Kwik Sew 3764 - Finished

Here's the inspiration again, for comparison.



Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. If I were to do it again, I'd change the "lapels" because with my winging it by eye and not testing it before cutting the real fabric, they came out wider and more downward pointing than I wanted. But that's only when comparing it side-by-side to the inspiration. I've looked at photos of other "biker" jackets and saw both types.

Here's the back:



I added the yoke to the pattern and topstitched along each side of the lower center back seam. I have no idea what the inspiration jacket looks like from the back.

Close-up:



I did end up with a button and buttonhole on the inside to hold the underflap in place. The sweatshirt fleece is just too heavy to support itself without this. I used the flattest button I could find in my button box, positioned it below the curve of my bust, and it doesn't show from the outside at all. I'm very happy with this solution.



You can sort of see the bottom hemming in the pic above. I forgot to take pics, but I cut the facings without hem allowance and just folded the hem up once over the facings and caught the facing bottoms in the coverstitched hem. It's not the most beautiful from the inside, but with this fabric, I needed to avoid bulk wherever and whenever possible.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the pocket flaps are fake and I used sideseam pockets instead. You can see them as the bright green patches above. They're caught in the hem to keep them in place and also hand-tacked in a couple of strategic spots. I'm very glad I went with the sideseam pockets with this fabric, because the front of the jacket is already quite thick with four layers of sweatshirt fleece after it's all zipped closed. This is a *very* warm jacket. The sideseam pockets don't show at all, until I put my hands in them. Here's a pic that shows the pocket opening with me pulling it open.



Kudos to those people who arrange clothing for catalog and other photo shoots. It's really hard to get everything smooth and symmetrical. What did they ever do before Photoshop? ;-)

Today I'm going to dust and vacuum the sewing room, pre-wash the Men's Shirt Sew-Along fabric, and check that the vintage pattern from Etsy is actually all there. I'm not sure what I'll actually be sewing next. I'll let you know when it calls out.