Organic Sweatshirt Jacket For Men + Zip Pocket Tutorial

 This is a jacket for my love.
I used a BurdaStyle pattern, which again was perfect, I did not have to alter a thing. Again, Burda delivers. Yes, the instructions of the magazine are so schematic, one has to be an expert sewist to be able to follow... but the accuracy of the pattern and the good fitting one usually gets are the best.
I bought the fabric online in Ecological Textiles. Wonderful fabric to work with and even better to wear. Very warm and comfy, but also breathable, perfect for a sporty jacket with zips and all. In fact, I decided to make it after I wore my own a couple of times. This was the masculine version in the same magazine. So, it is a very similar pattern, i the same fabric.
The most interesting feature during construction was the front and back facing, which I made following the instructions. And also the pockets, which I made my way:

I cut the two pieces of the pocket bag together, and 5 cm longer for the pocket facing included.

I marked the placing of the pocket in both sides and applied some fusible interlining.
I placed the pocket bag on top of the the jacket front (right sides together) and fixed it with pins.

I stitched a rectangle 1 cm wide and 15 cm long, with small stitches at the corners.

Then, we proceed to cut the pocket with a long straight line and four small diagonal ones at corners.

We turn the bag toward the inside of the jacket, baste the opening and press.

Put the zip underneath, secure with pins and machine stitch it with the zip foot, all around.

In the inside, fold the two halves of the pocket together and zigzag it all around with the walking foot on.

Finish sewing by hand the part above the zip, catching it too.
Secure it to the jacket facing if you like, or leave it flapping around.
Done.

Blue Liberty Blouse

Sometimes I have a certain dessign in mind and I cannot find a pattern that delivers for the life of me. As it was the case with this pattern.
The inspiration came, again, through one of the serials I follow, The Affair:



 When I saw Allison, a character always inspiring in her casual dresses and blouses, I though it was a perfect excuse for  buying some liberty fabric. I bought it at Goldhawk Rd, in a shop where they have some pretty Liberty cotton lawns some pound cheaper. Perfect.

I envisioned a classic shirt with breast side darts and waist shaping. I scanned all my magazines and could not find such a pattern. So, I had to make my own. I used the close fitting bodice as a base, moved the breast dart, added waist shaping at the sides and darts in front and back. I added the buttonstand, constructed a shirt collar with separate stand and adapted the basic sleeve block, adding an opening, narrowing it at the bottom, shortening it to include a cuff. I followed Aldrich's book to make this customed pattern.

That last step was an important mistake. Although I trued all the paper patterns over the dressform and they seemed OK, I never checked the length of the sleeves, and that was fatal, because I realized the sleeves were 10cm short when I tried on the blouse in first fitting. Luckily, Liberty patterning allows for any tricks, and makes them invisible... I had to add a 10 cm rectangle at the bottom of sleeves, and the result ins inconspicuous.

Blunders aside, the result is wonderful. Comfortable, pretty, wearable and practical. I expect to wear it a lot, specially for work. I future renditions of this pattern, I will make sure the sleeves are long enough and maybe not so ruffled at the top.