It's alive!

It's been exactly a year since I last posted about my adventures in French jacket sewing. Last Easter I started making a trim and from there it was one step forward, two steps back.

When I started this project back in 2014 (!) I was still recovering from a back injury and was rather limited in my choice of exercise. My return to the gym apparently resulted in losing some inches, so when I finally unboxed the ufo jacket and tried it on it was too big. The muslin had been taken apart to be used as the pattern, making it impossible to go back and come up with an action plan for adjustments based on that muslin. Time out.
Life happened and sewing was on the back burner for the rest of spring and summer. By the time I was ready for a more involved project autumn had arrived and the jacket ended up hibernating in the box. Again.

Last month, when I was spring cleaning the sewing room, I stumbled upon the box of doom. I tried the jacket on, still too big. Fix it or dump it?
I decided to give it one last chance. After all the time and energy spent on this project the least I could do was finish it, practice a few new techniques and enjoy hand sewing that fabulous lining!

First I opened up the sleeve seams and took out 4,5 cm of the circumference. It was a tricky job to remove the almost invisible stitches that disappeared into the boucle. Of course the fabric was fraying like crazy, making unpicking a slow and challenging process, but it was well worth the effort. The sleeves look much better now. I also made minor adjustments at the bodice seams from the waist down.

After adding the hooks and eyes I was able to check the fit once more. Still a little roomy at the hips. Not sure if it's worth opening up the seams again, there's always the risk of making things worse by over working those fraying parts! In an ideal situation I would also take out some width at the high bust and shoulder but at this stage I don't think it's wise to mess with the crossing princess seams and shoulder seams. 

What's left to do: 

- close the lining at the armholes

- add the trim

- close the front and neckline

- hem the sleeves

- sew the lining to the hem, on bodice and sleeves

- add the chain

It's all hand sewing. Perfect job for a cold and rainy long weekend.

Happy Easter!