Sewing

sewing a Victoria Blazer with Girl Charlee Houndstooth Fabric

♪..Into the woods it’s time to go, I hate to leave I have to go. Into the woods it’s time and so, I must begin my journey. Into the woods and through the trees…♪

Ahhh those lyrics are from my favourite Musical, Steven Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Appropriate I thought as these pictures of my latest sew were taken in our local woods…

The Pattern.
After sewing my colourful ‘Anna dress‘ I fancied making up another By Hand London pattern and chose The Victoria Blazer. I wanted a slow detailed sew and I needed a soft jacket or top that could be worn as a cardigan.

The Fabric
If you read my recent post on the popularity of hounds-tooth (or even dog tooth?) fabric you will understand my choice of print. I chose a Ponte De Roma knit fabric from Girl Charlee fabrics, this one is called ‘Medium Forest Green Houndstooth’ . It is the perfect weight and stretch for this pattern, being a mixture of rayon and polyester with 5% spandex. I used 2m for the jacket and lining.

The Lining problem:

My dilemma was in choosing a suitable stretch lining, I solved this by using the ponte as a lining. A good choice because it gave the jacket more overall weight and the added layer provided some welcome warmth too.

I followed all the instructions without any major alterations except i did sew the pocket bags to the outer shell as I didnt want them bunching up and looking lumpy. I must say, am fast becoming a fan of BHL.

Halfway through this make I found a long t-shirt in Tk max for the bargain price of £5, it matched the green in the jacket perfectly. So much so that i cut the bottom off the t-shirt and used it as the contrast cuff on the 3/4 length sleeves.