New floaty kimono jacket to me!

I was recently in the Netherlands on holiday with my family when my husband went off to the shops. On his return he told me ‘I’m not sure I should tell you this. There’s a really nice fabric shop in town. Maybe you should go and look’. Best. Husband. Ever.

And so off I gaily trotted. Dear god it was lovely fabric. But dear god was it dear. As in really flipping expensive for even their simplest cottons. Is that normal in mainland Europe or was this just an anomaly?

Eventually I settled on this floaty viscose fabric from their bargain bin that was 50% off. Except at 15 euros per metre I wouldn’t exactly call that a bargain. Which meant I had to be really sure I liked it. Good thing its flipping lovely then.

For Indie Pattern Month week 2 the challenge is ‘New to Me’. I did scroll through lots of the makers but didn’t feel hugely inspired. But then remembered to go through my (increasing) stash of patterns and found this kimono jacket pattern from Sew Caroline that I’d downloaded and printed out years (and years) and years ago.

The patterns is a pdf (god how I hate pdfs) but is so ridiculously simple even I managed to piece it together. Only then did I realise how wasteful the pattern was. It starts half-way down the first A4 piece (cos she had to make room for her substantial logo). And then it turns out the back piece and the front piece are identical except the back piece is a little wider because its on the fold. *Slaps forehead theatrically*. So in all it takes 18 pieces of A4 to print out something that could have been done on 8 with a bit of imagination. Grrrr. One of the many reasons I get irritated by pdf patterns.

Onto the sewing bit then.

I used french seams for most of this make due to the floaty fraying nature of my fabric. I did overlock the sleeves onto the body though I’m still not sure that was the prettiest finish. I used a rolled hem on the inside seam which remarkably went smoothly despite previous adventures with my rolled hem foot. When it goes well it goes really well. Other times its just a pain in the hoop.

Finally for the sleeves and the bottom of the jacket I used this lace trim that I picked up in Dunelm Mill for the surprisingly thrifty price of £2.50.

All in all this is a nice pattern and I would make it again. I think next time I might make the neck opening a little wider and would probably use a facing on the neckline similar to that of Sew Over It’s Anderson blouse. I feel the rolled hem may not give it enough strength for this to last long-term.

Scotland has been going through an unusual spot of weather recently – ridiculously hot one minute, cold and peeing it down the next. Which means when I started making this it was perfectly suitable for the climate. Today? Not so much. Note for future: it’s really hard to take a photo of something made from wafty floaty fabric on a windy day!