Grandma Jean & I

grandma Jean & a flannel jacket

Grandma Jean & I

My maternal grandmother passed in 2004, and I was fortunate enough to be with her at that time. She met my daughter, then just four months old. As my children grew, I began to wish very much my grandmother was still with me. I remember she asked me, after I had my daughter – the first great-grandchild – “Are you nursing?” What a wonderful woman.

I now carry two things of my grandmother’s: a platinum ring, and her 1950 Singer 15-91

Well and, arguably, an irascible nature.

Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat

Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat
This coat is perfect. This happens sometimes. There are darts and pockets and bias-sections in this puppy and yet you have to work to find them all. 🙂

So yeah, it’s full of pockets. Five, all hidden. My grandma would approve. She was a li’l shady. There’d be a pack of cigarettes in one of these pockets, too. I smoked for seventeen years before quitting, so now I keep my phone there instead.

The waist patch pockets are lined and affixed by fell stitch. Even with a super-closeup, they are hard to see!

Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat

The coat features a 2″ padded hem, with an interlining and full satin lining:

Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat

The padded hem gives a wonderful weight to the coat.
Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat

The lining is semi-quilted – quilted in chevrons in the upper back, for stability and ease of wear:

Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat

Clean-finish sleeve hems:Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat

Black buttons ala bakelite! No nonsense. I also liked the idea of a tidy collar, so I put some teeny tiny 3/8″ buttonholes in the collar:

Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat
The sleeves have a lovely bias-cut inset. It would be easy enough to reverse-engineer the full sleeve for the lining – in this case, the lining is similarly pieced.

Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat

More about those hidden pockets! Side seam pockets as well – also lined in satin:
Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat

And for the fifth pocket – a welt pocket in the right-side lining. Ala menswear!Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat

My grandmother’s hair was waist long; she never wore it down, ever. In her later years she spent lots of money keeping it platinum. I can’t do platinum today, but I am doing my best, and thinking of her fondly.

Grandma Jean & A Flannel Car Coat

 

Mustard-Plaid Car Coat

Mustard-Plaid Car Coat

Mustard-Plaid Car Coat
My top five favorite things about this Mustard-Plaid Car Coat:

1. I made it from yardages donated to me: both the shell fabric (a plaid constructed with a knit backing), and the interlining (a polyester fleece). The only bits I purchased were the thread, interfacing, snaps, and jersey lining. Upcycling BOOM!

2. The quilted lining (pictures below), which make it so soft and cozy!

3. The build of the coat itself: it has a lovely one-piece collar design I’ve not worked with in any other pattern. Just gorgeous!

4. My plaid matching (top notch!) – matching at front, sleeve, and cuff – and also back-collar, yoke, and back. I was wearing a (certain name-brand) plaid shirt today, which sets a retail price for simple plaid shirts at $100 to $200. They’re plaid-matching has nothing on mine!

5. My double-welt pockets. I’ve been working on my own method for these pockets and I am getting it down. Beautiful and sturdy!

Mustard-Plaid Car Coat

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

preppy like that!

As mentioned last post, across the internetz many (mostly)lady-bloggers are sewing up a batch of boy patterns for a blog tour of the designs. The patterns are all PDF indie designs, have a wonderful size range of 3 months to size 16, and they are all featured on an extended sale until the first. I was honored to be asked to participate. The 25th I submitted my first entry. Today, I bring you: 

The Letterman Jacket!

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

So for today: I am The Letterman Jacket by Fairytale Pattern Design. I’ll be discussing them here and in my Flickr tagset.

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

The pattern: if you think about it, a Letterman jacket is a simple garment (certainly simpler than the last jacket I made). What makes it iconic and beautiful are the fabrics used, the details (the distinctive ribbing and collar or center back zip hood), and the patches. Almost any raglan jacket could be easily changed to a letterman jacket. That said, it is wonderful to have a simply-drafted pattern and it was easy for me to modify it for a facing and lining. This particular pattern comes in size 4T to size 16 (please please please let a client request a wee 4T) – a generous size range.

 I made a size 8 in girth and a size 12 in length for my lean green bean boy! I also hand-knit cuffs, hem band, and neckband:

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

 

My welt pockets are perfect! Exactly no one is surprised. That said, some fabrics are far more lovely to work welt pockets in – and melton wool is definitely in that category:

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

 

Finished with a wonderful gold slipper satin and antique brass snaps:

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

And one of my favorite bits: a custom chenille patch:
Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

All in all, a successful venture with a very simple, trusty pattern.

Letterman Jacket (Bundle Up Boy Blog Tour)

You can learn more about the Bundle Up pattern package below – or visit all the blogs that are showcasing the different patterns. Y’all know I tend to draft my own stuff, but these patterns are pretty fabulous and most of them have a great size range. Enjoy!