StyleArc Logan shacket review & a peek at the Blomma tank

I was trawling the webs for shacket patterns about November.  I had some specific features in mind but the fabrics I wanted were from the States so I had to rein in my excitement. My absolute favourite fabric also only had a small yardage available.  I ended up buying two different plaid flannels (both are Robert Kaufman mammoth) and the benefit of this pattern is the low required yardage.  Naturally once I finally got around to sewing my plans changed and this is the larger piece - I have a new scheme in mind for the smaller one. 

The other pattern I want to try is the Trish Newbery Carter Shirt Jacket (a new to me company!) but I've decided not to use flannel for it, rather to use a double faced coating I've had sitting around so it will be really more on the jackety side of shacket.  It has features I think are more shacket appropriate, like pocket flaps, button cuffs and a nice shaped hem and I am hoping it will work out nicely in my heavier fabric.

I used a size 8 in this pattern and am happy with how the size fit.  Generally I find Style Arc true to size even if I don't think every pattern is a winner.  This is the first thing I've made by them that I have loved and that fit me just as I wanted. 

I would call this the lazy shacket pattern.  The yoke is not doubled.  There are no sleeve plackets. The hem is a small hem and you can't make it larger because it won't go around the curves (I tried).  If you want to sew the side seam pockets down to the front so they don't flap (just a personal preference for me) beware because they overlap the front chest pockets.  

As always Style Arc provide only the most skimpy of instructions.  They were totally sufficient for this project.  I used french seams wherever I felt like (shoulders, sleeves) but not on the side seams as I still haven't conquered french seaming in side seam pockets.  I first heard of this being done by Carolyn but there is a tutorial here.

The tank is a Blomma tank, free pattern by Paradise patterns.  I experimented with various methods of sewing the bands using my coverstitch machine, not entirely successfully.  I love the grey one and then made another in rib which feels quite heavy: 

The Blomma is an excellent addition to one's stable of free tank top patterns, I suspect when summer comes around I will do more experiments. 

While I was sewing this shacket it seemed too flimsy because of all that single layering.  I didn't think too highly of it.  I made a feeble attempt to pattern match, as usual lining up something irrelevant and therefore missing the big show of the side seams matching up, but it's close enough and I'm not too bothered.  I was therefore pretty surprised in the end when I put it on and discovered it's a substantial feeling overlayer that meets all of my desires to wear old-man chic.  In the end I'm really happy with this shacket though I'm keen to make a heavier one too.  It's not a pattern I would make hundreds of times, but I'm happy. 

Style Arc Shaza jersey pants review

Holy Crud what is going on here!? 

 

Well I started out thinking it would be neat to try an actual harem style dropped waist pant, instead of the hacked Anima pants I made last year (here - and actually one of my top 5 makes of 2020). 

I went with size 8.

The pattern is very simple, only two pieces and a waistband.  You have to cut them out flat instead of with the fabric folded, which on my oddly sticky rayon-linen knit was kind of a pain (or maybe it was the heat, ugh, so hot right now.) But backing up - the pdf was easy to put together, and I think I chose the correct size. To the best of my recollection, size 8 in StyleArc consistently is the correct one for me, although I'm not sure I've ever had great success with the patterns because of fit problems. 

The fabric is from Backstreet Bargains, and as I bought it to specifically make these, I actually did buy enough yardage. (I'm allergic to buying over 1.5 meters of anything, arg!!) It was cheap, and linen, yay!

The instructions are sparse (they always are with Style Arc). I didn't realise the pleats should be done with the wrong side up, so my pleats might be reversed, oh well.  And I think the waistband instructions are ridiculous - the technique listed is to fold the waistband, insert the elastic into it, baste it shut...and THEN sew the crimped up thing onto your massive pleated waist.  No thanks.  I sewed the waistband on sans elastic, leaving a gap in the back, inserted my elastic in standard fashion, and then sewed it shut. 

Also of note, the SA is 1/4" so my notches were too deep. They left holes along the waist that I had to fix later. 

 

Though these are not terribly unflattering, I have two major problems here. 

The pockets are created by sewing a line from the top down between the pocket part of the pants and the waist part of the pants, and voila, a pocket flaps forward, which you then sew towards the front. There is no such line at the bottom of the pocket, which means that it's just another pleat among pleats until you go looking for it.  Once you find it, the pocket seems very shallow because nothing is forcing it to stay fully flapped right side out against your thigh. My sticky fabric might be making this worse, though it is linen, and does drape nicely.

The other issue is of course everything happening below the knee.  Really I'd call these pants a success if they didn't narrow so much, but this is ridiculous - about the knee, they suddenly become leggings.  Like, absolutely leggings.  Way too long, too.  It's a fabric hungry pattern and I could have saved a lot of fabric by cutting off the bottom 4", which are all hunched together down there.  But better yet, I'll probably cut them off below the knee because I think the legging bit is horrible.  

Saved! But not for repeating as is. Beware the calf tightness, and widen appropriately. Pockets: hm.  Maybe better when objects are in them.

Stylearc Sharon Sweat Top

This was a freebie pattern that came when I ordered my Lorie jacket.  It was well timed, because I had been eyeing Stylearc zip-front knit jackets for awhile.

The fabric is merino sweatshirt fabric - I haven't seen anything like it very often.  It's like cotton sweatshirting with the fleecy inside and flat outside, except it's merino!  I got it at The Fabric Store, which I visited in LA.  It was a labor of love because I was in the States to deal with the Black Hole of my luggage and this was bulky stuff to lug back to Europe.  So I was totally fantasising all the way home about this jacket.

It came together slowly partly because I really wanted to do a good job, but also because I was dogged by lack of equipment.  It took awhile to get the main zip and bindings, and I hadn't brought a fabric swatch with me.  Then I had to get the pocket zips...then I ran out of thread...the instructions were crap, as expected, but unexpected too: the instructions refer you to an "in-seam zipper tutorial" which I could not find on the Stylearc website.  I browsed various other sites but couldn't get a straightforward demonstration of putting an inseam zipper into a knit pocket.  I figured it out but I didn't put any interfacing in, which I later regretted.

My friend Joana did the photoshoot in Bern (Urban chic?)  It gives a better sense of the colour, I think, as my camera was doing funny things at home that day.


I got a size 8 as before in Stylearc.  I measured the back length and the shoulder breadth (it's about 14.5") and shortened the sweatshirt by about 2", trying to do it at the same height on the princess seamed side pieces.  The breadth seemed the same as a sweatshirt I have, so I didn't widen it.  Because I hadn't brought a swatch with me, I got heather grey bindings.  I was working on the blue Undercover Sweatshirt at the same time and suddenly decided this would look nicer with self bindings, so I used the Undercover Hood sleeve binding (but the Stylearc pattern's bindings for the bottom and neck.)  I have only recently realised how much stretchier ribbing is, and that might have been nice to have, but I do like everything being the same colour.

Final thoughts:
-zips in the pockets are not beneficial and just weigh the jacket down.  This is partly because I have all riri zips (it's hard to find anything else!) and they are heavy metal.  Plastic zips might be less bothersome. 
-topstitching makes everything look much more professional and it holds the seams down on the inside.
-why is there a facing?  I didn't use it.
-...but if you don't use a facing, how do you finish the inside zipper edge neatly?  (I used two layers of topstitching and zigzagged.)

Despite shortening this sweatshirt, and it does fit fine, and I love it about 92% as much as I hoped, it is still very shapeless.  I know two projects is early to make global judgments, but so far Stylearc seems to be Queen of Shapeless.  I am about to order three more Stylearc patterns...we shall see how they go. 

Style Arc Lorie jacket

This is the first pattern by Style Arc that I have done.  I knew ahead of time that the instructions are sparse but sufficient.  Many people don't like that you only get one size with Style Arc, so the first few patterns are needed to test out fit.  I have heard that the sizing is consistent, so once you do settle on a size, it generally fits well.  I used my measurements to order a size 8.

I expected this jacket to be quite an involved process.  It isn't a full Chanel style jacket with interlining or any hand stitching, but it does involve block fusing the pieces (which I learned is when you interface every single piece of the jacket except the sleeves!) and topstitching.  I also mitred my first corner - when you make a 90 degree turn while sewing two pieces together.  It went quite well, but does require a bit of preparation because you have to cut the corner right after you turn it, so that the second side will go smoothly.

Because the instructions are very sparse, it's important to cut every notch very well.  I had trouble adding the hem band to the jacket because no matter which way I flipped up, the notches didn't match.  I was concerned because it's supposed to be fitted at the waist with some flare, and I thought if I got it upside down, it might not have the desired shape.  Other than that, I did find the instructions sufficient.  The only other place that I had trouble was the final step - attaching the sleeves inside out.  I recalled from my Minoru that this can be tricky but I sewed them up with no problem...only after I tried to turn the jacket right side out it had become a Mobius strip...

I learned something about fusing in general during this process.  I had block fused my pieces following the instructions.  I was using a very stable double knit cotton twill, and the fusing is probably most important if the main jacket fabric is loosely woven, Chanel style.  My lining, however, was a very light silk-cotton.  I thought it was probably too light to be a lining, and so I used bemberg for the sleeves to make sure they could take the stress.  In retrospect, I would have done better to not fuse every piece of the jacket, and to fuse the silk-cotton pieces instead. 

The main stopping point was waiting for my special order lavender 19" zipper to arrive....what a pain! It still wasn't perfect but I was so sick of looking for zippers that I finally decided to go with it and see how the jacket would turn out.  I was considering this a muslin project and when trying it on without the lining I was suspicious of the fit - it seemed very boxy and not at all as fitted or shaped as I expected.  I didn't get to see the final fit until after I turned the jacket right side out with the lining in place.  It was better than before, but I found a few major fit issues that make me totally not interested in ever wearing it.  I guess this is where a muslin might have been a good idea, but without the lining I couldn't perceive how it would fit.

the lightweight lining actually is not an issue once it's in place

mitred corners!

Looks like it needs those shoulder pads!

...yet I have no shoulder room to move at all!

much nicer on Pam!

she's happy - she just got a new jacket!

Major issues:

-extremely narrow through shoulders. I expected my shoulders to fit in the shoulder pad space.  But you see that is vertical space above the shoulders, which looks stupid. My shoulders fit in the sleeves and so I feel like I'm in a straitjacket.  For this to fit, I would have needed about a 1.5" shoulder widening.  Now I truly believe that Style Arc makes narrow patterns through the shoulders.  My lesson associated with this is more general - I think I need to watch what happens with sleeves on me.  I suspect I need some kind of sleeve adjustment but I haven't learned enough about them to know.  Almost any woven that I sew with sleeves has something funny in the sleeve area - enough that those are generally finished projects I pass on to friends. 

-second to the wide shoulder issue, total bust minimizing.  I thought this jacket would be shaping but it's totally shapeless.  My bust is hidden and there's no nice narrowing at the waist (which I expected from the pictures.)  This is improved on a person with narrower shoulders like Pam, and actually was a useful lesson to me about the shoulder widening.  I don't need FBAs, because a shoulder adjustment will add the room for my large upper chest (as I recently discovered, instead of having a high bust measurement that is less than my bust, I have a high bust measurement that is about 1.5" larger than my bust.  I haven't taken the next step of figuring out how much of this is frontal and how much is on the backside.)

-Length is ok, I could for once have preferred it a touch longer.  I'm very short waisted so this is unusual.

As you can see, I found a grateful recipient of this purple jacket at work.  Pam is happy!  She is slightly taller than me, with a larger bust and narrower shoulders.  She loves the jacket!