Vogue 8522 - Cropped Jacket with Kimono-type Sleeves is Done

I could not wait to finish this jacket. I quickly sewed the large snap and non-functional decorative button. The jacket is done. As you can see, I'm showing off my button.

I've managed to keep my goal for the year...sew at least two garments a month. August turned out to be a very productive month for me (and that included losing my sewing mojo for a week or two). I ended up sewing three jackets.

Tomorrow is another sewing adventure. I hope my fellow sewists (US) are enjoying their long weekend.

Vogue 8522 Jacket...Almost Done

Here's my wearable muslin jacket from Vogue 8522. I love how the front of the jacket looks. Actually, the fabric has grown on me and I think the colors are okay with my skin tone. When I laid out the pattern pieces on the fabric, I made sure I didn't incorporate the orange flowers that I would wear near my skin (e.g. collar).

Here's the back. I'm not too sure I like the back of the jacket on me. There's a lot of folds between the arm and the shoulder. Don't get me wrong, the jacket is comfortable and roomy. It's probably something I need to get used to. It looks like the size 10 is the right size for me. When I make view B with the longer kimono-like sleeves, the length of the sleeves look like it will be a true long sleeves on me versus the 3/4 type sleeve shown on the envelope. I may not doing any adjustments to the sleeves.

This jacket is "very easy" to sew, just like it says on the pattern envelope. The instructions are straight forward.

Here's a button I found at G-Streets (pinned to my jacket). It's 1-3/16 or 30mm in size. All I have left to do is sew one large snap to hold the front shut and then sew this decorative button in the front. I contemplated sewing a buttonhole instead. I don't think I've ever made a buttonhole that big. So, I might end up doing some hand sewing and put in the large snap instead.

Once I finish sewing the snap and button, I will post my review on PR. As always, I'll also include pictures of me wearing this jacket. Stay tuned....

So, do you think the jacket came out okay?

Ready to Sew...Vogue Jacket and Other Things

I am now working on this Vogue jacket. View A with short sleeves. I am making a muslin...using inexpensive fabric to see if I like this jacket style on me. I really want to make View B with the long kimono-type sleeves, but decided to make the short sleeves instead. 1) to see where the short sleeve falls on my arm, 2) to gauge how much I need to shorten for View B sleeves, and 3) view A uses the least amount of fabric.


Here is the muslin fabric I am using. It's a cotton woven floral print with some lycra that I found in the clearance section at Joann's. The dark areas in the fabric is olive green. To line this jacket, I'm using an olive green lightweight cotton fabric. I could not find a raspberry or medium brown fabric to match. There was no way I was going to use orange fabric for lining. Oh well, it's only a test jacket and green will have to do.


G-Street is having another sale. I went off my G-Street Fabric diet. I had a list that I pretty much stuck to (e.g. weft interfacing, buttons, thread), but I made a mistake of looking at their fabrics. Here's what I purchased (left to right): dark gray and white floral sweater knit, black with white thread suiting, black and white squares suiting, and blue and brown diamond print sweater knit.

I also found a black heavy lace knit and a black jacquard floral print brocade for some future eveningwear garments.

I did finish sewing the buttonholes and buttons on my Butterick brocade jacket. I plan on doing a special review for this jacket real soon.

In non-sewing related news...I found an Omni-Bounce flash diffuser for my external Nikon flash unit. I tried it out when I took the two pictures above. I am very happy with the results. Now, I can take wonderful pictures of my fabrics without getting any weird results. Not sure if there's an interest, but I thought I would do a future post on the basic photo equipment that I use to take pictures. Let me know if you think it would be helpful.

I am looking forward to the long weekend of sewing. How about you?

Burda Easy Fashion Mag

I love surprises. Especially ones that come in the mail. I forgot that I ordered a subscription to the Burda Easy Fashion. My Winter issue came yesterday. They are only published twice a year. So, sometime next Spring/Summer...I'll have another surprise in my mailbox. I know I'll forget next year.


Looking at the magazine cover, you will see it's written in German. I know, I should have taken German for my language elective in high school. I never thought I would be sewing later in life, let alone know what Burda was. Yes, the whole magazine is in German. So, I can "read" pictures and diagrams and figure out the sewing process. Thank goodness the writing on the pattern pieces includes English as well as German and Russian.


I only made it to page 9 of this mag when I fell in love with this jacket. I love the neckline, the front pleats, and single button. Oh heck...I just love jackets with pleats. I have a few nubby fleece in my fabric stash that would work well with this pattern. I can see many creative possibilities.

Here's the line drawing for the jacket. Looks pretty simple, huh?

I have already "read" through the steps several times. I mean re-reading the diagrams and drawings. I am sure I'll "get it" after awhile. Thank goodness for my experience with using Kwik Sew, Vogue, and Butterick patterns. That will help fill in the gaps.

Vonnevo over at Pattern Review was the enabler. I saw a lovely jacket she made from a previous issue. I figured, why not get a subscription? If anything, I can drool over the pictures.

To my fellow sewers and sewing bloggers...if you can recommend a fabulous online/website translator...I would really appreciate it. It would give me a nice place to start.

Brocade Jacket...WIP#2

Additional progress was made on my jacket this afternoon. The sleeves were sewn in. I had to stop sewing in order to make dinner. I also took the opportunity to take some more pictures.

I found these buttons in my stash. They are temporarily pinned to the jacket. We'll see if I end up using them.

Now, all I need to do is hem the jacket and do some test buttonholes.

Brocade Jacket...WIP#1

I thought I'd take a break from sewing and give you an update. I finally found some blocks of sewing time. I am holed up in my sewing room. Blinds open to let in the wonderful sunshine. I am making some progress.

Yesterday, I spent an hour sewing my jacket (e.g. pleats, shoulder seams, side seams). This morning, I sewed in the facing. You can see my progress in the following picture.



I took in the sides quite a bit and made the side seams straighter (removing the flare at the sides). Basically, sewing a regular 5/8 seam at the underarm area and then tapering until I've taken in about 2 inches at the bottom of the side seam. I had a little help with a ruler and chalk to draw my line.

To press the brocade, I have been using a dry press cloth and medium heat setting on my iron. It's working wonderfully. I did have a slight issue with getting my weft interfacing to stick to the fabric. I ended up misting my press cloth with water and applying the slightly damp press cloth over the interfacing and fabric. That worked out well.

I am getting used to the idea of not topstitching down my pleats. Here's a close up of the front and back pleats.



Still hard to take a good picture of this brocade. I've been using my external flash and practicing picture taking. Bouncing my light here and there to see what I get. Part of my artistic expression. lol!

Well, back to sewing my jacket. I need to finish my side seams with a serger, sew in the sleeves and hem the jacket. I'm still debating what buttons I should be using.

Do you think I should stick with plain black buttons?

Sewing Mojo & One Project at a Time...Whew!

What can I say? I am glad to be sewing again. Every now and then I do have a problem. I have all these sewing projects whizzing around in my head...constantly. Like right now, I'm thinking of 2 jackets and 4 fabrics. I'm getting a slight headache.

See this picture? This is the 1 yard EOS brocade remnant (60 inches wide) that I received the other day. See all those pattern pieces? They fit on the fabric. Yes, I'm doing the happy dance! I'm too tired tonight to cut out the fabric and I don't have enough light in my sewing room. For me, cutting black fabric at night is not a good idea. I'll let my fabric relax on my cutting table overnight. I'll get up early in the morning and start cutting away.

I did find the perfect buttons for this jacket at Hancock's. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of them. I'll save that for another post later.

I really need to focus on one sewing project at a time. That's the only way I can be sure to finish a garment.

So, how do you folks sew? Do you end up sewing one project at a time or do you have several ongoing projects?

My Next Vogue Jacket

I am lining up my Fall sewing projects. (Yes, Adrienne...I did say the word Fall). I plan on trying out some new jacket patterns as well as sewing some knit tops. I can't believe it has been over a year since I made a knit top. That means my other sewing machine has been idle. Shame on me.

When the new Fall Vogue Patterns came out (a few posts back...early July), this pattern caught my eye. I love the style, cropped, kimono looking sleeves, and one buttonhole. This jacket is also lined. At the moment, I am torn between View A and B (both with the shawl collar...black and green jacket). View A is with the shorter sleeve.

I traced out a size 10. The finished bust is around 38 inches. This should fit me without any alterations. Now, all I need to do is select the fabrics: jacket and lining and one gorgeous button. The recommended fabrics for this pattern is lightweight woolens, lightweight denim and lightweight jersey. I pulled out two fabrics from my stash. One is a brown/black/burgundy cotton print and the other is a brown/silver/black polyester print. I might end up using both fabrics and sew up both view A and B. I love it when a plan comes together.

All I need to do is find some lining. I was hoping that G-Street would have a sale this month. Since I have the two Butterick jackets to sew, I can put this Vogue jacket on hold for another week or so until G-Street has their Labor Day sale.

My 1 yard of brocade from EOS came in the mail today. I enjoy doing puzzles, so I'm looking forward to laying out my Butterick pattern pieces onto this small piece of fabric. Wish me luck.

Upcoming Brocade Project

First off, I want to commend the folks who run online fabric stores and take wonderful pictures of the fabrics they sell. Thank goodness for digital cameras, because I ended up taking 20 pictures before I could get the details of this brocade to show up. And you know when you're snapping away, you lose track of how many pictures were taken. Yep, that's what happened to me.

So, here is the black and gray lightweight brocade fabric I purchased (1-3/4 yards) from EmmaOneSock (EOS) two weeks ago. Linda recently had an end piece (1 yard) left and I snapped that one up. I'm waiting for its arrival. I think I can get by using this 1 yard piece to make my favorite Butterick 5223 cropped jacket. I am going to save the larger piece for something special later on. So, what happens if the jacket takes more than a yard? I know I can get the front, back, and sleeve pattern pieces to fit within the length of the fabric. I'll just use a plain black fabric for the front and neck facings.

While I'm waiting for the fabric, I better look for some fancy buttons.

Kat...thank you for the suggestions on how to iron/press the brocade fabric when I get to the sewing stage. I feel more confident now.

I also have a black fabric with a herringbone weave that's calling to me to be made into the same jacket. Since I'll be using black thread for both fabrics, it makes sense to cut out and sew two jackets at the same time.

Some of you are probably wondering why am I making so many short sleeve jackets when Fall is right around the corner. I think I'm part Eskimo (not really), but I get warm when I wear long sleeves. That's why I like wearing layers. A lot of times my base garment is either a short sleeve or tank top.

Well, I'm off to watch the Olympics before it's lights out at our house.

Me and My Butterick Jacket...

It's all done! I finally got around to sewing the buttons on my jacket last night. I must be getting good at handsewing as it didn't take that long.

I plan on wearing this jacket to my friend's birthday party. She will be the receiver of my LGD Runaround bag that I posted several days ago.

I have to say the more jackets I make from this pattern, the more I "live" in them. And you already know, denim is a comfy fabric and quite durable. I think this particular version could be worn all year round. During the cold months, I could wear a long sleeve t-shirt underneath. What do you think?


Here is one of the 3 buttons I used. I went down in button size for this jacket. I found these 7/8 inch buttons at Joann's. I like this size as it doesn't compete with the overall look of the jacket. I like the gold trim as it makes the jacket look more dressy casual.

I am happy that I've managed to sew one garment this month. My goal has been two a month. We'll see what I come up with in the next week or two.

Butterick 5223 in Denim

Wow...this jacket went together a lot faster than I expected. Believe it or not, I made one test buttonhole on a scrap of fabric. Then I proceeded to sew the 3 buttonholes. Perfect! That gives you an idea of how wonderful this denim fabric was to sew. SusieQ has been wearing it for the last few days until I had the time to sew the buttons on. So, tonight looks like the night to do some hand sewing.


This is my 4th jacket from this pattern. This time, I decided not to topstitch the pleats down. I did baste them to hold the pleats in place while I sewed in the facings. Afterwards, I removed the basting stitches. As you can see in the pictures (front and back), the pleats look softer.


Here's a close up of the denim dot fabric and the front pleats. I have to mention that this fabric was a fabulous find at Joann's. It's a lightweight denim that my sewing machine handled without any difficulty. I love that the white dots are part of the fabric weave. The fabric drapes beautifully and is perfect for this type of jacket pattern.

So, you are probably wondering what is the color of this denim fabric I used. The real color is shown in the pictures with the pleats. To give you an idea of the color...I ended up using Mettler Metrosene color #558 poly thread. Using a black would have been too dark and a thread with blue in it would have been way off. In essence, the top picture is not the true color (still learning to use my camera).


Since I will be wearing this jacket with jeans and casual pants, I decided not to take in the sides.

I'll be back to post another picture of this jacket with the buttons sewn.

Life in Our Garden

I was sitting on our front porch with DH. We were spending some quiet time reading and enjoying the nice weather we were having. I had my camera with me and gave my zoom lens a good workout. We had a lot of visitors spend some time in our front garden.

This was incredible to watch. DH had put the hummingbird feeder in our garden a few days ago. We were surprised to see the nectar disappear so quickly. So, DH refilled the feeder with more nectar. While we were sitting on our front porch, our friendly hummingbird appeared for a quick snack at the feeder. We were glad to witness this event first hand.

We noticed some butterflies flitting around. I followed a few and captured this Swallow Tail butterfly feeding on some flowers.

Then DH followed me into the garden to see what I was up to. He pointed out his little critter feasting on a Butterfly Weed plant. It's a Monarch catepillar. In a few weeks (and after munching out on the Butterfly Weed plant)...you got...it will become a Monarch Butterfly.

Last weekend I captured this little critter...a frog. It's the largest of two that we were able to find so far.


I plan to hang out on the porch tomorrow morning to see what other visitors we might have.

And how is my Butterick jacket coming along? I've managed to sew the front and back pleats, shoulder and side seams, and getting reading to stitch the front and neck facings to the jacket. So, I am making progress and enjoying my sewing time this weekend.

Another Butterick 5223 in The Works

Remember this pattern? It's Butterick 5223 - the cropped jacket. Well, I'm now making another one...again in View A. This will be my 4th version which will lead to a 5th version in a fancy fabric I plan on wearing in September. Yeah, I would call it practice sewing.

So, here's my blue lightweight denim dot fabric ready to be cut out. The dots on the denim are actually part of the fabric weave and not painted on. I came across this fabric at Joann's, this past weekend. I got the fabric for 50% off. I've already pre-washed and dried it. It's nice and soft. I love this fabric!

My fancy fabric from EmmaOneSock (EOS) came in the mail yesterday. That's fast delivery...as I ordered it on Sunday. Anyways, I was worried that this fancy fabric would be too heavy, but it turned out to be lightweight and perfect for this jacket pattern. So, what kind of fabric did I get???? It's an Italian black/gray floral brocade fabric. Now, all I have to do is worry about how I'm going to press this brocade fabric once I start sewing it. I guess, I'll worry about that later. I need to focus on one project at a time. Now, to finish cutting out my denim dot fabric.

If any of my fellow bloggers and visitors have any tips on sewing and pressing brocade fabric...please post your suggestions. I would love to hear from you.

Happy Sewing!

Runaround Bag Completed

I finally have a sewing project to show. Here's the Lazy Girl Runaround bag. A gift for a friend of mine. This bag took about 1-1/2 hours to complete...from cutting out to turning the bag inside out and giving it the final press.

Now, this wasn't 1-1/2 hours of continuous work on this bag. More like 15 minutes to cutout, 30 minutes to press the pieces and sew in the zipper, 15 minutes to press the straps & topstitch, 15 minutes to put the pieces together (making sure the right sides were in the right position), and 15 minutes to stitch around the edge of the bag, go back and serge around the edges, turn rightside out, and press the edges. Over several days. That's what I had for sewing time. Atleast it's completed.

I like this kind of sewing project when I don't have long blocks of sewing time available. I can easily create stopping points and easily pick up where I left off.

I also found the special fabric for the special event in September. I'm waiting to hear from Linda (EOS) to see if my order went through.

The weather is nice today. So, instead of sitting in front of my computer and letting time (hours) run by, I am going to get out and enjoy the weather.

I think my sewing mojo is back.