A velvety MyImage bolero jacket

Ever since I saw the first previews online of the MyImage Summer 2011 issue, I knew that this cropped, pieced jacket (M1107) was going on my Must Sew list! I just didn’t know quite how quickly fate would throw us together!

Even though MyImage are a new pattern company, other sewers have reported that the sizing was pretty consistent, so I just threw caution to the wind here, made a size 42, and cut into my fabric!

And yes, it goes really well with the jeans I’d just made, too!

Ever since I saw the first previews online of the MyImage Summer 2011 issue, I knew that this cropped, pieced jacket (M1107) was going on my Must Sew list! I just didn’t know quite how quickly fate would throw us together!

Even though MyImage are a new pattern company, other sewers have reported that the sizing was pretty consistent, so I just threw caution to the wind here, made a size 42, and cut into my fabric!

And yes, it goes really well with the jeans I’d just made, too!

You can really see that curved, lower arm piece well in the last photo above! I ran out of fabric for the curved edge facing of that, so I used some lining fabric for the facing instead, and it worked so well that I’d recommend others do that simply to avoid extra bulk there!

Here’s a back view of the jacket:

As per the requirements of the Pattern Review Lined Jacket Contest, here’s a shot of the exposed interior of the jacket, boring as it is!

I’ve done the whole ultra-luxe hair canvas and horsehair canvas tailoring on my winter coat, but this jacket is meant to be a casual “throw it on and forget it” coverup for Spring. Neither the style nor the fabric here calls for such heavy tailoring, so I chose to make the shaping as minimal as possible, with just some nice medium-weight woven interfacing on the facings and collar, and a pair of the lightweight black shoulder pads Claire (Seemane) sent to me. For me, the weight and flexibility on this jacket is just perfect.

I used some yellow silk crepe leftover from my Colette Patterns Eclair dress for the lining, and I’m really glad I decided to line this because the uncut corduroy sheds fluff like no one’s business, and a jacket just feels so much nicer with a lining anyway!

MyImage don’t provide lining pieces for this pattern, but it was really easy to create one after I’d finished cutting out all my exterior fabric. I simply taped together all the front pattern pieces (ditto for back and sleeves) to have a mostly unseamed lining (and don’t forget to place the centre back seam an inch or two away from the fold to make a nice pleat!). The curves aren’t really doing any shaping in this pattern – in the front, it’s all done by the single dart, and the back is pretty much flat.

I also gave myself a nice little design feature by creating a double loop for hanging! It just came about because I made an extra long bias silk loop and I just liked the look of it doubled so it stayed.

I know it’s hard to see details on dark fabrics, so here’s some photos using some harsh flash so you can see the seams and the front shoulder pleat a bit better:

The uncut corduroy I used here is a story in itself – I’d originally bought it from Fabric.com for James but he wasn’t keen on it once it arrived (though now he says he likes it a lot more having seen it made up, but alas, Fabric.com is long out of stock of it!). I was going to use it to make what became my steel grey cords, but there wasn’t enough fabric, so back into the stash it went. I stupidly only ordered 1.5 yards of this (and it’s narrow!) so I really had to squeeze to get this jacket in! My only main trade-off was that I had to cut the inner collar with a CB seam (no problems there!) and I used a bit of the lining silk to face the round “Extra sleeve piece” as mentioned above, but overall I totally won this round of Fabric Tetris!

Pattern-wise, I found the instructions to be on par with Burda magazine – accurate but sparse but at times confusing in the terminology. For some reason they say “pass” when they mean “yoke”, and “fold” when they mean “pleat”, but in general, they were better than in the first issue so I’m sure these translation issues will be ironed out in time, too.

The drafting, however, was impeccable on this – everything matched up perfectly, and all the curves fit together perfectly when I taped them together for the lining, too. The sizing seems to be pretty consistent with the body measurements, and the only slight issue is that there seems to be a little excess fabric under my arms in the back, but that might just be the way it’s hanging…?

Oh, and if you like this jacket (or anything else in this summer issue), then you should head over to Petit Main Sauvage, where Lauriana is giving away this issue as a competition!

This is the second of my finished garments for my March Mini Wardrobe. Next up is the Manequim silk blouse, which I can now tell you will be my special happy birthday garment this year! Get ready to celebrate on Friday!

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