Butterick 5685 size 18

Winter Coat

Butterick 5685

I finally finished my winter coat for this year.  I chose Butterick 5685 size 18.  I wanted a damask pattern jacket, and I found some drapery fabric on sale for $4.00 per metre, and with it being winter I also decided to put a layer of batting for warmth. 

To extend the life of this jacket, I decided to tack down the batting to the fashion fabric with glass beads.  By doing this the basted layers won't seperate as easily.  I suspect this will be a dry cleaning issue in the future, and the beads make it look really nice.

By adding a batting layer, it also made this thing really heavy overall, but what are you going to do in the winter when you're cold and outside?

Overall, I found this pattern to be very easy to put together, as it states it was at the "EASY" sewer level.

Be aware that the cotton quilt batting layer caused a lot of fluff off everywhere!  I used the lint brush like you would not believe.  I think I could fit into a size 16 but I chose 18 just in case.

Here are the supplies used:

Butterick pattern 5685 View C (full length)

7m of 150cm wide drapery fabric(yes, one way designs are hogs when it comes to fabric usage)

2.5m? of heavy weight black linen ( I used what ever I had leftover, didn't measure)

5 packages (minimum) of Mill Hill brand seed beads (Colour #3002)

2.8 m of cotton quilt batting

2 m of black light weight sew-in interfacing
Navy colour sewing thread
Black colour sewing thread
Navy serger thread, Black serger thread
6-23mm pewter coloured buttons

Finishing and attaching the lining:

I went on a limb and broke away from the intructions way to attach the lining only because I HATE slipstitching, so, I sewed on the lining seperately from the main fabric, attached the lining to the collar and attached the sleeve lining and bottom hem with a handsewn blind hemstitch or whipstitch.  To me it looks fine and attaching the lining is way easier for me this way.




Back View C

Beading on sleeve

Button detail

Marfy blazer pattern 1444 size 46

New Post in 3 years!

What I used in this project:

size 46 Marfy pattern #1444 blazer

wool/poly blend aubergine fashion fabric

grey bemberg lining

black thread(complimentary)
grey matching thread (lining)

lots of serging black thread
2-18 mm size buttons

3-23mm size buttons

I have wanted to finish sewing this blazer for over a year now, and I finally finished it.

I first had a hard time deciding what colour it should be, and I found a wool/poly blend in aubergine that I just loved and so here it is!

First, always look at the company's artistic drawing. This was a real help when it came down to looking at the tabs in the front and how to attach it to the front.

I won't lie, the way I wanted them to go on the front I found was a bit tricky and then I cut out a facing for the tab part. I used the pattern piece that contained the front tab O-Q match points that is cut on the bias. I only traced the area from O-Q and below and added my seam allowance above the notches and around the surrounding area so that the facing looked more or less like a square with a gable top. The seam allowance above the notches I figured was to be sewn to the main front piece.

*Please sew the tab facing by hand, either by slipstitch or back stitch to join up with the main seam of the top half/bottom half of the front*

I secured the front tabs with the 18mm size buttons. I did not edge stitch around the border of the tab to secure it to the front. I didn't want that look but would be acceptable if you don't want the facing sewn onto the bottom portion of the O-Q match points

For the front buttons I used 23 mm size buttons. I found these buttons with a bellflower(campanula) type design. I lucked out.

Everything else was pretty straight forward. Marfy has their way of doing things and the trick is to match letters from piece to piece and know that the patterns are well drafted and will fit together well.

I drafted a 1 cm seam allowance to all the pieces and used that for the hem as well. I didn't want to increase the length so I kept it as is.

Any other ideas on how to put this together? let me know.

(Sorry, but my camera lost battery power, used my phone instead)

Major project of the year. Reproduction Jacobean jacket

I have been wanting to make Margaret Laton's jacket for a while now, and I knew it would either be a embroiderer's nightmare or dream project depending on time or cost. I had already a lot of supplies built up in my repetoire so I started using what I had. I started this project on Boxing Day (December 26, 2008) and I am 3/4 of the way finished(July 7, 2009). I really thought that rayon threads would do the trick and it turned out great! I don't have to worry about tarnishing in this respect. I did however order real metal paillettes for the jacket.

The jacket is made from a mid-weight linen of natural colour with shell pink silk taffeta. I wanted to get the apricot colour as in the original but the pink I got is nice.

Wait for the finished piece....it's almost done

Linen Handbag

I made this handbag earlier this year. It is natural linen lined with black linen that is hand whipstitched together.

All embroidery is done with DMC embroidery floss. The key features of this bag are bullion roses and bullion star flowers with a variety of different types of leaves.

I made this from a Country Bumpkin patterns, but I had to substitute some colours. This bag is top-open to be a carry-shopping bag type, perfect for summer use.

Native Flower Hand Bag

I recently completed this handbag with straps and lining. I didn't choose to use a closure because I wanted it to be more like a fancy shopping bag. The design work took 3 weeks to complete the embroidery and a couple of days to complete the bag assembly. The theme of this bag pictures native flowers that I regularly see on hikes in nearby forests of Southwestern BC at various times of the year.

The pictures show back and front of the item. Since it rains so much here I beaded the back to depict rain on the flowers.

The bag is made of silk taffeta with a rayon brocade lining. It sold, but I can make more!!!

Wool Dress Pants

Mid August I have finished my dress pants for the Fall-Winter season as it can get quite cold here in BC. I have always wanted a pair of wool pants and now the elements of embroidery are finished. I ordered silk embroidery threads from Pipers Silks and Rajmahal and decided to use blue and gold with a few delica beads for extra flair. The buttonhole has been completed after this shot was taken.

Things are coming...give it time

Welcome to my blog. I am working very hard to showcase some of my designs.

This blog is under construction and will be done soon. By mid August you'll see some of my purse designs and upcoming projects like dresses and awesome dress pants.

I have unique hand embroidery designs on all of my items so stay tuned!