JAM 6: Loes HInse Bergman Jacket (Work in Progress)

This one is still a work in progress. Instructions for how to make this "tweak" were published in Loes Hinse's newsletter last spring when Sharon of Casual Elegance, her fabric partner, acquired some chenille. Well, I was intrigued so I bought some of each color, traced off the pattern, and even made a test garment of the blouse!

...And then it got hot, and I lost all interest in making any sort of jacket whatsoever.

Fast forward to October, still warm but with an occasional nip in the air, so I'm looking about for jackets, sweaters, vests, etc. to sew for colder weather. And the Bergman Jacket worked its way back into my consciousness.

This one is a bit of a leap of faith to make because you have to make the jacket first, then throw it in the laundry where it shrinks to a more form-fitting shape.

Loes' instructions don't call for you to make the pattern a size larger or anything either. But it just made sense to me that a jacket would need to be a little larger than a blouse (which is what the original design was), so I added some "fit insurance" to the vertical edges of the pieces when cutting out.  1/4" to each princess seam and 1/2" to the side and sleeve seams. I figured I could always trim down later if necessary.

Another change I made was to lower the neckline more than the 1 1/2" specified. The photo of the finished neckline was much lower than that, so I assumed a typo and lowered mine by 10 1/2".

And I was concerned when I tried on the completed jacket after sewing it all together but before laundering. It was dowdy, folks. But I took my leap of faith and threw it in a delicate warm water wash as directed.

And this was the result as of last evening, right after retrieving it from the washing machine:

I'm really glad for the extra circumference, because this chenille really drew up a lot  when washed! I'm thinking it will go back to the original color when dry, which is more like this:

This is the fabric as it came from the bolt. Hard to tell from the photo, but it has the slightest hint of pink-ness to it.

As of this morning, it's still a bit damp, especially around the hem. The tweak has a double hem, so there are many layers of chenille in some places.

More on this one later. I still need to make buttonholes, attach buttons and put in some shoulder pads before I can call it done.