Looks Like I Made It: Simplicity 1070 Jacket

Another birthday gift! This pattern caught my eye a couple of months back and I knew I needed it in my life. I was looking for something different to make after wondering just how many dresses I needed. It was the pleather that first caught my eye, giving the Simplicity 1070 jacket a hint of biker, yet the contrasting fabric panels keeping the shape and style feminine.

On a trek out to Chesterfield Direct Fabric Warehouse I was on the search for the perfect pleather, but stopped in my tracks when I spotted this faux suede. At only £6.99 p/m I thought it was worth saving the leather dream for later and taking full advantage of my fabric find. A little more rummaging and I found the perfect jersey fabric for the other panels, that was both strong enough and stretchy enough to use for an outerwear garment.

The only other fabric needed was a little bit of lining which is used for the pockets only. I found all this in the Chesterfield shop which made the journey very worth while!

Using all black fabric meant no need for pattern matching (yay!) so cutting out wasn't as traumatic or time consuming as some. I was however, super-duper careful lining up the grainlines on the pattern pieces when laying and cutting out. I knew that one dodgy placement could lead to a wonky panel and I wanted none of that! I bought a little extra fabric than suggested in the pattern as I rounded the yardage up to the nearest half meter and the lady in the shop cut a little extra in case it wasn't cut straight, but I found I lad LOADS of all three fabrics left. I would say almost enough to make another- definitely if I cut the facing panels in suede instead of jersey. Although it's much better to have too much than not enough, this left-over fabric situation is getting to be a bit of a nightmare in my house! Luckily though, there is probably enough to make a jumper from the jersey- a cropped one at least, so I can see myself getting down to that as the Autumn months roll in.

Armed with rotary cutter and the kitchen floor, cutting out went well. I was really precise with my tailor's tacks too, as my making pens weren't going to show up on the black. It was well worth that time and effort as the sleeve process was made much easier by the alignment of tailors tacks.
I have seen some bloggers have mixed and matched the different fabrics for different panels on the jacket, but I stuck to what was on the packet with the front and back yoke and two front panels cut from suede and the rest from jersey. The only thing I did change was I chose to make the fastening straps from suede too as the jersey fabric was just a bit too bulky and would not sit flat.

On to actual sewing... My Mom said it looked like I was doing some really tricky stuff... But in reality this jacket was actually pretty easy! I didn't really struggle with any of the process. I followed the instructions to the letter (just about), especially after watching this years' Sewing Bee! Shaping didn't really seem to be an issue in the body- the front pieces are kind of flowy anyway and I just followed the lines on the back and it fit fine!
Arms were a little different, but I had expected this. I've noticed on a few garments that the shoulders are a little too long for me, meaning the sleeve starts too low. Eyeing up the jacket on Celine, pre-sleeves, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to make the seam allowance 2cm instead of 1.5cm on the sleeve heads. I was worried about setting sleeves in as it is never my favourite task, and saw gathering stitches were involved, but a combination of well placed tailor tacks and May Martin's 'bubble-ease' technique they set in really nicely! Tacked in, I tried the jacket on and found that there was a little too much fabric in the arms. I took a little out of the back seam on the sleeve (each sleeve has an upper and under panel), and replicated this on the other side. The fit was much better. It could get away with a little more coming out but I thought I would quit while I was ahead as things were going WELL.

The cuffs are blind hemmed. I don't have a blind hem machine so I did it all by hand... Which turned out okay! Much nicer than a visible machine seam I think.

My favourite part of making the jacket was when you stitch on the facing and turn it- then suddenly it looks like a finished item. The only thing I am not happy about on the jacket is that I decided not to interface the facing fabric! My reasoning- The fabric was pretty sturdy anyway and I didn't want to make it bulky, as also I didn't know how much stretch was required. I didn't want to interface the facing only to find that it stopped the fabric from stretching where it needed to and made it stick out funny. I know! It's madness and I should definitely have interfaced the front and the facing front. As it is, the fabrics bag out a little and lose their shape... Basically they do what fabric does which is why they invented interfacing in the first place. I KNOW. I am a fool, but it wasn't the end of the world. We've all learnt something- next time I'm told to interface something I will.

Whilst faffing about with the front facing, I discovered that I was totally in love with the softer, fluffy side of the jersey fabric. If I'd found this sooner I might have been tempted to flip the front facings round so that this side was showing on the inside of the front. I think it could have made the jacket look more snug than smart which might have been a nice touch, so I'm thinking maybe next time, if I find my perfect pleather, I might flip the jersey and have nice fluffy fabric on the outer! What do you think?

Both fabrics were great as neither were prone to fraying. Although using a jersey I didn't have to give it any special treatment. I used a normal needle (80), and overlocked seams for neatening purposes, but in many places I could have just left them.

The jacket fastens with 2 D-rings and a strap, which is great because a) No zips, and b) No buttons! Though I did get a popper putter-inner for my birthday, which I'm still yet to have a go with. Maybe we will add poppers to the GOALS list on my bedroom wall, 'cause I'm crossing everything else off left right and center