A post about a personal make...or a unicorn?
Before writing about the jacket I wanted to point out that I’m trying out something new here and I’m writing this entry only in English and I’m not adding the Spanish translation as I usually do.
Writing blog posts takes a lot of time and many people have been moving away from writing blogs probably because you can use social media way easier to communicate what you have to say (although there are some really great bloggers who keep up the work, like Austin Kleon for example who just had his 15 years of blogging anniversary!). I like to write my blog and I like the thought of having this home of mine here on the internet where I can ramble about my sewing limitlessly and maybe someone even finds my project notes/tutorials/recap posts interesting. It’s waaay easier to post a sequence of photos on Instagram and call it a day but honestly, I think that blogs aren’t going away and maybe there are less people who actually read them but those people will appreciate the effort (YOU are reading this so I guess blogs are definitely not dead!).
As much as I like to post here, there’s this part that makes me soooo lazy about it. And it’s the translation part. You see, writing my notes about a certain project is an enjoyable process but when I think about translating everything it just takes all the joy away from the process, many times to a point that I won’t write at all. So, I thought that in order to create more posts and write about more projects I will only write in English as there are actually technologies that can translate the text and I don’t have to do it myself manually...because all that time can be spent by writing more blog posts, sewing, knitting….whatever things that make me happy basically, hehe.
I’ll see how that goes and maybe I’ll still write the tutorials in Spanish! I do send out two newsletters each weekend, one in English and one in Spanish where I share with you what’s going on here on the blog, at my shop and lately I’ve been also sharing links to sewing related topics I’ve found interesting. You can always get to my newsletter list for these weekly emails (+ there’s a free e-book about sewing panties for you when you subscribe!).
So yes, that’s about it, let’s go on to today's post. I have to say that I brought this canvas jacket with me to Estonia in the summer specifically to take photos and write about it over at the blog. And maybe also because I knew I’d give it away to my sister or a friend. You see, it’s one of these projects that can’t start well as you just don’t follow your plan based on your actual needs and just go on and sew, haha. But I still wanted to blog about that make, it’s a good one...maybe just not a good one for me!
Images from my Pinterest board
So going back in the memory lane...I started this jacket one year ago! I needed (and I still do, haha) a lined autumn jacket for these chilly days in Madrid when it’s not really really cold yet but you definitely need some warmth in the mornings. I had been using my beloved Kelly anorak, blogged here, for this purpose during the past years but the fabric already had some pilling so it didn’t look very good anymore. Also my first Kelly didn’t have a lining (I later made another for my sister, with lining, blogged here) so it was a really good looking and well worn piece in my wardrobe but it wasn’t as practical as I’d like as it didn’t really give me the warmth I wanted (I always had to wear a sweater underneath because otherwise there would be much sense to wear it on its own in my climate).
Last summer I made another jacket which has been really nice for autumn, the Sierra jacket in softshell fabric (blogged here)...but I needed something less sporty (and way more neutral...cos you know me!!!) so I actually just wanted to make another Kelly, this time lined but in the same cream-beige color. I thought I’d just go and get myself a better, sturdier fabric in the same color, I mean how hard can it be to find a neutral beige cotton canvas fabric in Madrid? Well you must know the answer: difficult. I was so annoyed that I couldn’t find a basic like this (I mean, it really isn’t so much to ask, right?), cursing on the local fabric shops that are unable to carry a good variety of basic dressmaking fabrics and wishing that Blackbird Fabrics would have a little shop in the center of Madrid (one can dream, haha).
So, I did find a fabric that had the structure I was looking for but it was a shade of brown. As I really didn’t want to go home with empty hands I just got the fabric. This was my first mistake...in a row of more mistakes. You see I thought: this brown is basically considered as a neutral, I’m looking for a neutral, this will be more or less a match to what I’m looking for. Nah...it’s just NOT my brown! I know, it really sounds like first world problems but hang in there with me. Clothes wise, I’ve grown in time to understand that there are things I like and then there are things I like too, but not for myself. So I’ve come to understand which colors and tones make me feel comfortable, in which I feel like myself and which colors I look for over and over again. Call it boring or whatever you want, but I want to be sure that I will feel like me so I really try to only buy/make stuff that has passed a test of “yes it’s me”. This doesn't mean that I don’t find beauty in vivid colors or bold prints (I looove prints, apparently I just don’t love wearing them), it just means that over time I’ve found out that there are certain things/colors/shapes that make me happy so I choose to acknowledge that and put this first even though a trendy cut or a cute print is caaaaalllllling me to sew them up (to be left hanging in the closet afterwards, no good!).
Ok, getting back to the brown. The brown wasn’t my brown, I knew deep inside when I got it but I still really wanted to make it work for me so I convinced myself that I will like it (to read more about how I actually think you should choose fabrics for your projects you can read these two posts about fabric composition and fabric drape, both of these posts are full of advice that actually works, haha). I also really needed a jacket so there were not so many options (buying one is an option, but I actually wanted to make one, haha). Basically I went against everything I was talking about in my previous text!
After washing the fabric I “knew” it wasn't my brown so I already knew I wouldn’t make a Kelly with it as I didn’t really picture it in my head anymore. But the fabric was really nice, it had this slight twill weave and I was still missing a jacket...so I headed over to my Pinterest board where I gather images of garments I find pretty. Canvas jackets got my eye! It’s something I did see myself wearing for autumn.
So a workwear inspired canvas jacket it was. I didn’t do much research on patterns as I found a shirt pattern in Ottobre Design (2/2019) that I thought I could hack a bit to get what I needed. After finishing my jacket I found out there actually was a pattern that would have probably saved me some construction issues, the Julien Chore Jacket by Readytosew, but oh well, hehe. The shirt pattern had more or less everything I needed collar wise. There was a yoke but I removed it by joining the back piece without the extra fold with the yoke directly. I also didn’t use the cuffs nor the original pockets. I drafted pockets that were sewn inside the side seams.
I don’t remember why exactly I decided to make the jacket without a lining. Seriously, it’s a big question in my head as it was one of the main things I NEEDED to have for my jacket as I explained before. Maybe it was because I thought that this style of jacket usually doesn't have a lining (great, but why did I choose it for myself, then?), maybe I was too lazy to think about lining the jacket (again, why did I start then?) or maybe I got the idea of using a super cute bias binding for all the raw edges which made me choose no lining (again, cuteness is not equal to warmth, so why?). Basically, I made a jacket with a fabric that didn’t have the right color for me + I made it unlined although I needed warmth, hahaha. Do you think it will be the next wardrobe staple of mine? No, oh why???
But let’s just forget about the fact that while sewing my pretty bias tape I already knew I wasn’t going to wear the jacket a lot in our climate. The bias binding on all the raw edges actually looks very nice. If you ever want to use longer strips of bias tape I’d highly suggest you to make your own, using this tutorial from Colette's blog for example (the blog itself is worth searching through, I learned so many good sewing tricks there when I started, Colette patterns were having a momentum then!). I also added the pretty “It has pockets” label by KTM.
I finished everything except the buttons probably back in autumn (see the above image with the softshell jacket for y kid next to it) but then the temperatures dropped and I couldn’t wear the jacket (remember the lack of warm lining, right?). I finally got the buttonholes done somewhere in June I think. Here are a flatlay with a kitty Mustikas and a mirror selfie so you can see it less wrinkly than my actual “blog shoots”, haha.
So the overall result. I actually really like the jacket, it has super nice and roomy pockets that are very practical. It does have a nice shape although I think I’d make it a size smaller if I could (I usually wear a 40 in Ottobre Design patterns so I sized up for the jacket and made it in 42 for more room), then again this way you can layer it comfortably over a wool sweater. I like the workwear look a lot. I like the jacket...but not for me, haha.
Did I learn something with this project? Of course...that I shouldn’t rush into new projects, that I should actually make garments that work for my life, that I should use a lining for a jacket NO MATTER WHAT. I also wanted to blog about this make as I feel it wasn’t a total waste of time, it turned out nice, just not appropriate for me. Looking at the pictures actually makes me want to make a new one for myself! But in “right” color and with a lining, you guessed it!
Do things like this happen to you? I think I’ve certainly learned a lot in my sewing journey and I make mistakes like this waaay less than in the beginning...but I still do make them! But oh well, someone is going to have a nice jacket at least (it also begs for a scraf I think!)...and I will be on the lookout for a new fabric :)
