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.

You never thought I'd say it: plaid Archer - DONE!

If you have ever stopped by my blog there's a decent chance you know one sad fact: I am really bad at pattern matching.  Partly because I am really bad at following grainlines. Nor do I own a grid mat, or a proper cutting table, or have a sewing room.

Maybe I finally hit the point where I learnt something, or maybe it's just luck that once in awhile a pattern comes together just right.  But I have to say, I worked harder on this Archer than I worked on most projects in my six months in New Zealand.  I prepped the fabric in one intense session about 3 weeks before leaving and it was the last project requiring any actual thought that I was able to fully concentrate on before catastrophic life dissolution took over.  It took over a week of painstaking effort to make (excluding the buttons, took another few weeks to get around to).  I love it.  I don't even wear this type of shirt very much but I love it anyway.

Size: ? Possibly a 4 and possibly a 2-4.  I traced the pattern in Ukraine over a year ago, and didn't write a lot of detail on the tissue.  Whatever I did - worked.  My measurements are 33-27-37.  I know I was itching to shorten the pattern and I think I didn't do that.

The fabric is a soft brushed cotton by Helmut Lang, from emmaonesock.  I had been waiting for just the right cotton plaid.  This was it.

Let's thank Thaniswar, my coworker, who never expected blog photos to be part of his job description.  (But I'm not going to apologise for not owning a hairbrush at 4200m.) 

I am also now noticing how obvious it is that my pockets are not really in the same place.  I hadn't put pocket marks on my pattern pieces and I spent DAYS moving the pockets around...c'est la vie...

The insides are all french seamed and look amazing.
The only little quirk is that I must have gotten the buttonhole placements wrong on the sleeves because they are too far away from the edge.  It's something I can live with.  The cuff edges stick out a bit, but I envisage that I will really wear this shirt over a tshirt and with the sleeves rolled up so I won't care. 

As you can see by my photos, I've changed scenery pretty drastically.  I'm working with the Himalayan Rescue Association as a volunteer mountain doctor for the trekking season, in Pheriche, Nepal.  So if you happen to be trekking to Everest base camp, stop by!

Because this was my last major project, I decided to post it last. And of course as I sewed it I took some time to reflect on the differences between sewing fast knits, sewing projects that just crop up in your head and say "let me out!" and these slower projects - as I've been prepping to make an Archer on and off for about 2 years.  I was thinking about how I want my next year of sewing to look.

In case you are interested, or in case you live in Perth - I'll be moving to Bunbury, Western Australia in December and I'd love any advice about the area and about sewing in the area!

I'm really glad that life is making me take a breather from sewing.  And my goal for next year is to commit to slow fashion with a challenge of myself that I'm calling my one-per-month challenge.  I think there are a few public groups doing something similar.  I'm not going to plan ahead too much - I want the choice to be spontaneous and reflecting my interests as they shift through the year - but I envisage that each month I will choose 1-2 patterns in a theme and only sew those patterns - and only once or twice.  I want to prioritise preparation, imagination, and my own excitement.  I want to make my own fashion feel like couture fashion.  I have spent about 2 years avoiding buying any button up shirts - because my own Archer was swirling in my head.  It took that long to find the fabric, to do the research, and to finally take the leap.  And it was worth it.

Deer and Doe Bruyere top

This top really only appealed to me when I started to see sleeveless versions of it up and about- specifically this one.  I am looking for pretty things to use some of my stockpiled Liberty fabrics, but I did this as a muslin version.  The fabric is white cotton that I dyed using Shibori techniques, about two years ago.

Usually I have made size 38 on Deer and Doe but I've noted on many patterns that there is too much room in the bust, so on this one I bit the bullet and cut a straight size 36, while preserving the pattern pieces for the 38 in case I just couldn't squeeze into that waist size.  (I'm 33.5-27-37).  Since discovering that rolls of architecture tracing paper are cheap and easily acquired, I've become less stingy with tracing patterns.  Or...maybe since I became addicted to the cheap fix of PDF patterns?

This went together like a dream, for the most part.  Everything matched as it should, and I french seamed the waist and sides as the pattern recommends for a clean finish.  I tried it on to see if the waist would fit and it seemed like it would!  That was, of course, before I realized that the placket doesn't add any fabric.  My only hitches were due to my sewing machine, which I continue to hate with a passion.  Well, can't complain tooooo much about borrowed things, but if you want recommendations for buying Singer sewing machines, don't come to me.

The one thing that was less than perfect was actually the back yoke facing.  Maybe because I couldn't successfully iron all the neck curves, I had a really hard time figuring out how it should lie.  The pattern tells you to stitch that down before you do all the rest of the topstitching - placket, sleeves and neckline, but my yoke is a tiny bit puffy so I think it would have been better to do as my instincts said - stitch everything else first and then the yoke lining last.

French seams!

One other comment - the instructions tell you to lay the collar right side to the right side of the top when you sew the neck.  However, that's wrong - the side of the collar which will be seen by the world is the one facing up.  This was important because my wonky topstitching was hidden on one side and really obvious on the other, and guess which collar piece is up!!

Also the sewing machine led me astray a few times while topstitching - the needle is about 0.5mm off from center and it's finally started driving me crazy.  Nothing like navy topstitching on white.

So, did my little gamble with size 36 work out?  I sewed the buttons on at work and waited all the way until I got home to find out and then I was too tired.  But the final answer is yes, somehow it fits perfectly.  That doesn't mean it's my perfect style - I'm not totally sure I like the collar and all the buttons.  These things aren't what I usually wear.  But I think it's a cool pattern and one I might turn to again when inspired by a fabric.  I can't imagine making it with sleeves though. 

It was nice to spend time on a project without getting stressed.  That's my new thing.  Cutting out 6 projects and then trying to do them all at once...hasn't worked out.  So now I'm sewing up all those cut projects and working one at a time.  It's nice to feel like I care about what I'm sewing!  Should be obvious, right?  I feel like I'm being sucked back into fast fashion sometimes - if not buying it, then making it.

Papercut Meissa in seafoam green hemp

I loved this pattern when I saw it.  I have been holding off making button up shirts.  I don't wear them much.  Fitted ones always bulge at the bust and don't fit on the shoulders.  Loose ones don't interest me as much.  But I knew I would eventually give it a try.  I was not too interested in the Archer to start because it seems so shapeless, but I was considering the Named Tyler because of the raglan sleeves.  Sunni's version was very interesting, and Scruffy badger has since also made a nice one.  But anyway this trumped all that, I really liked the gathered details.

I found a lovely hemp blend fabric at Nancy's Sewing Basket back in February.  I forget what else is in the blend though - cotton or silk.  It is matte and rough on the inside with a smooth shiny outside face, in a pale seafoam green.  I have been really nervous about things like collarstands and I didn't want to rush the project so I put it away.  Then of course it was Me-Made-May, and this would have been a great addition to my wardrobe.  I cut it in May, hoping to have it done before I left for Arizona.

I cut the XS without any changes.  I'm 34.5-27-37 and this size in Papercut has consistently fit me perfectly in wovens.  I was very surprised how difficult it was to cut.  Initially I thought it was the paper (which yes I know I shouldn't be cutting through) or my scissors, but no.  It was the hemp fabric, which is so rough that it didn't slide along as I cut it, and sheared away from the scissors when I cut across the grain of the fibers.  It's got a nice drape, and irons well and I expected it to sew nicely though.  Because I wasn't sure what was in the blend I ironed it cautiously at first but ended up at the cotton-linen setting.  (hot!)  I was wrong about it being easy - the gathers were stubborn and ended up difficult to place evenly, due to the weight and thickness of the fabric.  It ironed great, but sometimes was hard to pin because the layers slipped against each other (especially around the collar.)  This pattern would work better with something drapey, in order to get smooth gathers and take advantage of the way it hangs.

Although I like this pattern, and I found the collarstand completely straightforward, I dislike how she has you finish the cuffs and the collar.  You are instructed to fold a 1cm allowance on the outside, sew everything together, and then flip the collar or cuff over and tuck all seam allowances into that folded side and topstitch.  The problem that I find with this is that you are tucking a huge number of small seam allowance pieces into a corner that does not overlap enough to do this smoothly.  It's a favourite Papercut technique and one that always leaves me with ragged edges.  I will eventually try the Archer and maybe come up with an opinion on how to best finish these edges when I have seen how other shirts are put together.

I was nervous about this project and after I got back from Arizona it sat for quite awhile as I gathered my confidence.  Finally I got irritated about having things sitting around!  I got very frustrated mid-July with these difficult seeming projects waiting for things outside of my control, like zippers...this summer I've been trying out a sewing system that I think is unwise.  I cut out multiple projects when I was sort of busy and distracted.  I knew I didn't have the attention to sew, but I could cut!  However then I start these projects a bit haphazardly and get frustrated not to see quick results.  I had to really slow back down and back away when I worked on my Belladone as I wanted it to really be amazing, and when I finished it I started to feel back on track.  It can be tempting to cut out a lot but I think I get stressed and feel like I'm not getting things done if I can't sew the projects right away.  A bit of deja vu - I'm moving in a week and have so much to finish before then.