Sunday, October 18, 2015

Finishing the Haremere jacket...stubborn



When last seen, my Merchant & Mills Haremere jacket was unfinished and declared a wadder. And it rested in the bin for a number of days. The problem was, my mind just couldn't leave it alone. I wanted to finish it. So I did.

I deconstructed the biggest problem area - the shoulders - and redid them. This meant (1) straightening the angle of the shoulder seam, and (2) trimming and fitting the upper armscye to raise the sleeve.

It wasn't awful, surely not the hardest fix I've ever done. And once accomplished, I moved on with the balance of the jacket.


Because the original 4-layer back facing was simply two thick to work well in my neckline seam, I drafted a much more  simple facing that went in nicely.


It meets the binding on the jacket lapel at the shoulder, and is topstitched along the bottom edge to keep it from flying up (with red thread in the needle and navy in the bobbin).


Next up were the sleeves, which went in with no issues. I bound the edge of the sleeve hem, rather use a lining or facing - just personal preference. And I finished binding and blind-stitching the back hem in place.


At this point, the jacket was looking pretty cute, and I was glad I'd decided to finish it.


Last thing - I put on the front pockets. In general, I don't use the pocket placement markings provided with patterns, because I want them to go where they work best for my hands!


And so ends the Haremere marathon. Will I make it again? Well, honestly, having done all this drafting and redrafting work - maybe, but not soon :-)

Ciao! Coco

11 comments:

  1. Your jacket is lovely ! I love all your finishing details. It was worth going back and fixing this but gosh what a pain to do so .

    ReplyDelete
  2. Glad you worked it out and you are happy with it now. Good result.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love what you've done with it - beautiful inside and out! And I understand how the unfinished projects nag at you to be finished....that happens around here, too;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. That came out really well, Coco. Sometimes we just need a bit of rest and a new perspective to make things work!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love it on you! Thanks for a detailed review...I think I will tackle this one next year.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yea! I am glad you went back to redo the jacket. It looks much better and fit looks good.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm glad you dug this out of the bin and finished it - it looks great - inside and out!

    Now imagine it as a lightweight coat in linen or cotton and lengthened to knee length.........this will not be the only one you make.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love this jacket, it's so beautiful! Your fabric is perfect for such a "simple" but stylish pattern :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I had SUCH a hard time sewing mine.....I first used the wrong fabric -- a cotton twill and it was a nightmare to figure the pattern out, especially the shoulder area, and wrestle -- wrassle, to be more honest -- with the fabric. Now I'm using a linen/rayon and it's completely different. I still don't like the way you have to fit the rounded neck facing into the squared off back, but this fabric is behaving so much better. We shall see what the outcome is. Oh yes, one more thing. With the twill I cut out a straight size 18. I have a rather large bust and bottom and it looks too small. On the rayon one, I made it about a half inch bigger on both sides of the back and on one side each of the front, total about two inches. It swamps me. Fabric is everything!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful jacket! I am slowly working my way through the book - I have only completed the Bantam (x2) the Curlew top, and the Heron top so far - but your jacket inspires me to try the more challenging patterns!

    ReplyDelete

I love it that you came by...and thank you for your comments! Coco