I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to get another one of these out, but I just opened a physical location here in Marysville, CA, so that's taken up a lot of my time. I'm also currently in a play at the Acting Company and up until two weeks ago, I had a boyfriend. So needless to say life's been full of distractions keeping me away from this.
On another note, The Mystery Sewing Box Challenge is nearly complete, as in I only have two left and then that's it! I'm all done! I do still have LOTS of fabric in my hoard so I will continue to make and pad my store, both physical location and this place. But unless someone out there in cyberspace wants to send some fabric my way I'll be taking a break until I can find some other way to occupy the space here.
*Sad face* okay don't get all weepy on me just now, I'm not gone yet! This week we had a 100% Cotton twill in a Dark Ivory, is Dark Ivory even a thing?!!! It is today! I had a 1 7/8 yard at a 54 inch width, which is more than I usually get, but not as much as I wanted! Well I guess that tends to be the case, I always seem to want more than I get :)
I knew the moment I saw it I wanted to recreate the jacket pictured above, I've actually never seen The Swan but I do know that Grace Kelly plays a Princess trying to marry the Crown Prince, and is seduced by the charming French Tutor. I WISH I could see the movie so bad because it looks Hilarious, and Grace Kelly, need I say more.
As you can see she wears a double breasted jacket in the picture above, unfortunatly I do not own a women double breasted jacket pattern, nor do I know how to draft one, nor could I find on the internet someone who did who could tell me how to draft one.
My feelings exactly creepy face, anyways what could I do, I ended up using a pattern I've already made several times and was comfortable with. I cut it vertically at the center front and extended it 2 inches. I then extended the length of the pattern by three inches, so it would be long like as in the picture above. Because If the wider front and extra length, that pretty much ate up all my yardage. I had just barely enough to cut the sleeves which left very little for the cuffs. I ended having to use a contrast for the cuffs and for the upper collar which in my opinion only added to the overall look of the garment.
I don't know how well you can see but a lot of work went into making this, look at all those beautiful stitches!!!
Okay so I know the whole idea behing this challenge is to now spend money, but I didn't have any appropriate collored linings, and since the whole thing was made from cotton (including the interfacing) I wanted to line it in cotton. So I did have to throw some cash at that, but everything else came from my Studio including the Best Part!!!
Buttons!!!! Okay so maybe I don't look nearly as graceful as her Majesty, but look at how great those Buttons are!!! I LOVE buttons, as I'm sure you've discovered by now. I really love everything about this, including the beautiful fit, although the front and waist are a little loose on me, if I were planning to keep it, I would move the buttons for a more snug fit, as I am Tiny. But even with it as it is, I just love the look, I do wish I'd worn a longer skirt when styling this but the boots the hat, and the jacket all say lets spend a day riding and be, The Swan!!!
Enjoy my little look book below, I hope to have you join me next week as the New Look unfolds and we bring this Challenge to a close.
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