Purple Dress Jacket

I have wanted to make the girls a summer jacket since the begining of summer ! Finally got around to making it. Normally i love "quick and easy" but with this project i decided to spend more time...

...so I decided to make a fully lined jacket to include a collar and pockets. Buttons on sleeve hem and shirring was also added later. Shirring came about when I decided the jacket was a bit big and wanted to make it fitted. Buttons on hem came about when 'daddy' said the jacket needed 'extra wow factor.!'

'Take this sis'

I decided to have this photo shoot in the park since well, jackets are outdoor clothing. their purple jacket seems to match the playgronud. lol

Wheeeee.........
Can you see the button detail on sleeve?

Jacket E used.

This was available from 3-8 yrs, as I wanted it smaller I scaled it down. Does anyone want to know how to scale a pattern down? Haven't really seen the tutorial but could do one if anyone is interested.

Different buttons used for girl jackets

I was going to use the deep pink buttons thoughout but lost two buttons so had to go for a slightly different type of pink.

Fully Lined

Jacket was fully lined including the sleeves!!

Shirring detail.

The pocket detail.

Added a bit more colour by inserting this colourful striped fabric into the purple fabric to make the pockets.

See, I did take my time. Remember I had to make two of everything. The shirring bit was done 8!! times, i.e done on left and right sides, thats 4 times and separately for lining also.

So why did I call this a 'dress jacket' you say? well its the length of a dress.
In hind sight a summer jacket shouldn't be knee length rather just below the waist. Not a problem we will use this for autume then, ha.
Thanks for reading. Hope you have been inspired.
Regards.

Spicing Up Black

I was given two black dresses for the girls, and this is what i did to spice it up.

Am sure you’re thinking ‘black for girls, why?’ who would make a black dress for little girls, anyway how can an imaginative seamstress (i hope) like me refuse anything i know i can work on, right?

So i gladly took it and decided to spice it up with an orange bolero and orange trimmings.

Original dress

The embellished flower detail. 

  How a little detail could make all the difference.

Extra pins to prevent stretch.

Tips: when sewing stretch fabric (the orange fabric, a polyester blend of some sort has some stretch) put in a lot pins like in the picture to prevent the fabric stretching as you sew. The seams were sewn without removing the pins.

Can you see the square patch?  I burnt that part while ironing so i cut a small piece of lining , hemmed it all around  and  ironed it on with a bond a web. lol

This one has been finished with a button at the top for closure, but am not yet sure that is the right colour button to use. might change it into a round cream button??

Finished Product

The bolero pattern used is the same one used in the velvet bolero. Will be doing a tutorial on that soon for anyone interested in a bit of pattern alteration. :)

Now my dress is much better i can wear it out and look flash.  (but with shoes  mummy)

You can see her holding my phone, she wont have agreed to be my model (which she did well) without it. ha ha

This is all for now. Until time permits, Adios.

Thanks for visiting.