Seven Days of SWAP - Day Three

There are two suits in my collection and both of them are black! *smile* However, this post is about the "all black" suit. The suit pieces are the first ones I completed. They were finished during the cold, wintry months and they are the "basics" in my collection.

Even though the Dress SWAP contest requirements state that both jackets don't have to coordinate with all of the garments, I felt the SWAP would work so much better if both jackets worked with as many pieces as possible. The black jacket works with every piece making it an integral part of the collection.

The pants are from my TNT pattern. This pattern has been fine-tuned over the years and I have several versions with different pant leg widths. My TNT pattern has no pockets, has an elastic waist and is lined. Now I know an elastic waist is frowned upon by most sewists but this waist treatment works for me because there isn't much difference between my waist and hip measurements. So I don't have a large amount of fabric bunching up around my stomach. I have also fiddled around with my pattern so much that these pants fit like trousers which are the type of pants that I prefer. The pants fall gently from the top of my buttocks to the floor. I really don't like the "cupped" buttocks look that is so popular now. Plus I don't think anyone wants to see my ample backside cupped and jiggling down the street in front of them!

The jacket is made from a felted wool crepe. The felting was done by washing and drying the fabric twice. It gave the fabric a soft sweatery hand. The jacket is unlined however, all of the seams are finished with black Seams Great which was a journey in and of itself! I added silk organza ties to the side seams because the fabric tends to grow as my body temperature heats it up. I didn't think it was so noticeable that I needed to take the jacket apart and lose some fabric. The ties manage to pull in the fullness giving the back an unexpected surprise.

The best thing about these pieces is that not only do they work well with my SWAP garments but they function well within my every day wardrobe!

Fabric:

100% worsted wool crepe from Fabric Mart's Sample Cut Club - okay I bought 10 yards but it was on sale for a really good price!

Pattern:

Vogue 7944 - This is my second version of this jacket and I have a couple of additional incarnations planned both lined and unlined. The pattern jacket describes it this way: unlined, long sleeve jacket has topstitched collar and front opening edges.

Notions:

3 gold medal buttons from my stash

1 roll of Black Seams Great

2 yards of silk organza ribbon

Construction Details:

Besides shortening the jacket pattern both pieces were sewn without any major changes to the pattern.

How I plan to wear it:

1. Jacket, pants & Sewing Workshop Tank

2. Jacket, pants & Dana top

3. Jacket, white shirt & jumper

4. Jacket & Reversible dress

and that's day three...