Butterick 5760 - a little of this & a little of that...

Sooooo, I sewed yesterday.  Or maybe I should say I did a lot of pressing then!  *LOL* I got to the sewing cave and I started working on the sweater jacket...and ended up going in a totally different direction.  First I decided that I needed pockets on the jacket front.  What?  I nevah want pockets...but in this instance I clearly saw pockets on the sweater jacket front.

But how to get them there?  And how to make them stand out on the jacket front without them fading into the fabric?  Should I use buttons?  Or a trim?  I was stumbling around a little because I had no clear plan since this was an off the cuff sew.  

To solve the pocket issue, I used the pocket pattern piece that was included with the jacket that's part of the pattern's wardrobe pieces.  This was a big pattern piece that I cut down to fit not only the front of my sweater jacket but also to allow me to jam my hands into them. 

Once the pocket pattern piece challenge was resolved, my next issue became how to make the pocket stand out.  That's when I thought of the new faux leather I just received.  I bought quite a bit of this fabric ~ to use for a piece in a dress, to make a skirt and for some embellishments.  I'm now thinking I might need to get more since there are so many pieces of leather and faux leather in the designer collections for Fall 2012.  

Anyway, I decided to use the faux leather to finish off the edge of the pocket, the hemline and the neckline.  I went back and forth over whether or not to put some on the sleeve hems and finally decided to stick with my "Rule of Three."  

Pocket being applied to sweater jacket front

Faux leather applied to the neckline

Some stats:
Fabric ~
Double sided cabled wool blend sweater fabric

Notions ~
6 - 7/8" Gold Buttons from the collection
2" strips of faux leather cut from the new yardage

Machine Settings ~
* A teflon foot was used to sew the faux leather to the jacket & pockets
* A size 14 stretch needle was used per Sandra Betzina's book, Fabric Savvy.
* Stitch length was set at 3.2, though Sandra Betzina suggests a 2.5 stitch length.

Some other construction information...
Because the fabric was so thick, all of the seams were stitched first on the sewing machine and then serge finished.  This caused the seams to be a little wavy.  To correct this, I pressed them flat using a lot of steam, a silk organza pressing cloth and my clapper, then stitched them flat.  This was done to all the seams, center back, side seams and front bands.  I need to state that this was a time consuming process.  I left the clapper on for a good 2-3 minutes for each portion of the seam to insure that the seams were flat.

While working on the front piece, I must have pulled the right side because the hemline was uneven at the front - AFTER I put the leather strip on.  I debated whether I could pass this off as a design feature, then broke down and removed a portion of the hemline so that both sides would match at the center front.  This meant also removing the faux leather and reapplying it...sewing in the original stitching so that the holes wouldn't show on the finished hemline. Even then, I had to add some stitch witchery to the back of the seam to hold it together because I just couldn't add anymore stitching.

For the buttons I went with the larger gold ones and actual buttonholes.  I know originally I said that I was going to use snaps but that's when I was making a quick and easy sweater jacket.  Once I'd fallen into complicated and complex, it just seemed natural to torture myself by adding buttonholes to the VERY thick front bands.  But the buttonholes went on easily...much easier than I'd anticipated. 

A machine stitched hem was added to the sleeve hems...then the buttons were stitched onto the sweater jacket front bands and my no longer quick and easy sweater was done.

A few more pics on Lulu.  The fashion photo shoot will happen next weekend when my photographer is available.

Sweater jacket open on Lulu

Sweater jacket partially buttoned

Side view with sleeve in pocket

Back view of sweater jacket

Sweater jacket w/Vogue 1250 top

Sweater jacket, V1250 top, TNT pants

all pieces from the CIW Collection

Another piece completed for The City in Winter Collection and I love that it's hefty and warm which I think I'm going to need this winter!

...as always more later!