I spent a LOT of time planning a Potter jacket. I looked and pictures and reviews. I dreamed of multiple variations. I had never made anything by the Modern Sewing Co before, but I liked the look of a few of her patterns and was deeply considering the Worker Trousers. I got excited by her own modifications of this jacket - there are posts where she lengthened it and added an A line shape to it. Such that I finally bought it and had 2 copies printed so I could make multiple shapes.
Somewhere in there though I read some blogs and some reddit posts speaking about the Worker Trousers, how the designer had been very defensive about some shortfalls...and I stopped trusting that this was going to be my favourite experience of all time. I approached the pattern with some scepticism all of a sudden even though it wasn't based on any first hand evidence. The A0 has all pattern pieces cut flat rather than on the fold so it is a VERY expensive pattern to print, I think it's 4 pages.
In the middle of that I committed to sewing it in oilskin. I had cut the pattern out in size 10 to make sure it was just a touch roomy, and I knew it would fit on the yardage I had. And to make it even more fun, I chose silk as my lining. AND decided to sew it while away at work, which meant taking all the supplies (thread, scissors, etc) with me to sew it at a friend's house, on her home sewing machine (50$ singer) which she had, in fact, never plugged in. Add to this a horrible virus, fevers throughout, and my friend thought...that this was social time and stood there talking to me while I tried to concentrate.
I had to underline all the pieces so that the oilskin wouldn't bother the silk.
I couldn't use pins, so I had to use clippies on everything.
The welt instructions were bad. Who does good welt instructions? I need to just buy a sewing book and reference that instead of indie pattern designers. I had some issues with the sleeve cap fit but wasn't sure whether I had missed notches, or whether it might have been due to using clips instead of pins. That hem corner where the hem and the lining are supposed to meet was a total shit show, as usual, but I don't think I have ever encountered a pattern that explained that process to me very well. I also need to do a coat course and learn how to install fancy linings properly.
I survived the process and got over my cold and to my shock the fit of this pattern is really lovely. I think it's a final realisation, however, that I do not like the feel of oilskin. Maybe in a bag. But I will stick to dry oilskin from now on. The drafting of this seemed to be ok. Despite my difficult fabrics, everything came together well and I think I will need to give this jacket another chance in the future, maybe with some easier materials. This one is not likely to stick around though.
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