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You know how I love demanding projects like coats and blazers. You can play with luxurious woollens and add your personal touch.
I had to test this new jacket called Shimla*, by Itch to Stitch.
Princess seams, options for ruffles at the collar…Exciting, right?
- Shimla pattern*
- Fabric meant for coat and jacket( like denim, gabardine, some lightweight woollen, etc)
- Lining
- Fusible interfacings (list given in the instructions)
- Button
The Shimla pattern
Kennsi designed an amazing pattern. I’m a big fan of hers: her patterns are well-drafted and I like the way she walks you through all the steps.
A blazer-like look with astounding details:
- stand-up collar or ruffled collar
- pockets with flaps, where you can add some ruffles there as well
- princess seams at the front and back
- 2-piece sleeves with cuffs. These are the “most difficult” feature in the pattern in my opinion. Optional ruffles too.
- fully lined
A lot of fabrics can be used to sew this jacket, but I would skip too thick woollens or too stiff fabrics like denim with no stretch at all.
Tweed, Shimla, and fabric dust
You know, *that* fabric that’s been sitting on your shelves for an eternity? It was just patiently waiting for the right project.
I muslined my first Shimla*. I cut a size 8, cup B and immediatly noticed two problems that are really common for me:
- a big blob of fabric at the back, above the waist line, indicating a too long back seam. My sway-back!
- shoulder seams on the top of the arm. My narrow shoulders!
Here’s what I did to solve both problems:
- I cut 4 cm off the back length and I curved the seam a bit.
- I cut 2 cm off the shoulder yoke and took 1 cm off each front piece at the princess seam.
- 2 cm off the shoulder seam was a lot so I added 2 cm back to the sleeve. I hate too-short sleeves on jackets and coats.
Cutting the tweed fabric was…awful! Dust of fabric everywhere, it was fraying like mad. I should have block-fused it with lightweight fusible interfacing, but I didn’t have enough to proceed.
Sales were on when I needed the lining so I splurged and bought 32 m of polyester lining of various colors (and I only paid 62 euros).
Tadaaaam!
Here is my own Shimla* jacket. I love how classy it can look with the skir and rather casual with my denims on.
I’m really pleased with the back.
Unfortunately, my front is really ugly due to my handling of the fabric. I have wrongly put the notches for the curve or the fabric shifted so my curves are all wonky-looking. I’m so mad at me, but I really couldn’t cut other pieces.
I added some really thin shoulder pads I had to shape the shoulders because of the texture of the fabric. I had mistakenly bought for another project and …kept them! Smart move, huh?
I couldn’t get my Janome 6700P to stitch the buttonholes on the cuffs. There were too many layers and I kept having emergency stops. So I stitched the buttons through all the layers. NOt a problem for me, because I ahve tiny wrists and can get my hands through the cuffs without unbuttoning them.
