Category: patterns

These pattern books keep coming in the mail, not that I am complaining mind you, but it seems that in the past I have used them more as fashion magazines for their inspiration potential, than I have availed myself of their actual pattern content.  This is of course silly, especially since I tend to justify the expense by rationalizing all the patterns I could use from each subscription.  Well I want to change that trend this year, but so far, just as I am absorbing the ideas and potential from one issue, another arrives.

Of course I am distracted by other things as well. We are still remodeling, other stuff is going on, and, well, life is just that, life.

When I opened the February Burda, I was immediately struck by this dress:

Now this dress is really lovely, and I like the wrap and twist detailing, which will hide a bit of tummy.  But I don’t really like the neckline for me.  It is a lovely soft neckline, but not my best.  Truth be told I like the way it is illustrated on the line drawings:

This is of course how you get the soft cowl, but I would like it better perhaps in a firmer jersey with a bit of oomph that I could actually make stand up a bit, like the illustration, rather than softly draping like the original dress.  Using a bit of cotton jersey, instead of a rayon or poly, with a touch of interfacing might make something like that moderately possible.

But the real reason I love this dress is because earlier that day I had seen this dress:


This picture is really tiny, and you can’t see the detail, so I will direct you over to the Anthropologie website, where it is called If You Please   and is part of their new color collection.  I do find it annoying that I can’t copy Anthropologie’s larger photos, but of course they are not in business to supply me with sewing inspirations but to sell me clothes.  And I am actually a customer, but I have tried on enough dresses at Anthropologie to surmise that this will probably not fit.  That nice little wrapped twist will be right at the boniest part of my ribcage, well above my waist.  So I will have to make my own version.

You can probably see how my mind was beginning to work.  I can use the wrapped and twisted part from the Burda pattern morphed onto something else to make a dress more like the Anthropologie Dress  The first thing that comes to mind is Vogue1027 :


This probably stuck in my mind because it is new and therefore near the front of my brain.  I think I could also use the way the dress is designed as a wrap to modify it to use something like the wrapped and twisted fabric of the Burda dress.  I don’t want a wrap dress, but I do like the bodice of this dress and the fullness of the skirt.  I am thinking that merging the two patterns will not be an impossible task.

I don’t have the fabric I want for this dress, but has been ordered.  By the time it arrives, and I get my house rearranged I might have worked out more of the details.

The new Marfy catalog arrived. 

I was so eager to look through it I postponed my plans to go to work in my sewing room and instead curled up on the sofa with DH and a cappuccino for a lovely slow look. 

I was disappointed.  The format has been changed and there is now only one catalog for the year:  this book includes both the spring summer styles and the styles for fall/winter 2008/2009.

Normally I like the fall styles far more than the spring, but not so this time.  This could be because there seem to be more spring styles, it could be because so many of the fall styles are very classic basics which I already have, or which I can easily adapt from something already in my collection.  There were few patterns I liked, even though I kept flipping through the book in some kind of desperate act of wishful thinking, as if by turning the pages I could resurrect my dreams and desires.

Here is what I definitely like:

There is another jacket that is interesting, Marfy 1639.  I am mostly attracted to the angled darts at the waist and I don’t like the neckline, but that could be easily changed.

Remember this fabric?

I purchased it a couple of months ago and the moment I saw a photo of it I envisioned what it would become:  a v-neck vest/shell based on a favorite sleeveless tee that I purchased at Chico’s some years ago.

I love this Chico’s tee, it fits well, the V-neck is very flattering and the cut lies very nicely against my neckline.  It is a little lower than most tees, low enough that I can also wear it as a vest with a blouse or button-down shirt, but not so low that it shows too much skin for everyday wear.

As you can see in this photo, the neckline is somewhat interesting:  The front piece extends over the shoulders and form a back yoke with an angled v-shaped opening at the back of the neck.

Although I love this top, I never really thought about how this was made until I decided to copy it.  I knew it had a back yoke and opened at a v in the back, but I suppose I didn’t think much about it until I was preparing to copy the pattern.

So how do you copy something like this if you don’t want to cut apart the shirt to use as a pattern?  I still wear this top and I would really prefer not to cut it up and have to resew it.  But it is just a tiny bit more complicated than folding it half and tracing the outline, which would probably work for a standard tank with shoulder seams.

When I really looked at the top, aside from noticing that there was no shoulder seam (duh!) I noticed that the top is cut with a double layer in front and a single layer in the back, below the yoke.  I also noticed that the extended shoulder/back yoke piece is cut on the straight of grain with the front, but when the yoke piece is seamed at the center back they are pulled around on the bias, which is probably what accounts for the  way this top seems to hug the shoulders in such a nice way.

So how to trace this?  This is what I did, it is not the only way, and it is probably not even the best way, but it usually works pretty well for me.

Often, on  a simple shape like a tank or sleeveless shell, one might trace only half the pattern figuring that the piece will be cut on the fold.  Tracing off half the pattern makes it more likely that the side seams will match.  On this piece however, I would have to flip it to line trace the back shoulder extensions and I thought that working with the extra layers of a folded top might lead to further inaccuracies.

Since I have a seam, and it is hard to trace off an accurate copy of a seam, I  began by putting pins in the seam line.  Inserting pins into the edges and side seams will also give you a nice, well-differentiated line for tracing as well.

Next I spread the garment out very carefully on my table, making sure that the grain line was straight and that the garment was not stretched or pulled out of shape in any way.  I was careful to keep it as straight and even as possible.

Then I put my tracing material over the top of the garment and used tailor’s chalk to make a rubbing of the seam lines which had all been marked with pins.  There are several ways to do this, some people prefer pencils, feeling they get a finer line.   For me, since I have the pins in place, I get a very clear mark where the pins were positioned, so even if there are other chalk marks on my paper, I can still tell exactly where the seam was positioned.

There are many options for tracing paper.  You can trace the garment directly onto muslin, cut it out and sew it up and you have a test garment.  Or you can use pattern paper.  I used "soil-separator" paper that I bought at Lowe’s some years ago when it was being discussed on one of the sewing boards.  I don’t really like it for pattern paper as you can’t see markings on it, although it is sheer and good for tracing, and you can also sew it up like fabric.

If you are using something sheer like soil separator-paper be careful what you use for rubbing as certain things can bleed through the very sheer soil separator paper and mark the garment.  This is OK if the marker is washable and the garment is one you own, but I would not recommend this for a borrowed garment for example.

When I traced this garment I first traced the front, and marked the fold lines at the shoulders, then I flipped the garment, making sure I lined each of the back shoulders up with the corresponding fold lines.  I also checked the grain line of the fabric to make sure I had positioned it on-grain, then I traced each shoulder extension.

Once I had a rough copy of my garment on the soil-separator paper I could copy it to pattern paper.  This is the nice part about the soil separator paper.

First I laid a sheet of pattern paper out on the table.  Then I put my soil-separator paper rubbing on top of the pattern paper.  I made sure I could see all the proper lines and understood where I would be tracing, as there were a few wider and rough areas of my rubbing. 

Then I simply took a washable Crayola marker and traced the lines on the soil-separator paper with the marker.  The ink from the marker soaked through the soil separator paper, marking the  pattern paper as well, much easier than tracing.  I use a washable marker because I am incapable of doing this without getting it all over myself, the cutting table, and anything else that might happen to be in the way.  After I have traced over all the lines on the soil-separator paper, I remove it and copy over the lines on the pattern paper to be sure they were all clear.

Now I have a first draft of my pattern.  It is not yet finished.  The lines on this pattern would represent the seam lines — the seam allowances have not yet been added.  I also need to  check the pattern pieces to make sure that everything is correct. 

To do this I must make sure that all seams that will be joined together are the same length — for example matching the neck extension seams to the top back seam that will form the yoke and making sure that the front and back side seams
are the same length.  It is also a good idea with a pattern like this, which is a full front, to ascertain that the pattern is actually balanced from side to side by folding it and making sure that the right and left sides are mirror images of each other.

Once everything has been checked and I am sure that all the pieces are correct and properly aligned, I am ready to cut the fabric.

Since the Marfy pattern book arrived, several weeks ago, I have been perusing it periodically, attempting to make some kind of decision concerning my pattern order.  But now the time has come for the order to go in and I had to make some decisions.

In the past, I have ordered at least one coat pattern each year.  This year, although I have plans to make several coats, I ordered no coat patterns.  Do I have all the coat patterns I need?  Not likely.  Still nothing really stood out.

Not to worry, there was no shortage of patterns on my list.  Here they are, in numerical order:

I really love this dress.  In fact there is a Simplicity pattern that seems similar which I had considered buying but have not picked up yet, primarily because it has yet to find its way to the stock drawers at my local Jo-Ann Fabrics.

I might even like this dress better.  I like Marfy’s fit better. 

I ordered the jacket as well, although it is not really that unusual. But it goes so well with the dress and given how nicely Marfy patterns are drafted I doubt I will be disappointed.

Whereas it took a little while for that first dress pattern to firmly implant itself in my mind, this jacket caught my eye almost immediately.  I just love the detail of the angled dart in the front with the pockets and the peplum in the back.  Very simple, but very nice

.

A blouse with interesting darts.

Then there were two rather feminine, "dressmaker " style jackets as opposed to the more tailored style that often attracts me.  I really liked both but they also seemed terribly similar and different at the same time.  First I would like one, then the other.  Then I would decide to buy both, then I would convince myself that they were too similar to buy both.  Then I would quibble again as to which one was most worth buying.  In the end I just decided to buy them both.

Perhaps I am just intrigued by ribbons and bows this season, as one of the reasons I liked the above jacket was the little ribbon tie closure, and that is one of the features that I like about this blouse, as well as the gathers at the bust and the rather fitted shape through the waist.

I am also intrigued by the skirt.  I passed it by at first, and then noticed it again later when I was looking for a pattern for a relatively straight but flippy skirt for a particular piece of fabric.  This skirt is not what I had in mind for that fabric but it has stuck with me.  It seems that a lot of skirts have godets, and a lot have bias ruffles, but this pattern, as it appears in the sketch seems to be some combination of the two and I am suitably intrigued.  It is not that I couldn’t probably create something similar, but that I want to see how the people at Marfy do it.

The "year of the dress" may or may not be over, but I seem to be just getting started.  There were two dress patterns that really caught my eye.  First, I have been looking for a dolman wrap dress and this one looks tempting.  The second dress has that nice soft gathering again, with a fitted band holding everything in shape at the waist. 

Well, the new patterns have been up at Vogue for a few days now, and as anticipated, there are quite a few I like.  I haven’t finalized my order yet, but here are the contenders that are moving in and out of my shopping cart depending on my moods and thoughts:

Well, now I have loved this since I first saw it posted online, before I even got the Vogue Patterns magazine.  I will not make it in the same kind of fabric.  And yes it is true that the off the shoulder styling is not practical for many things, but I love it anyway and I can see myself wearing it for dressier evening events.  I also love the skirt, so this one goes into my cart.

On this pattern it is the jacket which calls to me.  The top is nice, the pants are nice, the jacket is wonderful, especially if one looks at the seaming on the back (which I did not copy to post here).  Great jacket, and I think I have exactly the perfect thing for it waiting in my closet.

This pattern is much more versatile.  It can really span a wide range from very dressy to somewhat casual depending on the fabrication, and I love the jacket as shown both in its closed versions and worn open.  I also love every other garment included in the pattern so it has great potential for multiple uses. 

Two other jackets appeal to me, the lovely short coat or jacket with the angled tucks in the back, and the the Anne Klein jacket which is shown belted here but I think would be just as lovely unbelted.  It has a lovely curved peplum type shape in the back that I think would be quite flattering.

As I said before, I am a great sucker for blouses, and these really appeal even with their strong shoulder emphasis and strong sleeve shapes, or perhaps it is because of their statement making possibilities that they attract.

I love  a good blouse that can stand alone with a simple pair of pants or a skirt, not just a blouse that plays a secondary role, and these blouses show good potential.

I suppose it is the drama of the collar on this dress that appeals to me more than anything else, but I keep waffling on the decision.  I like the sleeveless version better than the long sleeve version, for no particular reason that I can put my finger on.  I had a knit dress that looked like the long sleeve version once and it was incredibly warm, almost too warm to wear anywhere except perhaps a drafty castle in Scotland, not one of my normal haunts.  I suppose that memory could be haunting my thoughts.  But the dress did look good, and there is no reason I need to make this dress out of densely knitted alpaca.

I also love this look.  I think of the jacket and skirt as a dress like look more than as a suit and I adore the tunic over pants for its sporty simplicity without being too casual.  This could be lovely and elegant in a beautiful wool crepe, or nicely casual in a tweed or other fabric to wear running arund town or perhaps even as a light jacket over simple pants and flats for coming home from the gym.

And while I am on the subject of dressing to go to and from the gym, I
love the tunic in this pattern.  It would be perfect over leggings or
slim stretchy pants and flats to wear as a transitional piece when
stopping in at the store, gas-station, or post-office.  It could look
casual but still pulled-together.

Although I can’t exactly say that I never met a pattern I didn’t like, because there are tons of bad patterns out there.  I also cannot say that I am not easily seduced by the promise of new patterns.  I have an extensive pattern collection, far more extensive than either my fabric or yarn collection, and I am completely unrepentant about it.  Well, except for occasional periods where I fret about storing the ever-growing collection and keeping it well enough organized that I can actually find things.

And I don’t necessarily wait for pattern sales. There are several reasons for this.

*    There is no Hancock Fabrics near me.
*     My local JoAnn puts the patterns out weeks after they  arrive and there is nothing more frustrating than driving 40 minutes to buy a pattern that isn’t there..
*     My collection is large enough that I don’t necessarily remember what I have and by shopping online I can compare line drawings to my own personal pattern catalog and make a much more informed decision.  This doesn’t keep me from buying very similar patterns for subtle changes or differences, or sometimes just buying them for comparison purposes.  Nor does it keep me from buying a pattern I will probably never sew if I am intrigued enough by the design details or potential.

By the time I have gotten online, looked at my own catalog and decided to buy a pattern it makes no sense to get in the car and drive to buy the pattern when I can just click a button and have the pattern find its way to me.

I do realize that this is probably the lazy way out.  But it works for me.

Therefore it should come as no surprise that I went shopping on the McCall’s Pattern website last week.  My purchases arrived today.

This isn’t really that complicated of a dress and I have several basic patterns in similar shapes, but this particular pattern is being added to the collection because of the neckline pleats.  Of course, I could do my own, but I probably won’t.  And although I may end up working on these pleats and moving them around to fit me,  I would rather see how someone else does it and work from there rather than draft my own.

I don’t yet know if I will make this as is, or use it as a jumping-off point for several other ideas that are mulling around in my brain.

I really like this look:  the strapless jumper with a blouse, and although I have tons of patterns I don’t have anything like this.  Strapless was not my thing during my "dartless" years.  I had trouble keeping everything in place.

I am intrigued by how one can wear this look without the blouse pulling out and bunching up under the arms, or the dress slipping around.  But I saw a lot of this look last fall and into this year, both as a jumper and a dress with a jumper look so I am willing to dream about it, or at least save the pattern as a testament to the styles of the times.  And I am actually intrigued enough I might give it a try.  I am convinced that I could be far more successful now than I was in my younger days despite the lack of a youthful figure.

I have always been a sucker for a great blouse.

And there are two great, trendy jackets I picked up as well.

These jackets are both "of the moment"  and they both have that gathered lower sleeve feature which I have seen in some things for this coming fall as well.  I think they are still quite wearable, and they also have good "bones" .  They are quite modern, but they also have a classic, ladylike appeal that is almost vintage in its inspiration. I think they have a timeless potential, or more exactly, they either fit one’s style or they don’t but neither one is boring and they could be more or less trendy, depending on the fabric and construction used.

A significant part of my "spare" time the past few weeks has been spent looking at fabrics and dreaming of things I might make, as well as bemoaning the fact that I probably need to make a muslin of everything.  Bummer…muslins are great and I highly recommend them, but they are not conducive to instant gratification.

I have also been cleaning out my closets and trying on everything that they were harboring.  In the process, I made, what seems to me a remarkable discovery.  Many of the clothes I made two summers ago fit now, or nearly fit, which means that I actually have some patterns that fit, and they are, for the most part, basic patterns that I can use for new garments or as a basic block for altering other patterns. 

The second half of 2007 suddenly looks much brighter:

First I learned that I could wear these pants again:

These are actually just one pair of several pairs of one seam pants that are in my wardrobe, both in wovens and knits.    I also took this pattern and adapted it to be pants with a side seam, the first pair of pants I had ever made where the pants fit through the waist, hips, and crotch curve, and the side seams fell absolutely straight.   I wrote about them back in May 2005 .  All of these paints were made from a pattern I got from an online sewing class to which I can no longer find any links and I have totally changed the crotch curve, and in the standard pants with side seams, the entire shape of the pieces.

Still, I learned a lot using this pattern over a year or two and it is still has basic information which I use even when using other pants patterns.

I also learned that the straight skirt I last made two summers ago fits well and that pattern can go back into my basic pattern list without further alterations (yippee!)

I don’t tend to think it matters what basic straight skirt pattern one uses, as there are only so many variations.  This particular skirt is from an OOP Sandra Betzina pattern for Vogue:

Between this skirt, and the pleated skirt pattern I used last summer and fall, I have a good foundation for several other skirts, and a good base to use when using new patterns as well.

Then I found that two older knit top patterns also fit again, or fit with only minimal work needed, perhaps a small full bust alteration, depending on the stretch factor in the particular knit being used, Butterick 3124 and Vogue 2483.

But truly the biggest thrill for me was that I almost fit back into a peach silk dress I made back in 2004 for my step-son’s wedding.

It is not quite a TNT pattern as it looks a little dumpy on me now, and actually it is too small through the bust and too big through the hips.  The hip thing can be easily altered, the bust, not so much, and although I can zip the dress, I feel like my chest has been wrapped in a compression stocking, so this is not a dress I would recommend for wearing comfort. 

However, this is something I think I can easily alter, even with my relative lack of experience in FBAs. 

So I am thrilled.  With these patterns, and the two knit top patterns that are still sitting on my cutting table waiting to be perfected,  I could practically make a wardrobe in a pinch, and I can certainly use them as a starting point for working with several other styles and determining accurate pattern sizes. 

You know, I just love getting packages in the mail.  Who doesn’t?  And when the package comes with funny little customs stickers and postage in a foreign language?  All the better.

The hard part was waiting to come home, and then actually finishing all the errands in town rather than running home right away to try out my new CD’s from Bergere de France.  I was as giddy as a child staring through the window at a Christmas tree laden with gifts.

When I finally did get home, and got the groceries stowed away, for it is far to hot, even with an air-conditioned house, to leave food sitting out this time of year, I lined them up on my desktop and proceeded to play.
 

Now I knew about Bergere de France knitting patterns.  I have admired a few things May knit before she started her blog, but I didn’t know any place to get the patterns.  I knew that some patterns were posted on the website for free download, but I had never tried to order a book or a catalog.  It wasn’t really until Abi posted about the CD-ROMs that I started seriously looking at the possibility of ordering from the website.  I found the CD’s on the site and figured I would come back and order, then got busy.  When Abi posted again about the CD’s and mentioned that there had been an increase in interest in the CDs, I figured that if I was going to order I should do it.  Generally, I assume that if the United States is listed in the country list, I can order from the US.  Some European websites don’t even list the US, and on a few occasions it is listed but I have gotten an e-mail telling me they can’t ship to the US, but hey, it’s worth a try, right?   

This is wonderful, money and time well spent.  Of course my college French is a bit rusty, but I assume that with my rudimentary French, a good dictionary, Knitting Languages, Google and a bit of determination I can get through it.

Any way, there are a lot of patterns here I WANT to knit.  Don’t start laughing.  I know I have said that before.

I went to the post office on Thursday to find that Wednesday’s mail was apparently lost in a snowbank somewhere.  Thursday’s mail arrived, but Wednesday’s was missing in action, the delivery truck never made it to the local post office.  I suppose then that I am very grateful that my February Patrones came on Thursday, since the Wednesday mail (along with my WSJ which I get by mail simply because it is usually more reliable than the local delivery person) is still missing.

This issue looks even more exciting than the previous issue and there are several things I want to get to work on. 

I suppose now that I have the necessary sewing out of the way, I can look forward to copying off some of these spring styles.  However I am still dilly dallying over the decision as to whether I am sewing spring or sewing summer (as opposed to mandatory sewing).

We are off to Tucson for the weekend so any decision will be put off until some time next week, after I  have caught up with all the things life will leave at my door while I am away (hopefully including the missing mail). There will be no sewing over the weekend of course, but I am hoping to sneak off to Leandro Fabrics and Buttons’N Bolts while step-son Adam is off at coaching duty sometime.

In the meantime we have been highly entertained this morning by activities, or lack thereof, on the river:

This tug was pulling the barge down river painfully slowly and we could hear the ice crunching but the sound travelled almost as if in slow motion.  The coast guard cutter does come up and cut a channel at least once a day, but I suppose it is cold enough that the ice just closes back up and freezes in place.  It wasn’t long before barge and tug were stopped in place, where they have remained for the past several hours.   It is too bad we will miss the excitement of the rescue.   Once we had a big boat get stuck sideways and block the path of another ship.  In the end, both  got stuck and both had to be cut out and turned around. 

There is always something going on to provide a little entertainment.

Following an inquiry on Stitcher’s Guild I decided to post the actual Marfy patterns I have ordered.  If you are coming here from Stitcher’s Guild, this may prove to be repetitious.

I ordered 5 patterns, which seems like pretty few, not that I always order more (although I have — no fear of excess here) and I have ordered fewer in some seasons,  but that the competition for those slots was pretty slim.  Spring clothes are not my favorites by any means.

I ordered three blouses.  This is the first one. I took this photo of a page in the magazine; it may not be as nice as the later photos which are all courtesy of Marfy .

I like this rather loosely gathered blouse primarily because of the double gathers and it does, to me, at least look more "Renaissance or Roman" as described by the Marfy catalog than "peasant blouse".  It would be lovely in a lightweight silk knit and I can see it in a softly draped woven as well. Boho may be going out for next year, but I think this kind of shape always comes back and strikes me as the perfect kind of thing for summer afternoons by the pool, even when it is no longer fashionable for more formal events.

My first thought on seeing this blouse was how lovely it would look in a light, almost platinum gray silk double georgette with satin bands.  I also imagine it with illusion sewing in the shoulders between the straps, although I realize that this does pose a bit of an engineering challenge from the way it looks like the blouse is designed.  I will have to look at the pieces.  It may be a silly idea, ultimately abandoned, and I don’t own pale gray illusion (does it exist?).  But at the moment the idea still lives in my head and must be pursued further.

The remaining photos are, as stated earlier, all courtesy of the Marfy website .

II have long loved blouses more than knit tops and for years I survived on those treasured silk blouses from previous times (decades?) and gradually succumbed to the lure of the knit top.  Knits are more sleek, but blouses to me feel more feminine.  And perhaps because of my scoliosis, I always feel that I look better in a blouse if I am not wearing a jacket, than I do in a tee or knit shell. 

At any rate, my old blouse supply is dwindling and it is time for a restocking.  Perhaps I am more confident now, or just more of a fuddy duddy, but if blouses go out again, they will probably not make a similar exit from my wardrobe.

This blouse,  Marfy 1251, is a lovely classic blouse shape that I know will look good on me.  I purchased the pattern because of the ruffled drape on one collar.  Yes I probably could have reproduced it.  But Marfy patterns are so well cut that I don’t mind buying a different shape, and this one is slightly different than those Marfy patterns I already own.

The ruffle may or may not be an issue.  I am afraid of dragging it through my soup, but I do like the look.  A compromise may be reached. With or without the ruffle, it remains a classic.

You might notice that this is the blouse shown on the cover of the Marfy catalog.  I loved it right away.  Twist tops have been ubiquitous and perhaps I don’t need another, but the description describes it as being used for a knit or a woven and I can really imagine this in a soft summer voile or lawn or a soft silk print.

I know the style will look good on me from the front and back view, all I really care about.  I will have to lengthen it, and perhaps sew that center seam closed a little further — I am no longer at the age where I feel that navel exposure is appropriate.  It may be a little low cut, but it may not be, only a muslin will tell. 

I could probably avoid the gathers below the bust from the profile view, but then I don’t really care about the profile view anymore.  I finally came to terms  with the idea that I am rather egg shaped, at whatever weight, even at my really skinniest, I was never one who "disappearance" when turned sideways.  This may be to my scoliosis and the fusion, which, I am told "pushed my organs forward" or it may just be my basic anatomy.    Deciding to "embrace my inner egg" was one of the best decisions of my life, and saved me a ton of worry and dissatisfaction.

I ordered this jacket pattern because of the interesting seaming and the stand-up collar.  I am almost always swayed by stand up collars, just as I am swayed by wide standaway collars, both looks that flatter me.  I am also very tempted by different variations on seams and darts.  It is these details of sewing that hold my constant attention and I find fascinating.

Sporty in this picture, this is also a very versatile jacket shape that could look very different, depending on the fabric used.

But then, most people would look at two jackets made in wildly different fabrics and never realize they were made from the same pattern.  I suppose that would be an argument for owning only one jacket pattern.  But it doesn’t work for me.

I also ordered a skirt pattern:

Which could be sporty as described in a cotton or twill or could be quite elegnant in a crepe.