Made by a Fabricista: By Hand London Victoria Blazer
Hello
there! I don't know about over in your
neck of the woods, but here in Indiana it's been raining cats and dogs for the
past couple of weeks. I've been
anxiously waiting for the weather to let up so I could get pictures of my next
make for the Fabricista blog, The Victoria Blazer.
The
pattern is By Hand London's Victoria Blazer that was released last year in
their Spring/Summer collection. It's a
casual blazer with 3/4 length sleeves that have french seamed cuffs so you can
wear them up or down. The jacket
variations are full length, cropped and sleeveless. The design is casual and laid back so there is
a generous amount of ease which makes for a very easy fit.
The
pattern calls for a light to medium weight woven fabric with some body such as
cotton, linen, chambray, denim, tweed, etc.
Ponte or double knits are also goo
#1 -
Stretch...The fabric had absolutely no give on the crosswise grain. Stretch would of been a big contender if the
jacket style was more fitted but it's not so I wasn't worried.
#2 -
Drape...I knew cutting against the grain would affect the drape and in effect
cause some fit problems. I was confident
I could work those out so I got to cutting.
Ok
let's get down to the nitty gritty, fitting and construction! Again because of the oversized fit of the
jacket I was convinced fitting would be a breeze. Still though I made a muslin to be sure. The shoulder seams drooped a little too far
past my shoulders for my liking. I
shortened those by 1/2 inch. I also had
to shorten the sleeves by 2 inches...I have some short arms.
The
pattern instructions/illustrations were very clear and easy to follow. BHL also has a sew-along over on their website
if your like me and need a little extra hand holding. Hey nothing wrong with that!
When
I arrived to the point where the jacket shell was completely assembled I seen
where cutting on the crosswise grain was affecting the drape. You can see in the picture below how the back
balloons out A LOT. To correct this I
added two back darts, 6 inches in length and 1 in wide.
The
blazer has a partial lining. The sleeves
are not lined and the lining is left unattached at the sleeves. I found this kind of odd so I followed a few
other bloggers and attached my sleeve lining to the sleeve seams. This also helps to keep the lining from
sagging and peeking out at the bottom hem.
You can see below how I attached the lining to the sleeve. This picture was after I washed the blazer so
my pinked seams weren't as pretty and ironed flat as they once were but you get
the idea. My lining was a lightweight
cotton poplin from my stash.
I
ended up doing two photo shoots. After
going through the pictures from my first shoot I was just not happy with the
way the back of the blazer was still ballooning out. Ok ok I wasn't happy with my hair either but
that's a whole nother story! I had
already washed it once hoping it would soften up and fall into place (the
blazer, not my hair) so I got out my seam ripper and re did the back
darts. I lengthened them another 2 inches
making a total of 8 inches in length and widened them another inch each for a
total of 2 inches in width. I think it
was an improvement. You decide...
This
blazer came together pretty quickly. I
worked on it for an hour or two each evening after work and had it completed by
the weekend. If casual and laid back is
your style then this pattern has your name written all over it. I'm more of a fitted jacket kind of gal
however with my shoulder/sleeve alterations and the body of my fabric I think I
found a nice balance between the two. I
would/will make this pattern again and opt for the full length style. I love how cool and chic Victoria
herself looks in the vest styled over a cute little black dress.
- Shannon from Shanni Loves
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Posted on June 09 2014
Really enjoy visiting your blog
Nice blazer