Miss Celie

I am so over this stupid jacket

dscf7586Maybe it was more than I could handle. Maybe it was doomed from the beginning. But, I am so over my first vaguely tailored jacket.

To summarize: I resewed the placket about six times to get it vaguely pointy, I resewed the pockets to change the proportion after they ended up being folded into the hem, I then had to hand sew them on because the lining was already in, I had to cut fabric out of the hem and re-shape it to get them to match.  And now that it’s done:

dscf7594I put the buttonholes on the wrong side of the centerfront line

dscf7582The freaking collar is lopsided and too tall

dscf7587The pocket position doesn’t match and the pointy placket is all kinds of wonky

I thought the fit was great until I saw a photo of the back. Which is so sloppy, I’m not even gonna post the photo.

Again I say: I am so over this jacket. I just wish it wasn’t from my Egypt fabric 😦

ETA: I am still over this jacket. But, I’ve slept on it and read all your helpful comments. Thank you! Into the magic closet it goes until I feel like surgery. I can take of the collar to reshape, while that’s off replace the front placket and sort out the hem. Fixing the hem length will let me put the pockets into the correct position. I’m not sure where things went awry, but I suspect it’s from drafting my own lining and not getting the measurements right. Hopefully, this will make another appeareance in the fall.

Also, because you asked, here’s the back. Which, I can live with. The problem here is my hips are bigger than when I made this last and didn’t accommodate.

dscf7592

47 comments

  1. Smile smile, it looks good though! You know what they say: If anything can go wrong it will. Stupid saying.

    It does look good and if you wouldn’t point out the mistakes, no one might notice.

  2. Bummer! The style lines of the jacket are wonderful. When my sewing goes awry, I consider it a learning experience. Believe me, I have a LOT of experience at this point!

  3. If you wear the jacket open most of those problems won’t show. That grey colour is awesome on you BTW and wow! you’re looking great – you look like you’ve lost weight. Back down to your dating weight per chance?

  4. I would be so over it, too. I made one lined jacket in 1981 and a not-lined jacket in 1999 (it’s still my “interview jacket”). I have no plans to make another jacket any time soon. Of course, I work in a place where wearing a jacket would be the same as yelling out, “I’m interviewing somewhere!”

    Wear it and see how many people don’t notice what you know. We sewists are too hard on ourselves.

  5. I’m sorry it didn’t turn out the way you wanted it to. I think we all have those bad sewing projects. I agree with Mary, unless everyone you encounter is a sewist, no one will even notice unless you point out flaws.

  6. Aw, jeeze, I’m sorry it wasn’t a happy ending. But thank you for taking us with you to the final show-and-tell.

  7. I guess I’d try making LONG buttonholes so the buttons would actually slide over and end up at the center front; call ’em a design feature, jazz ’em up if you need to with hand worked stitches over the long part you won’t need. I think your collar problem would resolve itself. Not sure what’s up with the length and the pockets, but maybe even that would ‘sit’ right once the buttons are placed in the right place.

    The jacket really fits nicely, at least the front does. What’s wrong with the back? You sure it’s not fixable?

  8. I can feel your pain. I can’t count the number of garments that hang in my closet, mostly not worn, because they just don’t feel or look right. Probably a lot of stuff nobody else would notice, but it just isn’t the way I planned it, darn it!!

  10. I think it is very flattering on you; wear it with a nice pair of wide-leg pants and heels. You are certain to get lots of compliments. When you tell them you made it out of fabric you found in Egypt, it will be even better. As you are moving around, etc., the small variances against plan will not be a visible as you might think. Learning experiences are good things.

  12. When I opened your blog and saw the 1st photo, I thought, Wow! what a cute jacket. But as I read through the blog, I just had to start laughing!! I’m in the middle of a project fraught with disaster, so I guess I can relate or just needed some comic relief.

  13. This looks so good! I really dont think the errors are at all noticable… I’m working on my first tailored jacket, so maybe I’m feeling overly optimistic, but I really think it looks nice. Although you look too skinny!

  14. I was admiring it until I read the complaints….I like the long button hole suggestion; that might actually work. Don’t let it beat you! 🙂
    Sometimes I set stuff aside overnight and the next day I figure out what to do. It does look pretty good – all YOU see is the flaws, but all we see is the nice jacket.

  15. Put the jacket away. In a week, go back and remove the pockets and fix them. Then put the jacket away. A week after that take the collar off and fix it…it should be April by then and it will work as a great little jacket over an outfit. It should be fine with those two fixes…and now you know why I sew but don’t tailor!

  16. I thought it looked good till you pointed out the stuff you don’t like. Ah well. I don’t think its noticeable, but I also know that when I know something is wrong, I just won’t wear the piece… But what Carolyn said sounded like a good plan…

  17. Mmm, you poor thing. And I am sure you don’t want me to say this, but it would appear that your left front is actually shorter than your right front, hence the pocket difference. (Or is that just an illusion from the angle?)

    You know, it is all fixable (if you can be bothered) and overall it looks great. Or how about turning it into a vest – you have had great success there.

  18. I’m soo sorry for you. I really like the style of the jacket and it looks wonderful on the pics. Don’t give it up. The style is perfect for you and all the work is worth fixing it. We all have this kind of projects every now and then. I’m sure you can make it!!!

  19. I agree with others, this is totally fixable, just take offf or move the pockets and fix the hem and it will be perfect, the fit looks really good. But I also totally understand that you don’t want to do that now, just leave it for a few weeks and make an easy knit top for now!

  20. If you hadn’t have pointed out all those thing I wouldn’t have noticed then. My first thought was “Wow great jacket”. Hope you still wear it.
    Cheers Wendy PS love your blog

  21. Celie I too thought this looked really good in the first pic. I fact if you hadn’t said anything I wouldn’t have noticed (but I have never sewn a jacket either so maybe not the best reference point:) . Please don’t throw it in the bin, I think its still a great piece regardless!!!

  22. Good idea to let it rest for a while and then revisit the things you want to change. Your post made me laugh, though. We’ve all been there!

  23. Put it away for future surgery or ditch it! I knit a top once that just isn’t well, right. I chunked it in a donation pile rather than rip it to reclaim the yarn. Best way for me to get rid of that headache. Glad I found your new blog. You always encourage me to sew with your projects.

  24. I know the feeling about being over it. I’ve always just put those pieces away for a future day when I can tackle it again. The day will come!

  25. Some projects are just cursed! I have had some issues with the yellow coat I am trying to finish up, and I’m a whole lot more experienced with jackets and coats than you are. Sometimes it just happens. I think that the pulling at the back hem is from the lining being cut too short. You need it to be 5/8″ longer than the finished hem. You can commit surgery on the jacket or just move on and call it a learning experience.

  26. I love how honest you are about your sewing projects. Sometimes they don’t come out the way we hope, but I’m glad I’m not the only one! Anyway, I think even for all the problems you had with the jacket, it still came out looking great and very wearable. You should pat yourself on the back for persevering and flaunt it proudly.

  27. You’ve made so many wonderful garments, don’t let this jacket slow you down for too long. The magic closet might be just the right solution.

  28. I love the idea of a magic closet! I need to try that one. If I find myself getting stuck on cursed projects I usually just throw it in the thrash bin and afterwards I feel a huge relief. And even though a garment doesn’t make the final cut, it’s still a lesson learned.

  29. I need a magic closet too. Preferably one that comes complete with fairies who come in the night and do all the mending/fixing that needs to be done….

    short of that, I agree with all the others who said, just wait a couple of weeks and take another look at it.

  33. Bummer! I could really see you wearing this, it is a little tailored, yet a little quirky. Oh well, at least you know what the mistakes are and have decided to move on. Next project?

  34. It’s cute, I agree you should fix it once the steam blows off a little. However, I have just one thing to add about the placket. Have you just taken a quick ‘whole’ look and seen just what it’s pointing to? It’s OK mind you, as long as you’re doing it on purpose.. Or just square off that arrow and you won’t have to worry about the point, 2 birds with one stone :-).

  36. I’m sorry. I think you learned a lot and when you make your next jacket things will flow much more easily. I like the jacket.

  38. Oh, bummer. Doesn’t it just burn you up with that off-grain mess! That bag is still turning out to be very cute.

  39. So sorry Babycakes…as I call me daughters when they need a boost. It looks good despite your troubles. It’s not energy wasted because you just taught yourself many how-to’s and how-not’s. Disregard previous post. That was supposed to go with the bag post.

  40. We’ve all had this experience. I use it as a learning tool. Sorry about the time and effort and I know exactly how you are feeling.

  41. Okay, so I think you look great in that jacket. It’s the kind of jacket you could possibly find at a high end, small designer store here in LA. The misalignment would be done on purpose of course, and so would the baggy fit in the back. The color and style is fantastic on you and you also look trim and fit.

  42. So sorry. Maybe if you took a break from it; then try to correct the areas mentioned in the post. This is a great looking jacket, just a little tweaking is needed.

  43. Well I hope you can salvage it because those pockets are the bomb!! It would be a shame to see that great fabric go to waste. I really think you can tweak it into shape when you’re ready. Thanks for sharing this (I know it’s pathetic but it makes me feel better)!

  44. OK, I’m going to take a different point of view here. Get rid of it. You don’t want this thing hanging over your head when you really want to make something new and fresh. Make a new tailored jacket using a different pattern. You will never be happy with this one. Even if you take the whole thing apart and redo everything – which you will hate (or else you’d be happy to do alterations for a living,) you will be so sick of it by then that you will never want to wear it. Sometimes things like this just happen – yes, even with our best fabrics. The sooner we get rid of that nagging reminder, the better. This is the voice of experience 🙂

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