StyleARC Harper jacket

adult's clothing, sewing

Tuesday, 22 July, 2014 by thornberry

See what happens?  I posted every day for three weeks – so I suppose it’s not surprising that it’s now been over a week since my last blog post!  I must have exhausted my blogging mojo.  Since returning from Thailand life has quickly gone back to normal – well, the current normal of me working full-time while my husband manages the kids and house and looks for a new job.  And consequently, no sewing has taken place.  You’ll have to make do with projects that were completed before we went away.  And let’s hope that my memory serves me well when trying to remember project details!

The StyleARC Harper jacket is very similar to a few of my ready to wear knit cardigan/jackets.  I know that these drape cardigan/jackets are everywhere and will probably begin to look quite dated soon, but they are styles that I reach for often and feel comfortable in.  They also go nicely over my dresses and skinny pants.  The line drawing:

StyleARC describe this jacket as follows: This wonderfully knit jacket is a must for all occasions. Easy to wear and easy to make. Enjoy the complimentary hook & eyes included with the pattern.   So, here’s my version.

First things first: I ignored the “knit” part of the pattern description, and made this jacket in a wool woven. This is NOT something that I would generally recommend, but the fabric was thin, soft and drapey, and since the style is quite unstructured I thought that it might work. I think it did.

Now, these photos were taken at the end of a long day that involved quite a bit of sitting, so the back looks terribly wrinkled. These wrinkles actually drop out quite quickly. I sewed the jacket in a straight size 12. I did follow the instructions to do a french seam at the centre back neck, which has worked well. The back neck folds over and shows on the outside, so the french seam is better there. Other construction was on the overlocker. I had major dilemmas about how to finish the edges. The pattern suggests leaving them raw, and I just didn’t think that would work on this fabric. The other thing to consider was that the wrong side does show on the front, where the lapels drape and fold when the jacket is worn open. I decided to turn the hem to the inside once and stitch it in place with a narrow twin needle, hoping that the raw edge that would show occasionally would look “rustic” with the zig-zag from the back of the twin needle stitching, and that the rest would just look neat. I think that it has worked nicely enough.

I turned and twin needled the sleeve hems as well. This jacket is surprisingly warm to wear – due to the wool content, of course – and it is also rather comfortable. I’ll use the pattern again, but in a knit as recommended.

By the way, the wool was a remnant from Rathdowne Fabrics. It’s an unusual shade of mustardy green that coordinates very well with lots of my clothes.  This was the last garment I sewed before our holiday, which means that I haven’t sewn anything for a month now!  Surprisingly the withdrawal isn’t too bad – I’m enjoying getting adequate sleep and reading some books instead.