In the Trenches

I don’t know what it is about lockdowns that makes me want to make coats and jackets. It must be all that extra time on my hands and a pathological fear of boredom. Last winter I made a jacket version of the Tessuti Jac shirt, 3 versions of the Vogue 9135 jacket and a Vogue 8934 wool coat. So far this year I have only made this trench coat plus a boiled wool coat for DSIL, but give me time. This lockdown will go for months, and I have a black cashmere melton and a mustard boiled wool in my stash, apart from at least one more printed nylon taffeta, so who knows?

This is a light trans-seasonal coat, made from a sturdy nylon taffeta, which will keep out the wind and possibly a bit of rain too. It was part of my huge and happy haul the last time I could get to a Stoffmarkt Holland (now only a distant memory, sigh). I fear Australians will be locked up in our island prison until next year, if not for longer. There will be a humongous fabric buying orgy once I can get back on a plane to Europe!

The pattern is the Tessuti Melbourne Trench Coat. This is a very streamlined, easy coat pattern and ideal for a statement coat in a dramatic print.

My print is not that dramatic, but I have seen some doozies on Pinterest that will make you stand out in any crowd. So I might be tempted to give this pattern another outing one of these days, just watch this space!

The sewing details are on PatternReview and this is linked to Me made Mittwoch.

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Swing Coat

As much as I enjoy Lagenlook, I have found it difficult to come up with good jackets. The main problem is that of fitting over Lagenlook tunics, especially regarding to sleeves. Because some of my LL tops have a very wide body with sleeves not starting until halfway between shoulder and elbow, or even lower, the jacket must accommodate all this extra fabric at the shoulder and armscye. What is more, it must accommodate it generously because you don’t want your top to look all crushed when you take your jacket off. This means the jacket has to fit loosely through the shoulders, which can make the whole silhouette look big and baggy if there is also a lot of volume lower down, — which is usually the case with Lagenlook.

Quite a conundrum.

Twotoast has shown some lovely ensembles with jackets on her blog, The Spotty Dog Social Club, but her tops are mostly sleeveles I think, so the sleeve issue doesn’t arise. 

After giving it a fair bit of thought I don’t think it is possible to find one jacket shape that will look good with everything in Lagenlook. With very voluminous maxi skirts or dresses a short, relatively fitted jacket, at least in the shoulders, is probably the best solution. The top or tunic will show below the jacket, but that is fine.

With slimmer skirts or pants there is scope for a looser jacket, with room for tunics with extra fabric in the shoulder area.

My latest experiment with a LL jacket was supposed to strike a happy medium, and go with most of my wardrobe, at least the slim skirts and the pants, both Lagenlook and more conventional ones. I based it on the Tessuti Fave Top pattern, a TNT I have used many times before for tunics. One reason for this was that I only had about 1.80m of the fabric I was wanting to use, 120cm wide, which did no allow a lot of wiggle room in terms of patterns. I also like collarless jackets, because I almost always wear a scarf and a collar just gets in the way.  And finally I really like a nice swing shape.

To convert a top into a jacket is easy, you just need to split the front and add facings. I also like to snug up the neck opening,, so it fits closely at the base of the neck. I lengthened and widened the sleeves, making a deep cuff which goes well with the swing shape. I also lengthened the jacket, for warmth and because I don’t like wasting fabric. That was pushing it, long AND wide can be problematic. Fortunately I do like the result.

Finally I had just enough fabric left over for patch pockets, but decided against them in the end. I like simple lines, the fabric looks beautiful without the disturbance of top stitching and a break in the tone-in-tone pattern, and in any case, in Australia you don’t need pockets to keep your hands warm.  🙂

I bought some statement buttons in Bali a few years ago, which were just right for this jacket. The fabric is a superb black matelasse, bought at Tessutis January sale, also a few years ago. Both had been marinating in my stash waiting for the right project.

This jacket has become a favourite in my wardrobe and has been worn a lot already with just about everything. Success!

This is linked to the blogger party RUMS.

A Lagenlook Jacket

I used to wear a lot of jackets, and really did not feel put together without one. But when I got seriously in into Lagenlook, I found that it was difficult to come up with the right jacket to complement that style. You need to accommodate what is underneath as well as look good on top, and that can be tricky.

A lot of my Lagenlook tops have a wide body, either because of a very dropped shoulder that goes midway to the elbow, or because of a kimono sleeve. While these can be squashed into a jacket that is fitted in the shoulders, the result can be looking very wrinkled when the jacket comes off. Then again a jacket that is loose in the shoulders as well as loose lower down can make you look huge all over.

In the winter, a wool or viscose/cotton top is not so prone to wrinkling, and I have been wearing waterfall cardis with relatively tight sleeves starting a little down from the shoulder. But in summer, with linen and silk tops, especially cuffed ones, the wrinkling is a problem. My rain parka and raincoat have a very wide armscye and look good overall, but I have not cracked the ideal jacket yet.

  
I made a start though with New Look 6249, which was reviewed by a nice lady called Jean in her blog here. I loved her version so much that I rushed out to Spotlight to buy the pattern. It’s quite a while since that happened, since I am a great fan of downloaded patterns, so you get an idea how much I liked it.

My own version is in jacaranda blue boiled wool. I love both the colour and the boiled wool, and the jacket has had a lot of wear since I made it. Jean lengthened hers quite a lot, but I only had about 1.7m of fabric to play with and could only manage to lengthen by 4cm. It took a bit of ingenuity (=breaking a few rules) to squeak it out as it was. The shawl collar had to be cut a little off grain, but with boiled will that really isn’t noticeable. There were only a few scraps left by the time I was finished, which is ok by me. The biggest pieces were not even large enough to cut a second pair of pockets.

Boiled wool is lovely to wear, like a soft, warm hug. It is also lovely to sew with, and garments are extra quick, because there are no hems or facings necessary. I decided to attach the shawl collar only along one edge, leaving the other loose, which makes the collar twice as wide. It is folded back to the outside and that has worked very well. I could still fold it to the inside and attach it along the other edge as intended by the pattern, but I prefer it the other way. Jean commented in her review that the pockets were a little high for her taste, so I lowered them in my version. The bottom edge of my pockets is only just above the bottom edge of the jacket. 

Here are some pics.

Linked to Me Made Mittwoch