Trish Newbery Carter Shirt Jacket review

 Literally not a single post in the internet about this pattern. Anywhere.  Really?? There are 7 posts on insta about it and they are all by the same person.  That's insane!  This pattern is like, invisible to the masses!  Where are people getting pattern inspo from these days?

I chose this for my more jacket-y shacket because it clearly could tolerate heavier fabrics, I liked the side slits, and the hood versatility meant in the future it might be hacked to so many interesting things.  I also really want the two front patch pockets plus side seam pockets in my shackets (that's like, the entire point!)  I made the Logan first (here) as the more shirt-y shacket and I love it but I do kind of struggle to fit it into my wardrobe much. 

This fabric is Italian, it is tweed on the outside but a mystery soft inner face.  It has a little bit of stretch to it.  I don't know where I got it, possibly Mood Fabrics when I shopped online a few years ago, but also possibly from The Fabric Store.  And what was I planning to make with it anyway?  It's been in my stash for a wee while and I presume I bought it with some plan I have since forgotten. 

Without any advice to hand I turned to the size chart. XS.  A little worried as the shacket seems to have no ease at the hips which on me can often lead to pooling in my lower back.  Indeed the instructions say Menswear fit: consider going up at the hip.  That's stupid, we are women, why are you making a pattern specifically that won't fit women?  Ok so S at the hip.  Regrets, should have done M.  

I wanted to finish this in a day and I didn't quite make it.  I took a lot of time on the details.  I broke out the very old and precious Liberty lawn for the hem facing and under the collar.  Spots I expected to be tragic mostly turned out ok - everything lined up the way it was supposed to.  This is not due to any help from the instructions.  They check every box entitled "what I hate in pattern instructions."  They are in a weird order, photos, done on coloured fabrics, and the words are not helpful.  I had to google how to do the sleeve placket because the instructions were so opaque to me.  

So I got it done, and now I had a button problem.  I've recently realised I need to just get rid of my donated button stash, because it doesn't provide, I waste hours looking for matching buttons and I still never have any.  I hate buttons, and my button stash actually makes things worse. 

I set this project aside until I could focus on buttons.  The fit is ok but it's snug on my hips, which is kind of ok because the fabric has a lot of stretch.  However, there's pooling in my back...the jury is out.  Will it pass my stringent judgment or will it be directed straight to the Someone Else pile?  The fact that it lounged on the floor for so long is kind of an answer to that question. I was actively avoiding dealing with this, and not just because it's really painful to do buttonholes these days.

I got some reasonable buttons and then continued to actively procrastinate until a friend showed up to visit me.  Her style is quite a bit different to mine and she's narrower in the hips than I am.  I stuck this jacket in front of her with my eyebrows raised and she fell in love instantly, in fact, she didn't even want the buttons.  I insisted on putting them on the sleeve cuffs only because they were gaping open.  

 

Sorry for worse photos than usual. I let my friend take them so I at least got them before she left.

My procrastination was a clear sign I didn't really want this jacket in my life.  The fit on her is much nicer than on me - again I should have gone up to M at the hips.  But also the style of this jacket suits her perfectly without the buttons on.  A win!  She has already sent me happy hotel selfies in her new shacket. 

 I wouldn't use this pattern designer again.  I'm not sure whether I would make this pattern again either.  There wasn't anything egregiously wrong with the fit on the chest or sleeves, I just didn't enjoy the experience.  It's probably a bad habit to want to try out another shacket pattern rather than improving on the two that I have...but you know, Tint of Mint Polina?  What's up with Tint of Mint patterns?  Are they another diy pattern designer with no experience and shitty drafting?  I admit I am very curious.  There's also the Axelle jacket...but it looks suspiciously like the Potter I'm already planning to make.

Hove, cardboard but shiny, throwing the sewing machine out the window?

 It is a real pleasure that I've made time to get into the sewing room in the past month.  I am bombing through projects I've wanted to sew for over a year.  Including the endless queue of jackets!  Hove has been top of the list, and this fabric from Mood has been earmarked for it.  Because the inside is white, I bought black jacket nylon to line the body with.  I assumed one of my zipper collection would fit, which was not entirely accurate.  The zip I chose was too long (pity I shortened the jacket...) and so I decided cleverly to just let it go further up the front of the hood than it's supposed to.  This worked out fine but when wearing the jacket it's really hard to zip up those extra 3 cm.  I obviously just don't.  If you had a too-short zip it would be better, because you can just start it higher up the hem, but I don't really recommend letting the zip go higher than it's meant to on the front. 

At some point in the planning stages, I got serious and bought bias tape and matching thread specifically to use for this pattern - a rare event which pretty much catapulted this to the top of the list.

I have not used a pattern by In the Folds before, except for the free ones by Peppermint Magazine. I made size C going by the size chart, that matches my measurements pretty well and this fabric is quite heavy so I thought it is good for it to stand away from my body a bit (could have chosen B).  I did pay attention to the comments in the pattern about drape and I do think you should go with a fabric that will drape better than mine does unless you also want a bell over your bottom (but I'm resigned to this situation.) 

I also took note of the height this pattern is drafted for: 5'7" and I read through all the blogs and noticed the jacket looks fine on tall people and very disproportionate on short people.  It really needs to maintain its proportion to be cute.  So I accepted the challenge to crop it 3" at the shorten lines since I am 5'4" and short waisted.  The actual shortening was fine, there is a line.  However, that line is along the front curve and changes the front curve dramatically - there is a huge misalignment to reset.  If you don't plan ahead and reset that curve then the pockets won't fit.  In fact, I have some advice here.  Do shorten the jacket.  Do use a French Curve to fix the curve, and then sew the lining to the lining pockets *BEFORE* doing the outside, because if those don't line up you will know in time to fix the problem.  It's a lot easier to cut four more pockets than to cut 4 big monster S curve shapes that take a metre of fabric each. 

I didn't do that, I just eased it all together and then did some hidden sewing inside the pockets to fix weird gaps that formed.  You can see whiskers along the front of the jacket where it attaches to the facing and that is all from me easing the front together like a boss to make it work despite a very dubious cutting of my new shortened curved front.  That was when things started to get dramatic.  Prior to that I did the back pleats which were a pleasure, because this holographic fabric actually presses very well and I was able to chalk all the pleats and iron them to position them.  Of course, the fabric does not take pins, so I was holding everything together with clips and some double sided tape.  I underlined the back of the jacket before I pleated, and then I lined the sleeves instead of underlining, so the sleeve seam is hidden.  

The pattern instructions are very nice.  They are well drawn, clear, and not excessive.  I generally followed them exactly.  

My dramas were not regarding the pattern, for once.  My fabric was fine when I was sewing a single piece.  Once I had a larger item in front of me, it was heavier and burlier than my sewing machine, and so I got in big fights with the feed dogs that basically were not moving fabric along at all.  I went through many needles, which is fine, because they were all pretty old needles.  I got in fights with every single other thing on my sewing table because this jacket basically required a free space of 1m around the sewing machine in every direction.  Sewing the sleeves on was the final move and that's good because it was almost my final move.  I definitely did not bias bind that seam (but I ran out of bias tape before then.  Buy extra, I had 5m and didn't use it on the sleeves.)

The jacket is very trippy.  It is stiff and I can wear any number of layers under it.  The pockets are roomy and satisfying.  Others have commented the sleeves are short - this is true - I like the length for this type of rain jacket because I think if they were longer the shape would be compromised, and water will run off them out of the way.  I will most likely wear this walking around and biking because it's too much like trying to maneuver a tent to get into the car wearing it, it's very firm.  But perfect for biking, and isn't that when you want to be extra reflective? 

With the camera flash!  Apparently more extreme than when light shines on it irl

I wore this around Auckland and got heaps of compliments from people who sew.  People who don't sew were possibly just too bedazzled to comment.  In the photos the colour looks quite drab but apparently with movement it randomly catches the light here and there and is pretty exciting to look at.  I had been on the fence about this jacket prior to the Auckland trip, likely due to the suffering of making it, but now I quite like it.  I would even sew this pattern again in a very different fabric if I for some reason didn't want to make the other 12 jackets in my queue first. 

Persephone, dear, it's been awhile

 Gosh how has it been this long? I last made some Persephone pants in 2019!  

I made three separate versions of these, somehow struggling to commit to an actual heavyweight fabric, and playing around with the rise and the size.  I started with size 4, then I removed the pockets and some of the rise, and then I finally tried out a size 0 (which was a bit of a leap).  The first pair were fun for awhile, the second pair shredded, and the third pair were way too tight.  

So I pulled out these pattern pieces and this heavyweight brick twill (finally!)  All the work has been done fitting and I have made these a few times there are no surprises to the process.  They are a size 4.  There is 1" removed from the rise plus I cut off the top at the size 0 line. I lengthened the darts since previously they were a bit fat after all that cropping.  I cut the waistband much longer than the pattern piece so I wouldn't have to worry about easing it (some flashbacks to terrible Philippa pant experience here, I don't think the Persephones needed to be eased.)  I also narrowed them to size 0 at the hem to see if that would keep my bike from chewing on the cuffs.  I used Pomona patch pockets on them. 

These came together relatively quickly, without any harm to the maker, and with minimal screaming at my sewing machine.  I did the fly buttonholes easily on my normal machine, and after a single attempt at the main button I switched to the Bernina right away because I have learned it is not worth expecting my Pfaff to do a serious buttonhole.  

 

Hooray new pants!  They are too airy for winter and I got cold the first day I wore them. The patch pockets still don't really solve the problem that I can't get things into them.  One solution would be pockets with darts at the bottom and kind of bellows shape so they stick out and are ready for me to put things in, but as I wore these I realised the other solution would be to put the pockets much lower down where there is space for me to get my hands into them - I'm not sure how this would look.  But none of that belies how great they are!  I think they are safe for my bicycle too which is excellent.  Overall it took me years, but I finally have a perfect pair of Persephones in my closet. 

The Friday Pattern Co Ilford Jacket, a review

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.