I bet you never thought that I would finish my jacket, but I'm happy to report, the In K Designs jacket is complete (the completed project photo is on the sidebar) - and just in time for the weekend!

I love the way that this jacket turned out, but it took a lot longer to finish that what I had expected. I managed to hand sew the jacket hem (which is quite the accomplishment for me) and I think that it turned out the best that I've ever done. I'm not much for hand sewing, but I took my time and made nice, small, even stitches.

Setting in the sleeves was not what I had expected. The cap sleeves of this jacket are only sewed about 3/4 of the way around the arm hole. The rest of it is finished by using bias tape. It's not as polished around this inside area of the jacket as the rest, but I suppose no one is going to see it. Other than that, this jacket is FABULOUS and I love the fact when you unbutton it, I flash everyone a bit of color!

I've put up a more detailed review of this jacket on Pattern Review's site.

It's time to go back to work on my jacket - until it's finished! I spent a little bit of time on it over the weekend and this is what I've got so far:

The back of the jacket needs to have the hem put in. The last time I made this jacket, I cut the hem off and applied binding, so I didn't notice how much fabric there was in this area. It doesn't say to do it, but I'm going to have to ease in the hem a bit - and sew it down by hand or figure out how to make a blind hem again on my machine. I'm probably better off doing the latter, since I already know that I'm going to have to take up the hem of my bridesmaid's dress.

I'm going to also have to find a button to go with it. I'm leaning toward something black, but if I could find something crazy looking like the lining fabric, I'd pick that up in a heartbeat! After that, all I have left is the sleeves. I may get to wear this out this weekend when we go to the Plaza! Now, if I wear this, I'm going to have to have some suggestions as to what would go with it. Anyone?

This pretty much sums up the state of my current jacket progress:

As you can see, it hasn't gone much of anywhere since the last entry...... I'm blaming it on summer activities. Yesterday, Taylor had a golf tournament (4 holes). Then Bret, Taylor and I played 9 holes - keep in mind that it was only the second time I've ever played golf, so you can imagine how long this took for us to finish (I'm learning to play because I figure that will be the only way I get to see my family in the next few years). Between the heat (It got up to 98 degrees yesterday), the humidity, and the sheer number of times I had to swing the golf clubs - I was beat!

Here's a close-up of the pocket:

The actual fabric is so dark that it makes it difficult to see any detail - so these photos have had some adjustments in both the contrast and brightness. As you can see, the bottom edge of the pocket doesn't look right - the left side is fine, but the right, 'meh'. Fortunately, it blends so I don't think anyone will notice (it's just my own "perfectionist" personality that's getting the best of me). The other thing about this jacket is the fabric. As much as I love it, it's going to be horrible to wear. I find that it seems to wrinkle very fast. These panels were sitting in my sewing area and they've already started to 'wilt'. I'm going to have to remember not to wear this when it's too hot outside!

Lots of little things to report today.

First, (and like I need to remind anyone), the new season of Project Runway starts tonight! Be sure to drop by Blogging Project Runway for detailed reports!

My jacket is sloooowwwwwllllllyyyy moving along. I've now added the front pockets - I'm feeling kind of 'meh' about them too. I spent forever trying to shape them just right (they are rounded on the bottom and instead of using a basting stitch and pulled in the fullness, I just followed their directions) and make both sides even. When I make more progress, I'll post a picture.

I am happy to report that I finally made my way to Needle Nook Fabrics! I picked up several items that I needed for a side project (more information on that in the future). I talked to Anne for awhile - she doesn't have any classes at the moment for me to take (which is fine right now since it would be fall before I could anything anyway). But, she's writting a book (on, of course, bra making)! I got to glance through it and it's going to be wonderful. She's got lots and lots of photos (she had told me the number and I want to say it's aournd 175) to complement her text. I should have asked when it was going to be out, but I have a feeling that in the next few weeks I'll be going back (I saw some great fabric that I may just have to go back and get).

Yesterday, I also added a new pattern to my collection - Jalie 2320, the jeans jacket. I saw this pattern in the ad section of Pattern Review and I just had to snag it! I had thought about getting this when I was in the process of making a cropped jean jacked last fall, but decided on Burda 8185 instead. Considering how much denim I have left over from my Fabric Mart denim bundle, I should have plenty enough stashed to make a few!

Lastly, there's the issue of the fabric that I purchased off of ebay (for the bag swap). I am happy to report that I got an email back from the vendor yesterday and they immediately shipped out the correct fabric (well, let's hope it's the right stuff). As far as the tea cups go, I keep that as well (I'm just wondering what the person who ordered the teacup fabric thought when they got my order?). I am guessing that it should be here by the end of the week, hopefully before Saturday so I can get started on my bag while Taylor is at her fishing tourny that morning.

I sort of had a bad day yesterday - which put me in a grouchy mood in the afternoon. Bret was very sweet and took Taylor out for awhile. So I sat myself infront of the sewing machine and started working on my new jacket.

I interfaced all the pieces, serged all the raw edges of the fabric (since this jacket is unlined, I want it to look pretty if I take it off), and attached the front piece to the side front. By the time they came home, I was in a much better mood - sewing is so therapeutic! Even the drudgery of adding interfacing was enjoyable.

So, who else finds sewing therapeutic?

As I mentioned yesterday, I picked up a few new patterns at Joann's 99 cent sale. I've decided that Simplicity 4230 is calling my name to make view C - the jacket with cap sleeves.

So, I searched my stash for just the right fabric and came up with some lovely strech black sateen. Originally, this fabric was purchased for Vogue 2882, the pants. But, when I bought it, I didn't look to see that the fabric measured 44" wide and not nearly enough to do anything with! Needless to say, this fabric has been sitting in my stash since November (at least).

Since I already had most of the patterns pieces cut, I went ahead and cut the fabric out. I didn't have quite enough material for the facings so I opted to make this out of some leftover cotton that I used as lining in the corduroy version of the Hot Patterns Wrapture Jacket.

The price is coming out right for this project too - .99 cents! Too bad I had to go out and buy a new pattern, otherwise, this one would have been free (my definition of free fabric: 1) remnants used from other projects, 2) fabric that is donated\swapped\traded, 3) fabric that has been sitting in my stash long enough that I can't remember how much it costs!)

Speaking of fabric, I am sad to announce that I got outbidded on the Ebay fabric that I was going to use for andreamarie's bag. Fortunately, I found another place to buy it (boy was it hard to find too) and got notice this evening that it's in the mail! I'm hoping that it will arrive early next week so I can get started on it. I still haven't decided on what shape I'm going to make the bag - I think that I'll wait to see it up close and see what might look best.