve lining to the lining and finish sewing in the sleeve lining with hand stitching.  Again, you know I'm not doing that.

Instead, I machine sewed the shell sleeves to the body, and I machine sewed the lining sleeves to the lining.  The next step is to put the lining inside the shell, wrong sides together like they will be when finished, and making sure to align the sleeve seams with the lining seams.  I then awkwardly pin the lining to the shell, right sides together, at one of those seams.  After that, the sleeve gets pulled out through the inside, between the lining and the shell.  This allows the lining to be pinned to the sleeve all the way around and then machine sewn to the shell in a tube, which is then turned right side out with the lining inside.  I learned that from New Look 6120, an old favorite...that I...almost never line when I make it anymore...

The print on the back almost accidentally pattern matched, which means it was also very close to almost accidentally doing the repeat on either side of the seam thing, so I don't mind that the overlap is a bit more than needed to make a perfect match.

  And the pattern does repeat around the seam with the back lower band, but those print elements are also clearly visible in the flowers on the upper part of the other side of the back, because, as I mentioned before, there's actually only one design in this print, repeated without any changes in a drop repeat.  This pretty much means that an area as large as this, with that meany seams, is very likely going to have repeats, but the print is also so large that it's not as obvious as it would be with something more delicate.  I'm not upset.

I have a small stack of fabric that I've been saving for a motorcycle jacket pattern I really like, but I am going to pace myself (and maybe scrounge up some more antique brass buckles) and make other stuff before getting back to that.  I am very happy to have this pattern now.  Thank you, MimiG and Norris Dánta Ford.