Sewing in Denial: Wool Jacket in Summer, Unselfish Sewing Edition

New Look 6120 again, and this time following the directions...well...at least...what I remember of the directions. Haven't looked at 'em for years.

A nice thing about this pattern--when made as directed--is that it doesn't, for a jacket, take a lot of fabric, especially when I make it in the smallest "teen" size for the kiddo (who is indeed a few years into the double digits now.  The fact that I have no idea when he'll wear this/leave the house again is moot.)

 

 

Sewing in Denial: Wool Jacket in Summer

 This is, I suppose, a muslin, because I have an odder fabric that I want to use the same pattern for, but this fabric itself isn't exactly throwaway

 There's definitely wool in it--I can tell by how the insides of my wrists itch when I'm working with it.  The iron came nowhere near this project, so I haven't had the chance to accidentally learn if it's blended with any synthetics (like I did with the woolen moto jacket I made in February.)

The pattern I used is a revisit of New Look 6120

buuuut, since there's a big difference between a thick spongy woolly tweed and the fabrics the pattern actually calls for, I...did some improvising.  I'll ramble about that under the cut.

Here's the jacket

Upcycle #7

This is, as far a I know, the last one!  And I rushed it, of course, although not after vacillating over bodice fabric for a few days.

The skirt was this one, which I sewed in 2018 from thrifted wax print

Initially, I had picked out a lightweight aqua twill to use for the bodice, but the color match was Really Not Good, and there wasn't enough of it anyway.  Then I considered using another wax print, but, for various reasons, no.  Then, as I was falling asleep, I had the thought: A black & white print.

So.

Good idea?  Enh.  Finished idea?  Yeah!

Upcycling #6

Many years ago I couldn't resist thrifting a bit of yardage with loads of colors that I usually don't wear, but...butterflies and moths...although...manufactured by Shamash and Sons, so: butterflies and moths rendered in the most direct, unstylized--yet vague--way.

I immediately made a skirt

(the files say June of 2013)

I wore it a lot!  And managed to spatter paint on it from an airbrush mishap (not the first or last time that happened.)  And then gained weight.  But I kept it, because, as subtle as they were, there were still paint spatters, so it was completely inappropriate for donating.

Then I decided to do this whole skirt-to-dress upcycling project.

Upcycling #5

I made this shirt a few months ago.  I honestly didn't realize at the time, but it was way too big, even considering that it's supposed to be loose.  The main reason I hadn't realized is because I hadn't been wearing it, because I stopped wearing skirts and pants (because I am shaped like pregnant.)

I liked the print enough that I decided I'd make it over into a dress

and that's when I realized it was way too big

Upcycling #4

Hmm...so...  OK, the last dress, with the new-to-me shirt pattern used for the bodice?  Mmmh.  Yeah.  The sleeves Do Weird Things, as I later saw in many reviews of the pattern (whether or not the person who sewed it even realized.)  Plus, since I had omitted the dart and that meant a little extra work to even things out, I decided i was not going to use Simplicity 8523/8061 again as a bodice

except

I really liked the neckline, especially how it was narrow enough that I didn't have to wonder about showing bra straps. (Yes, I know, I could make loops to keep the neckline from shifting around that much.  Don't wanna.)

So, I went back to Butterick 6470, modified with the neckline/facings from Simplicity 8523/8061

except

The bodice for this one was made from a skirt I made a while ago that had the zipper break, and I wasn't immediately inclined to replace that zipper, so it had been in the "mend?" pile for a while...but...when I was looking for something to use with another skirt (sewn when I was pregnant 12-ish years ago) I was going to turn into a dress, I realized that the purple in both of the skirts was too amazingly close to ignore.

and I ended up with this

Upcycling #3 with one iteration

This time the skirt is one I made--earliest photo of it I found was an outfit of the day photo from 2010, so we'll say it was made in 2010.

And now it looks like this

although for a little while it looked like this