Busy busy busy, but always finding time for sewing.

Of course, I am behind on my blog posts....again. But I have been busy sewing. One project I made, and am quite proud of, was a beautiful teal bolero jacket for a young lady at church. She needed a formal jacket to go over a sleeveless dress for a military ball she was invited to. Her mother came to me asking for help. She had already decided what she wanted it to look like, so off we went to my happy place....Joann.  The pattern we decided on was a Vogue pattern 8957. We chose a gorgeous teal taffeta from the David Tuttera collection to make it just stunning.

You can see a little glimpse of the teal next to the pattern envelope here.

 

 

 

Before making the final piece, I made a sloper out of a simple white cotton. I wanted to make sure I was not going to waste any of that beautiful material. It fit perfectly, and actually went together quite easily.

 

Since this material was a dry clean only, I could not wash it before hand. In order to take the sizing out, I pressed it with a light steam instead. This made the fabric easier to handle and reassured me she would not get shrinkage when she has to take it in to be cleaned.

 

 

She chose the 3/4 sleeved pleated ruffled jacket, view C. Needless to say, there was a lot of pressing with this one. I have found when pressing this many pleats it is very helpful to pin the pleats in place as you work your way around the fabric.

You can see here where the box pleats were attached at the sleeve edge. These pleats went all the way around the jacket edge. It is a stunning effect for sure.

 

I was afraid this material would be hard to work with, but am happy to say I was wrong. I will definitely choose the David Tuttera line in the future.

 

 

This is the lining material, which was a Casa collection selection from Joann's trade line. Also easy to work with. As I may have mentioned in previous posts, I do not have a serger, so I chose to pink the edges of my projects to prevent fraying. If you look at the edge of the sleeve you will see the pinking. It gives a nice edge to the seam, and if sewing on a curve it also helps the curve lay nicely.

 

So, after fitting the sloper, pressing the material, assembling the jacket, pressing, pressing, pressing, and pressing lots of box pleats, I was finished with this beautiful bolero.

 

 

And here is a picture of the jacket on the lovely young lady with her date. (Faces cropped out for privacy of course).

 

 

I think it turned out just fabulous, and so did she. Hope you enjoy.  Next installment....sewing for pioneer trek. Yay. Happy sewing.