This is one of those patterns I wasn't interested in initially. There are a number of similar patterns out there, like the Paola workwear jacket, which is free. (Get it instead!) The Ilford has a kind of lazy look to it (more opinions on this later.) But then I have a small yardage of plaid fabric and I want a cozy jacket and I am stuck auditioning patterns for this precious piece, arg. So I decided to make this and compare it to the Modern Sewing Co Potter, which I do love the look of, and which has been on my list for ages.
I had a look at the size chart and went with XS, which matches my measurements. The jacket is described as "oversized" so that was also pretty reassuring that it would fit. I cropped it by 2" and this was partly because I thought I could, and partly because I really only had a small piece of fabric, and now I was determined to make this jacket with this particular piece, because it has some stretch to it and I thought that would make the fit forgiving. It is from Draper's Fabrics in Auckland and I bought it initially to make stretch leggings which now I think would have been a great idea. Oh well.
First a wee rant to get it off my shoulders: We all get that the Friday Pattern Co have really good influencers on instagram (and wherever else, I suppose.) They advertise themselves well and constantly. It makes it really hard to see through that hype and understand with their patterns what you are actually getting. This pattern is advertised as having so many pocket options! So many things you can do to the blank canvas! Yeah, that's all true, but you know, we buy patterns so that someone tells us what to do in order to make a good result. Just having access to potential cool options is not invariably helpful. Every pattern has the potential to inspire you and I have been inspired by some really random patterns (always unforeseeably) to hack to my heart's content. I don't think it's valid marketing to use that as a feature of a pattern.
So, what you actually get here.
A few nice things: mainly the front placket is really fun to sew with a neat cutout that leads to a fantastic finish.
The bad: oh, everything else. No, not really, mostly it's just meh. It's a shirty thing. I am not known for wearing shirty things much.
What I don't like: the dropped shoulders are Lazy Drafting. They are a bit gathered, they hang off the shoulder so they don't need to fit, and will thus look just a bit sloppy on everyone. Similarly there's nothing to make the collar actually roll, because the collar pieces are identical.
This jacket is small feeling, and yet it does fit me. I added elastic into the cuffs to make it borderline wearable because I find it super weird to have cuffless sleeves. I had very little surface area upon which to put pockets, after cropping the jacket, but I did my best. For someone who really is into shirty things I think it might be cute but I feel very disengaged from this project and the weird way in which it doesn't feel quite like it fits.
I have lots more Friday Pattern Co patterns to make because I too have been sucked in by the hype. I love the Adrienne blouse that I made but that's with the caveats that it isn't free of lazy drafting - I mean the front and back are the same!! That fit works for me but I did remove a massive amount out of the sleeves to make it not ridiculous. It will be interesting to see if I notice a difference in fit when comparing the unisex patterns with the ones drafted for women.
No comments:
Post a Comment