Artisan Jacket My Way

In recent years, any garment I made had a goal--it was for wearing to PIQF (Pacific International Quilt Festival) or to the International Quilt Festival in Houston. But no matter how early I started, I always lost a lot of time dithering over the fabrics, the pattern, and the fit, and then having to rush to finish. I'm going to show you what I rushed to make last year. I was taking my time drafting the moulage, wanting a perfect sloper. But that's when my husband spent a week on life support and all the complications that followed. When I got back to sewing, I decided it was time to go directly to an easy pattern.

I wanted to try the Artisan Jacket from Indygo Junction.

www.indygojunctioninc.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=126_129&products_id=248

I found a drapey fabric in my stash, maybe a rayon/acrylic blend. I cut the jacket with few adjustments, eliminated the back yoke to save time, and basted the pieces together. I loved the fit and the look!

OK, time to cut the fashion fabric. I had found a crisper cotton, but didn't have enough for the band down the front and around the bottom. Time was running out, I didn't like my options. What to do? Back to the sample which was already sewn up. All I had to do was make the bands. I have a large stash of sample squares from Thai (Exotic) Silks (www.exoticsilks.com). These were Indonesian Batik cottons. The squares echoed the black and gray squares in the fabric. The colors of the batiks were grayed which suited more than my usual primary colors.



The Artisan Jacket lower band is a single layer, it's not like the usual folded band, but I made an extra-wide black cotton folded band and stitched the blocks onto that. This is quick raw-edge stitching, using a zig-zag stitch--rough but especially useful because the samples varied in size.

I've already put the jacket in the wash once and it survived very well--needed only a bit of thread trimming. However, because the bands are three layers of fabric thick, they're a bit too heavy for the body fabric. I'm considering adding a lining now to give more support. I wore the jacket, I thought it was adequate, but now I've got it on my dressform and think it needs more. I'm going to have to audition the embellishments. I have some mat African beads in all those colors. A row stitched all around the band might pull the colors together more. Gold coins? Black beads? I don't know yet, it's still a work in progress.