Impatient

Second Kids' Jean Jacket

As usual, I can’t wait until the thing is fully finished. Sorry. Also I ran out of topstitching thread, so I’m not going to be able to finish it until tomorrow.

This project has been such a brat, and it’s all my fault. It’s like my brain was broken; I was incapable of

Second kids' jean jacket---back

thinking logically about the order in which it had to be constructed. Not looking at the instructions didn’t help, but I didn’t really look at them last time and it went much better. I have no excuses. It was simple incompetence, with perhaps a dose of hubris. Hopefully I’ll learn my lesson, o great Sewing Gods.

I figured out my problem with the collar being too big, by the way. I had been trying to fit it on only the jacket part. It is, of course, supposed to extend to the centre front on both sides—that is, about halfway across the front placket. The collar on the JJ blouse is exactly the same (except its button placket is cut on, not sewn on). Heck, pretty much any collar that doesn’t have a stand is done like this.

Inside---pocket linings and bias binding

And it took me two tries to figure this out (too late). In my defense, the illustration shows the inside (facing) so you can’t really tell where the collar should end relative to the band, but still. My bad. My stupid.

Ok, let’s look at the positives. The lace worked out surprisingly well. I might have used a bit more, but I ran out (seriously, I bought two metres. Who could imagine a jean-jacket could use up two metres of lace??). The pearl snaps are very cute, and much easier to put in now I have the proper tools. The topstitching is relatively flawless. The wider bias-binding inside

Snazzy under-collar

worked very nicely, and there’s only one seam I proceeded to fold and topstitch the wrong way (can you spot it?). I like the touch of colour and pattern inside, and on the under-collar (I should probably have interfaced the undercollar, too, rather than just adding a second layer of the seersucker. I am reasonably confident that my seven-year-old will not give a crap at all about my various booboos.

I may still give in and get some crystal iron-ons or something equally twee for both jackets. Even with the lace, this one’s very plain, and the other even more so.