This is gorgeous, and inspired me to buy the pattern. Would you mind telling me how the sizing was? Did you cut it to your actual measurements, or smaller?

I always, always cut the size stated on the pattern envelope for my actual measurements. Don't ever fall into the vanity sizing trap with patterns! 

Glad to know I inspired you, though!!

What a great jacket!  Which issue was it in??

thanks! It's featured in the current (Fall 2007) edition of Sew Stylish magazine, but you have to buy the Simplicity pattern separately. The magazine tells you how to change the pattern into a bunch of different styles that they show on models, with diagrams of what to do to the pattern pieces. Seriously, both the magazine and the pattern and MUST BUYS as far as I'm concerned. The summer edition with the formal dresses wasn't nearly as good as this fall one, imho.

This looks nice in white.  Have you used any other views in this pattern?

Not yet, though I was inspired by SewStylish magazine to mess about with this pattern so I'm going to use the bodice of the dress and some sleeves similar to the ones on the long coat to make a silk blouse (I say similar because the coat sleeves are raglan and I need cap sleeves to fit the bodice and it's easier to use sleeves off another pattern rather than redrafting the ones there!). I've got a ton of basic skirt and trouser patterns so I'm not that interested in the others. Though the magazine does give some fantastic ideas for altering and hacking what's there...

Very nice! Were the pleats difficult? It looks pretty complex.

No, not at all. The pattern actually tells you to do reverse darts (ie: pinch the fabric on the outside) but I didn't like the look of it so I did them on the inside instead. And if you can do one dart, you can do six, they're really straightforward. There's no shaping at the waist - that's just cinched in by the belt.

Very, very nice. Where can I geth the pattern from? And can u tell me what fabric did u use?

The pattern is Simplicity 3631, which you can order from loads of places online, or you can buy in person at Hancock's, JoAnn's, Walmart, etc.

I used some soft, white fabric from my free designer bundle from fabric.com, which I suspect may be wool, but I can't say for certain. It's really soft and drapes very nicely.

I haven't posted any projects here in a while, but I thought someone might be interested in this jacket since it's one of the SewStylish magazine ones and is very up-to-the-minute fashion-wise... The pattern is extremely beginner-friendly, too, so if you've never tried a pattern before, I highly recommend this one.







There's lots, lots more about this over at fehrtrade.com and a couple more photos, too. Now I just need to see how long I can keep it white!

I saw you in the New York Times today, Congradulations! The dress looked great!

aww, thanks! It was a bit disappointing when I saw the online version first because my interview had been cut from the article, but then as I got reports in from people with the print version I got really excited to know my dress was on the very very first page during Fashion Week, and that my inside photo was in colour, too! I know journalists have such strict word counts and she fit so much in to a small article. It was just cool to be included at all. And it's going up on the wall in my sewing room as soon as I get a big frame.

Some of the stalls had some really nice dresses, did anyone see the MAXI C LONDON dresses? lovely styles, brilliant for inspiration.

OMG I cannot believe you picked out this stall from the thousands that were there - this is where I bought the only other dress at the festival! They had these dresses with olive green sleeves and 8 gored skirts made of this lush Art Nouveau fabric that I knew I'd never be able to find ever again. So I bought it (for £25) and it fits like a glove. I love it so much I"m already thinking of using it as a pattern to make more.

Jacky, I felt like it was all a bit of a joke. Stop climate chaos? We were there ten days and it was only at the end of the festival (Wednesday) we realised the full extent of the waste. It was like apocalypse, we picked our way through thousands and thousands of pounds worth of new tents, brand new camping equipment and clothes just bought for this one event and abandoned. I have never seen anything like that in my life.

Yeah, the stop climate change was a huge mass of hypocrisy with the parking chaos that could've been easily avoided. Yeah, let's all sign a piece of paper and then have 50,000 cars idling in a field for 8 hours with people pissing in the fields because there weren't any toilets provided (or food, or water). I'm so bitter, we got up at 5am on Monday to avoid these problems, and it took us ten minutes' shy of TWELVE HOURS to get out of the car park. It was entirely Glastonbury Festival's fault, too - they had three days to organise tacks, exit signs, stewards, towing tractors (there was one for several thousand cars), and provisions, and they just abandoned us out there.

This was my 6th Glastonbury, but I'd have to seriously think long and hard about going back again after the carpark situation this year.

Try the Laden Showroom on Brick Lane, they operate selling small designers' clothing on a per-rail basis, though I've heard they're pretty expensive so you've got to have a pretty high turnover to make back the rail rent...

I love the dress!  And your pink wellies!

Umm, those aren't wellies, those are just pink sneakers... Wellies are big rubber boots that farmers wear, usually in dark green.

Hope you got a chance to wear your dress between all the Glasto rain. Even my 'waterproof' was soaked!

I wore it all day on Saturday and it stood up really well! The rain beaded nicely on the fabric and I only got a few spots on mud near the hemline, which all came out in the wash.


(I'll add it to the first post now, too)

I wouldn't have worn anything longer than this, though! I bought a gorgeous peach raw silk ballgown for a tenner from the Oxfam stall up in The Park, but it was floor length and would've been completely ruined. Even though on one hand it was really cheap, on the other hand I liked it too much to ruin it!

My god, this thread is positively ANCIENT! My mom's had this bag for about two years now and still loves it, but wow. Old thread...

Hey squirrellypoo, I was wondering how you went about making the loop for the clasp?

I dunno if this is how she did it, but when I make loops like that, I just sew a small tube, turn it inside out, fold it so that both ends are together (In a loop..duh) and then sew that between the lining and the fabric.

yup, what she said.