This post is written by April of Modern Handmade.
Hello Gnats readers! I’m a California (Southern California, to be exact) girl, born and bred. And I love it here. However, when Fall comes around I wish that I lived somewhere where the leaves changed color and the temperatures are cool instead of having a heat wave in November. So since I’m in denial about the weather I like to pretend that its cold and sew myself a nice warm jacket out of gorgeous Shetland Flannel.
I have a deep love for herringbone print. I’ve bought herringbone fabric in denim, wool, knit, stretch bottom weight and flannel. I just can’t resist it so when Rachael started carrying this Robert Kaufman Shetland flannel in her shop, I immediately scooped up 4 different colors! I made a cape for Miette with Ocean and I have plans for the Pumpkin and Redwood. I kept the gray for myself and of course I had to combine it with a lovely floral vintage fabric. The cuffs, band and collar are a ponte knit.
The pattern I used is the Cookie Blouson by Waffle Patterns. I’ve had the intention of making this for over a year and I’m glad I waited for the perfect fabric. The pattern doesn’t come with lining instructions however Yuki has instructions on her blog that walk you thorough it. The jacket has a lot of small details that I love. Raglan-style sleeves, small gathers on the sleeves, front and back, a high neck, zippered pockets and knit cuffs.
I made a muslin for the size 38 and the only adjustment I made was to lengthen the sleeves by 2″. Then I got to work on the real thing. This is not a quick project and I think it took me close to 6 hours. The PDF instructions provide a lot of detail are easy to understand but the lining instructions were a little harder for me to visualize. It is definitely worth the extra time to fully line this. It adds extra warmth and the finished jacket is so professional (much better than zigzag seam finished edges).
The zippered pockets ended up being pretty small and I’m not able to fit my whole hand in them but they work great to hold my keys and phone. And if I were to make it again I would probably add some interfacing to the collar to give it a little bit more structure. It is a great pattern and I’m so happy with it!
Now I’m off to sew up a few more things using my stash of Shetland flannel! Every color is just amazing. Honestly. I know the gray is backordered but I think my favorite color is the Ocean. Or the Redwood. Or Pumpkin. Oh, I just love them all!
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