Not too sure how else to describe this! I had been thinking about trying another jacket made from the Trapeze pattern like this one that I made last year, but making it from the tunic length pattern I’d made, and using the boiled wool fabric from Merchant & Mills that I used to my make Strand coat from.

This is the kind of thing I mull over in bed at night, I come up with an idea and then think about fabrics and so forth. As it happens I’d ordered some fabric from Fabric Godmother  and had been sent the wrong fabric as part of my order. After getting in touch with them they were very apologetic and refunded me the difference as the fabric I received was cheaper than the one I ordered and had been charged for, so no problems there, and they would have refunded me if that was what I wanted to do, but I was actually quite happy with the wrong fabric. I earmarked it straight away for the Trapeze cardi/coat thing!

Its a lovely jersey Ponte Roma fabric. I bunged it in the wash and planned to get cracking the next day.

I do so love that I only need 3 pattern pieces when using the jersey fabric. I thought this was going to be a very quick make, as I wouldn’t have to finish the seams but as the way this fabric is woven/knitted I felt it would be vulnerable to fraying and therefore decided to zig zag the seams.

This little project also took a bit more thinking about and planning than I had anticipated. I wasn’t too sure it would actually work…

Quite pleased with how the side seams matched up. Not planned at all.

Once I’d put it together, I liked it but couldn’t help but feel something was not quite right!

I couldn’t get away from the feeling that the opening edges were wobbly and flimsy looking. I had a go at folding the edges under another 3cm and pinned in place. Once I was I was happy with it like that I sewed into place and felt much better about it.  Above is the before and below is the after.

Its got a bit of a swing coat vibe to it!

Husband says its very me! I’m really happy with it and I love that I am able to make things that are very me.

I wanted to make another practice run for the dress I want to make for my Nieces wedding, but as it turned out I didn’t have enough fabric for a dress, so decided to make a top instead. I was wanting to check out how easy or tricky the neckline might be in this fabric. So I decided I had nothing to lose.

The thing about crepe viscose fabric is that it frays like a bastard! So I decided to zigzag all the edges before putting it together to take the worry of that away and it really did help. I shall definitely be doing that again.

As to be expected the collar and plackets were quite tricky but taking my time and using a million pins turned out okay. Hemming it turned out to be trickier than I expected it to, so I ended up leaving it un-hemmed And it looks fine.

I feel fairly confident about making the dress version now. So watch this space…