B5364 - OOP Lifestyle Wardrobe Continued

Well!  It's been a totally busy week.  I had my first classes with Claire Kennedy in OKC in learning tailoring to make a winter coat.  I'll have a blog about it soon.

I've completed the sleeveless jacket and almost finished with the pullover top to wear under it.  Here's a few pictures of my progress.

This little clip is the inside of the jacket.  I decided to add a fake facing on the back as a design element.  I embroidered my label (Belinda E) on it and then serged the edge of the facing.  Before sewing the front to the back I sewed down the facing, using the serged stitching as a guide.  I used a matching batik for the facing and the bias binding on the armholes.  I didn't use the polished cotton to bind the armholes because it would have been way too heavy. 

I had to add embroidery.  I just thought it needed that certain something.  And if you've been following for awhile, you know I love tone on tone so here it is.  LOL.  I used the border hoop on my Ellisimo to do the embroidery.  I think it turned out pretty nice.

And here's a picture of the completed sleeveless jacket and the not-quite completed top.  The top still needs to have a hem.  I was putting them together here to figure out how much to cut off.  They want you to put in a 1 1/2 inch hem and that's just dumb.  I'm going to put in a baby hem instead.

Remember you can click on the picture for a larger version to see details.

Both the jacket and the top are quite loose fitting.  I did a tissue-fit of both pieces and I probably could have cut a size smaller.  But because of that, I can see myself wearing this jacket over a long sleeved sweater this fall/winter.   So that's a good thing.  LOL. 

Here's some of the tissue fitting I did on the top.   If you click on the picture, it will blow up and you'll see how I used a blue marker to draw my cutting lines.  I used a size 16 (the smallest on this pattern) at the neck and armhole moving out to an 18 at the sides.

As you can see, there's plenty of room in this loose top.  I was worried about getting it over my head so I left the size as it was. 

I snapped this pretty quick and didn't take into account the crappy lighting I have here in the afternoon.  So it looks yellow.  It's really white.  LOL.   This is before I got the bias binding on the neck and armholes too.  Again, the pattern supplied facings and I just really don't like them.  To me, a garment like this just looks more polished when it has bias bindings applied.  I did do french seams on the side seams too.  I'll try to remember to take a picture of the top in the morning in better light.

I hope to finish the top's hem and make the matching pants tomorrow.   If I can get hubby to cooperate, I'll even model the outfit and you'll have to tell me what you think.  I like it so far but it has turned out just a bit dressier than I thought it would.  My lifestyle is pretty casual so this just may mean I'll have a nice outfit for dinner out.

Oh and I did want to say thank you to you gals for the well wishes for Matthew.  We still haven't heard anything about a firm date for his return home.  Hopefully it will be soon.