Return to 2011

Know Me 2011, that is--the motorcycle jacket pattern I like the most.

I have, before this post, made 2011 once before, and that was almost a year and a half ago.  Honestly, most of what I wrote about the pattern alterations and construction process in that previous post apply to this post, but, this time, the finished jacket looks like this

 

 ee hee hee

This pattern really isn't that hard, there's just a whole lot of it.  Once everything's cut--shell fabric, lining, interfacing, my additional home made shoulder pads--there are about fifty pieces to keep track of, plus the zippers, buckle, and additional hardware.

I am determined to make enough of these that I can go through them with barely any thought, like I do with button up shirts that have front bands, stand collars, yokes, and sleeve plackets.  The main thing that made me hesitate so long before trying to make this pattern a second time was the need to work out what changes I needed to make to the pattern to get a fit I wanted.  As mentioned in the linked post, I did take in the shoulders an inch, and I ended up letting the sleeves back out to their full length, but trimming an inch off of the sleeve and lining ends because the zipper I used was an inch short, and that sleeve length turned out just right.  I have written many notes on the pattern envelope.

I have also, in the time since making that first try at this pattern, acquired two more copies of the pattern, one in each size range, so I can have that full range of sizes in reserve, and alter and cut one pattern properly to fit me.  (Yes, I know, I could have traced it and made those changes there.  Didn't wanna.)

The reason my zippers were shorter than the pattern wants is because my "sets of zippers for motorcycle jackets" were all acquired with Burda 6800 in mind.  It worked out nicely,  though, that shortening the body and the sleeves needed shorter zippers that happened to be the size for the Burda jacket.  ...well, the plastic zippers, at least--I believe the brass zipper sets do include two even shorter zippers, intended for the sleeves.  I have written a note to try reducing the length of the slash for those zippers by an inch from the top, whenever I end up using those again.

 

The foiled synthetic activewear knit was part of my big Fabric Mart order last December, and everything else used in this is from the stash, which is why some of the choices may seem...odd

 

The blue zippers were honestly the best coordinate, from out of all the sets of zippers I had.  I wasn't at all sure what I would do for the buckle, since I know I have very few that are the size the pattern wants.  At some point, though, I realized that I could...just...make the belt parts...narrower...  So, when I got into my buckle stash and found this blue buckle, I said "Ah-ha!"

And then I said, "Hmm," because I had already been dutiful and proper and marked the belt loop placement with tailor's tacks, making many holes in the foiled parts.  My solution was to stitch the belt loops on as directed, then stitch again farther in, to make the openings smaller, to fit the narrower belts.  Honestly, if I had rivets and a rivet setting die for the grommet press, I would have put a rivet on the tops and bottoms of those belt loops.

This pattern has a lot of pockets to put in place before construction begins (there should actually be one more zippered pocket, but I didn't have enough zippers for it), and I started with that welt pocket with flap.

One of the minor deviations from the instructions for this jacket--which I believe I picked up from Burda 6800--was to put interfacing on the back of the lining where the pocket opening will be sewn, for subtle reinforcement.  I also figured out that I could make the clearest stitch line guide marks by drawing on that interfacing with a regular pencil.

 

It's still kind of a mess and I had to make some adaptations on the fly, but it turned out, as far as I can tell, fine.  (It may seem worse after I've made more pockets like this, but, with my current level of experience: fine.)

The flap is interfaced, so the upper snap was attached solidly, but the lower snap went directly into the fabric, and I did not like how it felt, pulling on the stretchy fabric, when I unsnapped it.  True, I'll probably never actually use that pocket, but I still didn't like it.  Because the lower snap went together perfectly and it seemed a waste to remove it, I had to debate with myself a while before I finally did remove it (using sprue cutters to cut off the center nub) and replaced it with some heavy embroidery stabilizer on the back for theoretical stability.

 

 Husband happened to have a 1" circle punch--it didn't cut cleanly all the way through the stabilizer, but it made enough of a mark that I could cut out the nice circles.  Which no-one will ever see.  It makes me feel good to know that the stabilizer is cut in nice circles, instead of rough shapes.  Although, yeah, I cut the stabilizer for the belt loops much more haphazardly.  I did this for every lower snap and belt loop (the upper snaps all went into pieces with interfacing.)

As I mentioned, I did do things properly and made thread tacks everywhere the pattern said, and put the snap parts at those thread tacks, although, honestly, I think in the future I'll wait until things are assembled before deciding exactly where the upper collar and lapel snaps, at least, should go.  I would have liked them to be closer to the corners, but the nature of this fabric meant that the thread tacks left holes, so I put things at the marks.  

 

The pattern is also supposed to have the top stitching be closer to ¼"/6mm from the edges, and I instead edge stitched everything, so that's also visually throwing off the upper snap placement.  But.  You can't get me away from my beloved edge stitching.

 

 

Oh!  The epaulets.  I decided that I did not want to trust the alignment of the tailor's tacks, so I set the lower snaps on the shoulders (with the stabilizer circles and through all layers of seam allowances up there), then set the upper snaps on the epaulet tabs, then snapped them together, with the intention of aligning the edge of the epaulets with the edge of the armscyes.  That was when I realized that, yes, I made the shoulders an inch narrower, but I forgot to do the same to the epaulets.  Ah ha ha, oops.  Easy enough to fix!  And I still feel like setting the snaps, snapping them together, then basting the epaulet tab to the armscye is the best order of operations. (This is not what the pattern says to do.)

 

 

 Also not in the directions for the shoulder area: shoulder pads

 

 

The first time I made this pattern, I hadn't thought of the need to make the shoulders narrower, so I compensated by adding shoulder pads.  Even though I did make the shoulders narrower this time, I still felt like shoulder pads were a good idea (regardless of how much this particular jacket was going to end up looking like professional wrestler gear or a Jem & The Holograms outfit.)

The only hand stitching I did in this jacket was to attach the shoulder pads, and to close up the lining along the lower edge of the front facings seams (near the top of where they come together in this image)

 

I am very open about my dislike of hand sewing, but, it is better when I have the patience for it to turn out this nice.  And also when I can figure out how to machine sew the lining to the lower facings, instead of hand stitching all the way around the waist like the pattern wants.

 

And, yes, I am tickled by how well the purple in the lining fabric matches the purple of the knit fabric.

And here is the back

Because it is my nature, I was scanning this print to try to avoid near repeats of the print elements, but the fact that the foil color repeat doesn't align with the print repeat means that, even when things repeat fairly close to themselves, it's not as obvious as it would be in a normal print.

 

Because I only fold the fabric enough to cut one pattern piece at a time (well, the fronts of this particular jacket are asymmetric, so I cut those not on the fold, if you want to get pedantic--you know I always want to get pedantic), I end up using the fabric more efficiently than the pattern expects, even when I observe print direction/nap.  This pattern calls for 2 3/8 yards of 60" fabric, and I had ordered 2½ yards of 60".  I did take 3" out of the body length, which saved some yardage, and then there were the savings from the way I cut the fabric, so, instead of the 1/8 yard that should have been left, I had over 2/3 of a yard left.  That's for the next post.

I am very happy with this jacket, and really do look forward to making so many more that I can sew it as easily as the button up shirts and little lined skirts I make so many of.  Do I need that many motorcycle jackets?  Of course not.  But.  This is not about need, this is about joy.