I made this jacket in some very lightweight softshell a few years ago. Size R, up to S at the hips. There wasn't any reason I didn't like it, but it wasn't something I ever found a use for so it was dispatched off to a friend. Thank god for friends! I mean, I know I can offload unwanted makes to the secondhand shop but it's really a joy to pass things on to people who actually love to receive them.
So anyway I had this fabric lying around. It's been lying around for too long. I love it so much and didn't want to mess it up, could obviously have made some snug legging style pants - it's something between a ponte and a scuba and I think I got it from Emma One Sock - just one m.
I had a vision not too terribly long ago that actually this jacket pattern would be a good match for it, a win, because I wear my lightweight hoodies to work all the time so unlike 86% of my wardrobe, it would get used. Also I adore my yellow non-hoodie which it really seems I never blogged (here's the first post on that pattern), but I stupidly gave away the pattern. So this managed to move to the top of the winter queue! I've been a sewing MACHINE on my week-long staycations in between work. It's been so satisfying, I'm trying to mix up the projects that have sat in my queue for years, with new ideas, so the sewing juices can get creative again instead of feeling mired down in ideas I thought up in 2021.
I did inspect the post from my previous jacket. Not liking how tight it was around my hips, I thought of some ways I could widen the bottom of the jacket - the way the pieces tetris together makes this less straightforward. I ended up adding width to the side back and to the front bottom pieces, probably quite a bit, like 4cm total. I made sure all the pieces lined up - added this to my actual pattern pieces before cutting out (shocking!) and then construction proceeded without dramas. I didn't like the zipper method when I did this the first time, but this time I did follow the instructions and they were not actually terrible.
I do find it has a lot of bagginess in the armpit and upper arm. It's not an issue for work, but it's actually really a lot. Enough that I think I wouldn't make this pattern again - it's not very flattering, exactly? Maybe I'll even overlock it off? But anyway sewing with scuba is very satisfying, and this is one of those projects which is so pretty on the inside too, which is nice.
