Bear with me, this is a long post, sorry! I don’t usually post ‘in progress’ pictures, mainly because I forget to take them and also because I rather wonder who would be interested. BUT contrary as ever, I do like to see other people’s posts as they go along to watch their progress. I have no jacket posts to date because the couple of jackets I have made recently were made before I started blogging. However, this Vogue jacket is a little bit different from those and I think I would like to have some record of how it went for my future record. So at the danger of boring you all to death, here goes. We can take it that the pattern pieces have been fitted for size etc., and the fabric cut, next I mark the grain line [perpendicular to the floor] and a balance line across the pieces, this is at right angles to the grain line and ensures the garment balances well. Next I mark the roll line, centre front line and buttonhole placements. All this prep. can be seen here.

 The balance lines make sure the fronts match.

 The side and fronts pieces are sewn together, These are ‘princess’ i.e. curved to fit, seams and took some drafting to get the fit right. After every seam is sewn it has to be pressed. In this case the seams were clipped and pressed open. The curve is pressed over a tailor’s ham and as woollen cloth can mark easily with pressing, I didn’t want the edge of the seams to show through on the right side – hence the cards, this helps you to press the seams well without marking the fronts.

 then comes the fun part – the pockets. No matter how many things I make, I angst over pockets and buttonholes. Always doubting myself I do a few dummy runs. At the same time I work out what buttonholes I will do and what material the welts will be etc., What can’t be shown in these pictures is the blood, sweat and tears……..well perhaps not quite as bad, but a  bit of stress – it’s the same every time. As ever, I tried a few button choices too.

Finally I decided on a medium button covered in dark brown suede and a dark brown petersham trim on the pocket flap. Here is the first one done, phew!     

Now for the second pocket………….