gallery

notes

pattern:
draped by me, based on my pierrot jacket

fabric & notions:
cotton sheet, cotton sateen (lining), Rigilene, hooks & eyes, trim

general notes:

inspiration:

I can safely say this is really sarahbellem's and lisotchka's fault. I'd drooled over Sarah's new black & white creation before finding this b&w stripe sheet buried in a bin of old curtains. Then lisotchka posted pics and video of her excursion to Vaux in her new jacket. Suddenly I had to have a stylish jacket with a white petticoat too and the stripe seemed perfect. I was prepared to order some more of my lovely Indian voile for the petticoat when I found this lovely white-on-white stripe in the stash - even more perfect.

I knew I wanted to trim the outfit in some color so I brought out my ribbon and trim bins and started looking at different options. The trouble is everything goes with black and white, there are just too many options! Then I pulled out this yellow trim that I found in Jo-Anns (in the $1 bin of all places). Yellow and black - BEES! Right then and there I had to do it. It was too perfect.

construction:
I decided it would be better to go ahead do a toile, although I wasn't making huge changes. Still, changing sewing machines plus lengthening and rounding off the peplum from my base pattern made me a little nervous. I'm glad I took the extra step though as the peplum came out lovely and it allowed me to fiddle with the fit a bit more. The back fits even better than on the original jacket . Yummy.

It took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to cut out the fabric because of the stripes. I cut out each piece separately, instead of doubled fabric so that the stripes would match. It took me almost 4 hours, I think because my brain was not running on all cylinders thanks to a headache. Still, I got it done.

The construction was easy and the trimming too, thanks to my Mom. She really is a brick, especially since all the trim had to be done by hand thanks to the nature of the fabric (sheets = tight weave = pain to sew). It was finished in time thanks to her efforts rather than mine. I love my Mom!

I sewed the trim on the neckline then she sewed the trim on the peplum, attached the hooks and eyes and the black glass Czech buttons. Due to a miscommunication she didn't put the trim all the way up the peplum at first but just to the seam on the skirt. We decided it really did need it all the way up but we switched to the smaller size ruching for the section she skipped. I think it actually looks better that way - I love it when "mistakes" turn out to be better than the original idea!

Well, you can't say my black stripe jacket isn't fun! It is also far from subtle! I was a little afraid I skipped "chic" and went straight to "circus tent" with it but in the end I think it worked. it was certainly fun to wear and you couldn't lose me in a crowd!

construction pics:



nitty-gritty dress diary: z:archive:18th:jacket:blackstripe