Lonetree jacket from Indiesew, version 1

So, I have had this pattern for a while. I really like it; nice, casual summer jacket.

I was very much in doubt about the sizing. My measurements are bust 86 cm/ 34″, waist 71 cm/ 28″ and high hip 100 cm/ 40″, widest hip 105 cm/ 41″. From the size chart, his puts me in bust: Small, waist: Medium and hip: Large. I did a LOT of googling, and people tended to find this on the large side, and the finished garment measurements for size M is hip: 112 cm/ 44″, so I want for a size M. For reference, I am 180 cm/ 5 feet, 10.87 inches tall.

This is a PDF pattern with 50 pages (!). I printed size M and traced, and cut my pieces. There a really a lot of pieces here! I tried hard not to panic 🙂

Before I started I made a few adjustments. Some are the ones I always make (shoulders, length) and some I did because when I googled the pattern I thought it would be nicer with these changes. That is what is so great about sewing, right!

• I lengthened the body 6 cm/ 2.4″
• I adjusted the shoulder angle as I have “flat” shoulders
• I took the shoulder width in by 1 cm (I could see from my Googling that this was to far out on most)
• I lowered the placement of the small pockets about 1 cm/ 0.4″
• I added a plaque to the pockets as the flat pockets not will hold all I need

For the pockets, I added 10 cm/4″ to the middle part and folded the extra fabric to a plaquet. (You see? Strangely see-through fabric!).

Then I pressed and stitched the folded part to make sure that it stayed nicely in place when I sewed it to the jacket. I must be more careful next time I press, as the lines of the plaque are showing through the fabric. I can see that my RTW does this too, but this is my own, and I don’t want it 🙂

It worked as intended, the pockets are much more useful now 🙂 However, I plan to make the a bit wider for my next version to hold even more!

The instructions in this pattern is very nice! Thorough, and with drawings, and I also found this Sewalong very helpful. There are really no difficult techniques to be used in this project, it is very straight forward. It is the sher amount of pattern pieces that intimidates me!

Once I started sewing in my very pretty fabric (I had planned outer fabric to be the navy with white dots, and the lining to be a pretty, bright yellow cotton), I noticed that it didn’t feel nice.. Argh! It was coarse and also strangely see through. And as I tried the jacket on the first time, it became apparent that it was too small. Even at the bust, where it was supposed to be a size too large it is a bit too snug. I think this must be due to me having a very narrow back and relatively large bust, as the fabric is pooling in the upper back and too snug in the front. Oh well. (But look at my happy face! I do love the way this fabric looks!).

I have paused this one (and perhaps learned a lesson about muslining? I guess this ended up being a muslin anyway..), and might finish it later. I could add room at the hips. I hate how the fabric feels, but just love how it looks. If anyone know where I can buy a twill or similar/ outdoor fabric in navy with white dots I would be absolutely thrilled! I love that these dots are not distributed on a straight line, it looks a bit like snow to me.

Thankfully this guy gave me a lot of emotional support after this fail, and I have now re-printed (50 pages..) and re-taped-together (50 pages..) and re-traced the pattern in size L, grading to between L and XL at the hips. I have a very nice black denim in the stash for this one. However, hoping to find pretty dotted one too.