Sleeveless jackets are everywhere at the moment, so I thought I'd try and knock one up myself :)
Unfortunately, the finished jacket suited mum far better than me so I'll just have to settle for a shop-bought one...but at least mum is super pleased with the new addition to her wardrobe!
Creating (my) perfect summer jacket
The Victoria Blazer from ByHand London is such an easy pattern to follow and comes with a sleeveless version, so it was the perfect choice for this project.
I chose a neutral fabric for the shell - a cream cotton with flecks of neon thread (another find at the Cloth House sale!) - it was very loosely woven which meant it was a nightmare to sew (something of a recurring theme with my sewing...). Once I knew that the jacket was for mum, I chose the lining fabric in her trademark "bright pink".
As for the shape, you can't beat the clean lines of a trench coat so I changed the collar and lapels of the original pattern. After a bit of 'trial-and-error' playing around with different widths and angles, I ended up with an exaggerated collar and lapels that sat at complimentary angles.
The all important details:
- Follow ByHand London's instructions for the sleeveless Victoria Blazer (variation 3), cutting out all pattern pieces but leaving the collar (piece C) and lapels (piece D) aside.
- I compared the collar on a Victoria Blazer that I'd made previously with my trusty Hobbs trench coat and made the following changes to the collar and lapels:
- Extra width: to achieve the dramatic effect of a trench coat, the original collar and lapels pattern pieces needed widening by about 10 cm;
- Collar (piece C): the original pattern piece is a perfect rectangle, so I tapered out the ends every so slightly; and to make sure the tapering was even on both sides, I re-drafted the pattern piece so it had to be cut on the fold;
- Lapels (piece D): to create the perfect angles for the new lapels I traced a deep arrow shape out of the lapel pattern piece (thereby creates a beautiful desired point when the pattern piece is folded in half). Although not necessary, I drafted 3 depth options for the V.
- I also used interfacing for the collar and lapels for extra body so that those sharp points stayed nice and crisp!
The finished jacket definitely isn't perfect, as I think this pattern lends itself to fabric with more drape, but mum seems pretty happy with it!
