Vogue 2973 Jacket - getting there...

Firstly, thank you to everyone who has left comments or read my blog. I feel very honoured and the motivation it gives me is a surprising benefit of keeping a blog.

Vicki asked about how to shorten the zippers - it's done from the top end and Vogue even includes directions on how to do it. Basically you just mark where you want the zipper to end, pull out a section of the metal teeth above it with pliers, cut off the excess above that (no need to pull out all the teeth to the top of the zipper) and then secure the end with some little metal stops - or you could I guess sew it straight in the jacket enclosing the top of the zip tape in the seam allowance. Hope that makes sense, since I got someone else to do this part for me I don't have any pictures I'm afraid.

I didn't have as much time as I had hoped to sew this weekend so I still have some work left to do on the jacket, but it is getting there. I'm going to be busy the next few days so I wanted to document a few construction details now while it's still fresh in my mind. This is where I am at;

I still need to attach the collar and topstitch it and the lapels (scary!)
Add shoulderpads
Attach the lining at the jacket and sleeve hems
Fix the jacket hem in the zipper area - it's not even at the moment

And this is how it currently looks on the dressform. The lapels seem to have got bigger despite being a seam allowance smaller! I hope they won't flap around too much when I'm wearing it.




I usually use a Vogue size 12 for tops and jackets and add an FBA. However the finished measurements printed on the pattern for a size 12 indicated that there was around 6 inches of ease in the bust, and very little in the waist. This seems kind of odd so I decided to omit the FBA. As it turns out it fits great straight out of the envelope. So if you normally do an FBA you may find you can skip it and if you are small busted you may find an adjustment is needed. Maybe the smaller sizes have different amounts of ease built in? It's probably best to try a quick muslin, like I did not!

The pattern is rated as advanced. It's actually not that difficult. Time consuming, with all the pattern pieces and topstitching, but technically anyone who has made a shirt or jacket and can put in a zip can make this jacket. Maybe the pants are tricky? I did at several points question my sanity in choosing to topstitch black denim with white thread. I feel like every little wobble in my topstitching is screaming out at me, definitely need some more practice at that. My denim is quite thick which made it difficult to feed evenly. You definitely would not want to make a pair of jeans out of this stuff!

It seems a bit strange to line a denim jacket but because there are a lot of both vertical and horizontal seams I think this is the easiest way.

The pattern seems to be well drafted, everything matches up well, there isn't a huge amount of ease in the sleeve cap and I really like the separate hem facing treatment. The instructions are pretty good too.

Hopefully I will have a finished jacket soon, stay tuned!