Purple Pleasant Jacket & The Floral Dress

The Reveal ~
I originally wrote the last post including this one but it was getting to long even for me. So I split them into two posts. Sorry for making you wait for the reveal, but believe me you didn't want to wade through a post twice this size!

Next I have to tell you that this dress is not the final dress for the dress/jacket combo!  It's the filler dress.  See my photographer can only fit me in every other Sunday and I almost missed the light this Sunday due to the nerve of someone wanting hair extensions!  I really wanted pics of the jacket because I put a lot of hard work into it. So I banged out a quick TNT dress in the purple floral doubleknit to wear with the jacket for photos.

Let's start with the jacket. Here's the post that discusses the idea for the dress and jacket.  

Stats ~
Pattern:
Vogue 8815 - top with long sleeves morphed into a jacket pattern

Fabric:
Wool blend with fusible knit interfacing already attached

Notions:
4 - 1" black buttons
aubergine rayon lining
1/4" shoulder pads

Construction ~
Pattern alterations were fully discussed in the first & second posts. All the construction info was in my last post. After trying the jacket on, I realized that my shoulders are not as square as Lulu's so I needed a little filler. I  rummaged around in my shoulder pad drawer and came up with two choices. The 1/4" shoulder pads worked best.

Conclusion ~
I like the jacket and I don't like many jackets these days.  It's a different look for me and I can wear a belt with it - which is my new thing these days!  Look Ma, a belt, haven't seen one of these since the 80's!  Guess that treadmill walking is paying off ~ or everything is falling below the Mason-Dixon line! *LOL*  I don't know if I would make this again as a jacket.  I think I would like to try it as a top with a pencil skirt under it.  We'll see though because I have ALOT of things on my sewing list!

The Dress

This is my TNT dress without all the bells and whistles.  This dress is unlined ~ I will wear a slip underneath it.  There are no facings or sleeves in it.  It is simply the fabric making it work.  The fabric arrived in a box while I was on my sewcation, sshhhhh, don't tell anyone okay, because it really was Linda's fault.  She showed this fabric on her blog and I just had to have some in both colorways!  Okay before you say it, I will just say it for you, yes, I know I'm a fabric piggy. *hanging head in shame*  But in my defense, this didn't even make it off the cutting table because it played so nice with the purple wool blend!

I did remember some of my "good" sewing techniques because there are two strips of ltwt. knit fusible interfacing down either side of the dress' center back so that the invisible zipper wouldn't ripple when inserted.  And I did add seam tape to the shoulder seams to help with stabilizing the shoulders.  Otherwise this is a cut, sew and wear dress.  The neckline, hemline and armholes were all pressed flat with a little stitch witchery added to them, then topstitched with a twin needle.  Done, done, done...I think it took me three hours from the first pin to the last stitch.

However, I really want to make a dress with the purple fabric as the skirt, y'know how I originally saw the dress & jacket.  I've got this great silk print to use as the top of the dress.  Here is the fabric combo...

I will be working on the dress this weekend...starting with my TNT dress pattern, of course.

A few more pics...

...as always more later!