European Knit Jacket

This is the pattern cover for the  jacket I made the other week.  Well, although I really, really wanted to leave the jacket as it was and just wear it.... my perfectionism wouldn't let me do it.  So, I altered the pattern to make it fit that bit better and now I'm glad I did. 

This is the first time I've successfully altered a raglan sleeve so I felt I'd learned something new which is always a good thing.  I must admit there was a failure muslin before I was successful which we won't dwell on here.  But in the end, I altered this as follows:

Added just over an inch to the overarm seam on the raglan curve.  This was to accommodate my shoulders which roll forward very markedly. This allowed the sleeve to fall more naturally, whereas before the front was stealing fabric from the back, bringing the shoulder seam too far forward.

Added a touch to most of the back seams over my shoulder blades but took in a touch on the center back seam (small neck, huuuuge shoulder blades).  This also allowed the shoulder seam to come into the proper alignment as the back had been trying to steal fabric from the front as well.  And that was pretty much all I had to do to this to make it fit well.

I've dispensed with the three sleeve bands at the cuff because they weren't really my style and I felt they added bulk.  As I type a lot for work, having seams just where my wrists sit on the desk seemed like it might annoy me.  So I've lengthened the sleeves to full length. 

I didn't put in the welt pockets because I'm too chicken to do it. 

Didn't feel the seams on the outside were quite my sort of look so I've gone for seams on the inside but I cut one allowance to about a quarter inch, pressed the other flat over it, and topstitched it from the outside, then pinked the seam allowance close to the seam. 

Again because its not my sort of thing, I didn't serge the edges to finish them, instead I chose to use a wool knit binding that had been hiding in the stash for years.  I sewed this on by hand.

Finally, the buttons.  Which I am showing in close up.  I am very lucky that I have a dedicated button store (Duttons for Buttons) in my local town.   The store is truly fabulous with thousands of buttons to choose from.  And some are very expensive.  And these, which were the only buttons my little jacket really, really wanted to have, were not cheap buttons.  But I think you will agree that they raise the jacket from the mundane to the rather fabulous.  So they were worth it.   And anyway, buttons are an investment that can potentially adorn a number of projects over their lifespan.

Button holes are backed with a scrap of the same boiled wool which I cut back to almost the edge of the button hole after I'd sewn them.  This was the recommended method to stabilise the boiled wool, and I'm not entirely sure whether I like it, but I'm going to live with it to see. 

I can see this becoming a staple in my wardrobe.  I really love boiled wool jackets, this is the third one I've made.  They are so comfortable yet so smart.  This one was reasonably quick to construct and its also rather nice to have a pattern I can go to and know it won't take me three or four weeks to get it finished. 

Coming soon..... another black boiled wool jacket, but a different pattern.  I had three metres of the wool and cut out both jackets together so that I could get the most economical layout.  I marked up all the pieces for that jacket last weekend, but its got rather warm here and I don't really feel like sewing boiled wool at the moment.  In fact, I've a plan to alter my dress block ever so slightly and make a summer dress.  Though I may not get around to that until later in the week.