The Hairy Jacket

Having tweaked the fit of Kwik Sew 4191, I thought it might be a good idea to use the pattern again – it was out of the envelope already.  I also had an “inherited” remnant of furry/hairy stuff.  Years ago (when this “inheritance” came to me) I had decided that this would be a jacket.  And a very warm one at that.  Problem was – definitely not enough fabric there for a whole jacket.  Sleeves had to come from somewhere else.  I knew there was a reason I had kept that black sweater coat of my daughter’s from many, many years ago.  She hardly wore it, and it had just felt wrong to give it away – don’t have a clue why.  Given that the hairy fabric was quite heavy, the front closure that made any sense, was a zipper – not at all like the Kwik Sew pattern.  I grafted on the front of the Sewaholic Cordova jacket.  Now everything was in place.  Cut.  Sew.  Fuss and grumble.  Once again I added a lining.  The back side of the hairy fabric is a knit, but not at all the thing that you would want anyone to see.  (It also has absolute zero stretch to it.)  I also needed facings.  Thin fabric – because the hairy stuff is soooo bulky.  Those came from the bits left over from the black quarter circle skirt.

And don’t ask me why, but I decided to just serge around the edges of the facing and then sew them to the lining.  Uuuglyyyy!  That just wouldn’t do.  No.  Ribbon to the rescue.  I hand stitched that on (because by that point there was no way I could get a machine into places where a machine would have to go.)

Attaching the sleeves was a bit of a think.  I did completely undo all the original stitching of the sweater sleeve and cut out “new” sleeves, but for some reason there was a lot of worrying about getting it all to work.  If only I could knit ….   Well, I don’t, (my hands just don’t like knitting, and after a few very painful attempts at scarf knitting, in preparation for learning how to knit sweaters, I consoled myself with the knowledge that I can just sew my sweaters.)  All in all, I’m quite happy with my jacket.  It is very warm, and with the weather being what it is, that’s a very good thing. 

 I’m also pleased with myself that I actually cut and sewed the jacket in a very reasonable amount of time, instead of dragging things out for months on end.  (OK – the thinking about it for years doesn’t count here.)

One very bad picture of me in jacket, just because it seems that this is the only way I can show you that it does actually fit - unlike those mannequin pictures.

Now the problem is I still have a small rectangle of this furry fabric left – a very small rectangle.  Can’t possibly throw it away.  May-be I need an “accessory collar” that I could tie on over a sweater.  Hmmm …