My Current Sewing Project: Gray Armani Jacket

Over the past year of having a sewing machine, I've really enjoyed projects that I've completed. As I mentioned earlier, for my birthday back in September, Alex's mom sent me a giant stash of patterns, a few yards of muslin and another few of a gray-and-black wool fabric, three gray buttons, and a note that said I should use the wool to make a jacket from the following Vogue pattern:

Vogue 8429

I was ecstatic! From her generous gift, I acquired more patterns than I had ever dreamed of owning and, to top that, supplies to begin a new project.

Since my free time this fall was taken up with marathon and ultra-marathon training and writing thank you notes to our wedding guests, I wasn't able to start the jacket until late November.

Alex's mom had suggested that I start by making a muslin, but I was too eager, so, after reading the full set of instructions and feeling confident that I could make it through the project, I launched right into cutting the wool. As I mentioned a few posts ago, after having cut out a few of the pattern pieces, I stopped short. The wool that I was cutting into without having first made a muslin was Georgio Armani.

And, as I also mentioned earlier, I kept cutting. I figured it would be good for me to make the pattern as is. I convinced myself that my limited sewing experience meant that altering the pattern, even based off a muslin, would likely do more damage than good!

Setting up to cut part of the lining.

Here's the progress that I've made so far:

Can you see the beginnings of pattern C?

I completed the outer layer of the jacket including the pockets (shown) and the outer layer of the sleeves.  Next up is the collar and lining.

As an aside, for Christmas I was gifted an ancient fabric cutting board and adjustable sewing form that were my Grandmother's.  Alex and I managed to get them home on the airplane (I can't imagine what the torso-shaped sewing form looked like to the luggage scanners!), and I'm really excited that they're now a part of my sewing corner.  They're both featured in the photos above.