Another Motorcycle Jacket...but not...

Although I do have plans for more human-size sewing, honestly?  Right now I've sewn a lot of what I wanted to sew for wearing this summer (pull-over dresses.  several of them.)

And while I don't think I'm going to make posts here about all of the doll clothes I'm making, I will make posts for the more involved items, like the overalls in the last post that were made using (mostly) a pattern intended for human size.

This time, the pattern is from one of the Japanese doll publications with scans currently available on The Internet Archive: Doll Coordinate Recipe Volume 5.  On page 18 is a Momoko doll wearing a motorcycle jacket, and.  Well.  You know me and motorcycle jackets.

The pattern is on page 66, at half scale.  I set the PDF at 100%, screen capped it, and took it into a graphics program where I doubled the size, then split it into two to print because it was too big to fit on a single page.  The seam allowances at this size were ¼"/6mm, so I figured everything was scaled properly.  Nope!  The finished jacket ended up significantly bigger than something meant for Momoko, which was actually fine, because I was making it for a Barbie.

 

Yeah no I wasn't going to make it from pleather, who do you think I am?

Big Apple Jacket

While I was making the rainbow shiny on purple motorcycle jacket, I was thinking of my next project, which was going to be the second version of the apple cardigan, and my brain said, "Well, what about making the Know Me ME2011 motorcycle jacket from the apple knit?"

So I did.

It turned out just as wonderfully obnoxious as I imagined.

Return to 2011

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

I have, before this post, made 2011 once, 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

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.

Teal Moto

 I'm still trying to figure out my motorcycle jacket options, so I had the idea to revisit Vogue 1714

but without the peplum.  Yes, I know, the peplum is what, at a glance, sets this pattern apart from other motorcycle jacket patterns.  However, a less obvious thing that differentiates this pattern from others is that it's not quite as boxy as the motorcycle jacket patterns I've tried. (As I type this, I'm wearing one of the extra boxy Kwik Sew 3764 I've made, but in knit as an intentionally casual kinda thing.)

I initially thought I'd make this with some robin's egg blue pleather that's been in my stash for 20 years, but I changed my mind when I started sewing it--the surface was extra plasticizer oily and stuck badly to the presser foot when I tried to top stitch.  With most vinyls I've sewn, I only needed to change to a leather needle and they sewed fine, no excess sticking.  Well, then, that would be a good opportunity to finally use my roller foot, right?  Well,  then, that was when I finally realized that the roller foot I had--gift in a random lot of presser feet--was for a slant shank machine.  So.  I wouldn't be using that pleather. (And, honestly, I wasn't fond of the oily way it felt. The rest is going to the craft thrift store.  I'm also ordering a roller foot that will fit my machine.)

I had, however, been ready to make a blue moto jacket--did I have any suitable fabric that was anywhere near close in color...but that I wouldn't mind having used if the jacket didn't turn out so well?  I looked in the part of the fabric stash reserved for heavier fabrics--nothing. (There is a pale green twill that I do want to use for a moto jacket, once I decide on a pattern.) But, oh, yeah--there was some fabric up in a different area, because it hadn't fit in the heavy fabric area.

It was a Walmart mill end precut, the roll in the center here

However, when I unrolled it, I realized the side that had been out was the back of the fabric.  The face looked like this

Which is very interesting, but also very orange.  So I had buyer's regret and wedged it into a weird place and kinda forgot about it.

I decided that, for this project, to get my blue(ish) moto jacket, I could go ahead and use the reverse after all

Not Quite as Simple Sequins

Kwik Sew 3764 is a fairly easy pattern--not as easy as the previous shirt pattern, but still easy, even with the changes I made, like complicating the back and adding a lining and, of course, using a knit fabric covered with sequins

Herding Cats

 The first try of McCall's 8121, complicated by a perhaps excessive amount of purpose-made cat appliqués, is finished

Yayyyy

Intermediate

 I don't usually post projects in progress, but I started my first try at a McCall's 8121

and decided early in the process that I wanted to add decorative patches--I had a specific style from my patch stash in mind, but, when I got them out, I quickly realized that a completely different type of patch would suit this project better

but

I had only three of those, and my Sense of Overdoing Things did not find that acceptable, so I'm pausing the jacket construction to make some more patches, which I will machine sew to the jacket shell while it's still able to be laid out relatively flat, and without having to avoid accidentally stitching through the lining.

And what a lining!

 

 

Roll the Die: Nummer

 The die roll:

So!  The project: Use some Ikea "Britten Nummer" fabric to make another Burda 6800

And this time I made it right!

Grail, Chosen (un)Wisely

 So.

Making a motorcycle jacket from a sequined fabric is not an original idea. Once I saw a sequined motorcycle jacket, though, I definitely wanted to make one.

I haven't, yet, but I do want to.

A big barrier to this potential project has been that I have a very particular idea of what kind of sequin fabric I want to use

• Sequins that are sewn flat, not flippable or paillette or a shape besides 'round'
  
• Sequins that are 6mm, not 3mm micro sequins
• Sequins arranged in offset rows, not meandering, random, or without the offset
• The base fabric is opaque, not mesh
• The sequins are metallic, not holographic, iridescent, matte, or transparent

And apparently any one of those requirements is unpopular unfashionable, let alone combined.  The few places I did find that offered this specific--and admittedly kinda old fashioned*--format of sequined fabric...tended not to have it in stock. *It's the Seventiesness I want.

Or, well, they might have it in stock in colors that I didn't want.  If I was going to pay [gasp] $30 per yard, I was absolutely going to be picky about colors.  Silver, gunmetal, black, pinks, purples, even blue-greens: all fine.  No. gold.

And I was willing to splurge on this fabric, especially since I could probably get away with 1¾ to 2 yards--since motorcycle jackets are short and made of a lot of pieces, they can be squeezed out of surprisingly small (for jackets) yardages.

But you can't buy something you can't find.

So I checked whenever I'd think about it; watched stuff that was "not close but I might settle for it" get reduced and sell out on FabricMart; cursed JoAnn for only carrying the trendy sequin stuff; tried variations on web search terms that made the search engine tilt its head like dog who might have recognized a word you just said.

Honestly, though, I mostly didn't think about it.

The kiddo needs pants--he's doing virtual school again this year, but we have to go to an in-person orientation soon to pick up the school-issued computer, and Husband thinks the last pair of pants I made for the kid are...kinda weird.  I could make another pair, of course, and in a more neutral fabric, if I had any such fabric.  Husband wanted to look for a pair of ready to wear pants, so we spent a while in Walmart this morning with a tape measure (the kid stayed home.)  Since he's built like a piece of spaghetti, it took a while to find options that were long enough (or nearly so) but with a waist that could be reduced further with elastic without turning into paper bag waists.

We managed to find two pairs!

That particular Walmart tends to have little to no stock of mill end pre-cut fabric, but I decided to go look anyway, just in case they had something suitable for Kid Pants.

They did not, but, given the way this post started, you can probably guess what they did have

I can't say it's exactly what I was looking for, because I didn't have an exact color in mind

but wow.

Spotting it felt a lot like when I spotted the #3-4 transitional 1960 Barbie in beautiful condition in a pile of "everything you can fit in this bag for $3" toys in a thrift store (a feeling heretofore approached only by going to another thrift store the very next day and finding a Sasha baby Sandy.)  I grabbed it in delighted disbelief, then very intentionally went back to regular browsing.

This fabric is a 50" wide synthetic double jersey knit base, with the sequins covering 40" of width (which, in retrospect, is probably common on sequin fabric, and that "I could get by with 1¾ yards" thought was...naive.)  

The overall length is just over 3 yards (I know the label says 3 yards, but I have been lied to by a mill end pre-cut label before), but that part around the three yards point shows its true nature of being a mill end

There should be plenty of sequined area to make another Burda 6800 (more likely than KwikSew 3764, but I do have other moto jacket patterns I haven't tried out yet.)  We'll see how much of this end is left before trying to figure out if I might make something featuring it.

One of my long-ago Wawak orders included a set of brass zippers with light pink tape, in number and sizes for Burda 6880, too, and I also have pale pink fabric, with black pinstripes, suitable for lining.  And light pink Saba C thread!

So, while I don't know when I'm going to make this into the motorcycle jacket I've been imagining for ages, I do have the supplies for it.

and it will definitely be an Unwise Sewing Adventure

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

Blue Plaid Moto

 Finally making Burda 6800 again.  I've made it once before, in early 2020, so I figured this time I'd go ahead and use one of the fabrics I'd been saving for it.

This time I traced off size 14 (including the lapel modification) and figured out what I did wrong with the lining last time, because I did it again this time!

Thanks Jacket

 A friend recently gave me something for which I wanted to make an item of Thanks.

I poked through my stash, considered that friend's tastes, and ended up with this

I hope it makes the friend cackle gleefully at its horrible black-light-reactive brightness as much as it makes me cackle gleefully at its horrible black-light-reactive brightness.

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

Elven Moto Jacket

 So.  Vogue 1714.

It...actually wasn't that hard.

 

 even if I probably top stitched twice as much as the directions called for.

 

Moto Mauve

 One of the bargain fabric mill end precuts I got from Walmart precovid was a pale mauve with gray heather stripes french terry knit.  I'm not sure if it's 100% cotton, but it's close.  I recently decided it was time to figure out what to make from it.

Since mauve is leaning toward purple, I asked the kiddo if he'd like something made from it, but he said it wasn't purple enough (which was why I asked, instead of surprising him.)  So, then!  Something for me.  I initially leaned toward a simple sweatshirt, but figured I'd get more use from a(nother) light jacket.  For that, I Initially leaned toward a simple sweatshirt-style raglan sleeve jacket

but...you know me.  So!  Time to revisit Kwik Sew 3764.  Last time I made that, it was in a color shifty green woven synthetic, and size large. Definitely going down to a medium for this one, and with the longer length/plain bottom edge view, despite the fact that that view? has no?? pockets???  Easy enough to rectify, at least.

Burda 6800--finally!

In late 2014, I decided I really wanted to sew a motorcycle jacket from a chintz fabric that I had recently thrifted.  In early 2015, Burda released this printed pattern AND THEN Joann actually had a Burda pattern sale, so I bought this right away

And then I did nothing with it for nearly five years

Green Moto

I have recently acquired a bicycle, which I intend to ride for exercise (I'd like to ride it for practicality, but not in this hyper hilly suburb that's near nothing but one of Nashville's major busy roads, and not now,when I can barely go up a slight incline without having to get off and walk the bike.)  Since it is also, in theory, winter, I wanted to make a windbreaker.

I also decided it was time to stop procrastinating and try one of my small pile of motorcycle jacket patterns--have I mentioned those?

I know there's still a Simplicity Mimi G motorcycle jacket pattern I don't have, plus a smattering of them on Burda Style.  This is a good start, especially since it looked like I'd never, y'know, use any of them.

But of course the idea of making a motorcycle jacket to wear while pedaling around and being awkwardly unfit was an idea that amused me.

I chose KwikSew 3764, since it was unlined

and dove into my fabric stash for an appropriate cloth, finding a densely-woven synthetic I've had for a long long time--probably since this color was trendy