Mission Complete

Yes, it's done. It's finally done! I hope you haven't been holding your breath all this time. ;-)

Here's the back view:


This pic shows the weird shaped front facings. (And the stabilizer still on the backside of my buttonholes.)

This is the quasi-lining for the back. The middle section has an ease pleat. The bottom section is hanging free. I haven't yet decided whether to attach it to the jacket hem with a few thread loops. I'll see how it wears without them.

Here's the jacket splayed out on the (thread snip covered) floor. The back lining is sewn into the neckline, armholes and sideseams.

There is a separate collar stand. I'm not sure if this was entirely necessary, but it looks nice. ;-)

Yoke, pocket flap, and notched collar … which I did not widen, Katharine, because I decided extra width would overlap the pocket flaps.

And the sleeve placket, which I sewed on the right way the first time. Whew! Speaking of the sleeves, they eased in great first try. I think, no — I know, I was stalling on finishing this because of those sleeves. But I shouldn't have worried. I did leave the seam allowances at 5/8" and sewed two rows of gathering stitches, pinned carefully, and voila! Whew again. ;-)

Lots and lots of topstitching on this thing. I topstitched nearly every seam. Actually, I think I did hit every seam, including the two upper sleeve seams because at that point, I figured why not. I do like the way it looks. It's too bad the photos aren't doing justice to the topstitching thread. It's a taupe-y color which matches some of the paisley shades and shows up more in real life.

I'll take pics of me in it and write up a review soon. Remember to click on the pics for the larger versions. You can also go here to see all the photos from this project.