Tessuti Sydney

The Tessuti Sydney Jacket seams to be doing the rounds of the Southern Hemisphere bloggers at the moment.  While I loved the look of it on everyone I had seen, I wasn't sure whether I could actually pull it off.  I did however, want to make something blanket like.  I had seen a lot of blanket like wraps and ponchos popping up in rtw stores and Fabric Vision are even selling a pattern for one. The last time ponchos were fashionable I bought a lovely pink one but found it to be really impractical.  Lifting my arms for driving etc. was near impossible   Tessuti's pattern, however, had sleeves and is a jacket with a cape type vibe so I was drawn to it straight away.  

The Fabric I wanted to make it out of was not a knit like the recommended fabric so I wasn't sure how I would go about the construction.  I bought it at Lincraft a couple of weeks ago when they had their 40% off fabric sale.  It was labeled as a wool blend and was discounted to only $8 per metre.  When I went back later in the day it had been removed from the stand altogether so I suspect it had been incorrectly labelled.  My suspisions were further aroused when a couple of days later I found what looked like identical fabric at Fabric Vision for $60 per metre.  It is a lovely weight and drapey and has a cut pile with a velvety feel on the outside.  It had a very nice fringe on the selvedge so I decided this could become my front edge and sleeve finish.  The sleeves themselves, I added 10cm in length to, making them 3/4 length which is warmer for these frigid days we have been having since I made it (today we reached a lofty 4 degrees celcius).  Today I wore it as a cardigan but on warmer days it will be worn as a jacket.

To make the pockets, I cut four of the larger pocket pieces, two in self fabric and two in satin.  I then laid the satin piece and front right sides together and stitched round the pocket opening before turning through and topstitching.  I then top stitched the self fabric and satin pocket pieces to my front....simple!  The seams themselves I stitched and overlocked and pressed flat, remembering that my collar seam needed stitching wrong sides together.  To keep my collar seam further from showing, I topstitched it as well. The shoulder darts, I chose to expose for interest but only folded them instead of cutting them.

Lastly I had to find a way of neatening the hem and collar.  I did consider leaving them to fray, but the neat freak side of me wouldn't allow it, so I did a three thread narrow overlock finish.

As I mentioned before, this jacket was quite timely with an unseasonal cold snap hitting the region over the last week.  We have been forecase snow twice in the past week but as yet there has been none.  It is as they say 'cold enough to freeze the b---s off a brass monkey!'