The Red Jacket!
Ever since I made this jacket in Harris Tweed for my Sister I had an urge to make it again, in red, for myself. So – nearly two years later!
The pattern is Burdastyle 7321 which is very fitted with a curved front, inseam pockets and a slightly fish tailed vent in the back.
I used a red ex Prada tweed fabric purchased from Ditto Fabrics online. This is a fairly heavy woven and textured tweed, lovely to work with, though inclined to fray.
To line the jacket I used a patterned polyester stretch satin (as for my Sister’s) which again came from Ditto and is just perfect for this project.
I just love the oriental print of red, blue and orange flowers and fans. The fabric feels soft and luxurious and the added stretch makes the jacket so comfortable to wear.
I piped the lining seams with satin bias binding which just adds a little extra detail to the finish and also lined the inseam pockets. This jacket was my first attempt at bound buttonholes. To be honest – they didn’t turn out quite as well as I had hoped (hence no close up shots) but I did enjoy the process, so I’ll try harder next time.
After the jacket was completed I thought choosing buttons would be easy. How wrong could I be? Four weeks later and after visiting every button shop I could think of I nearly gave up on buttons altogether.
The problem being that both fastening and cuff buttons i.e the same button in two sizes were needed and not so easy to find. Finally I chose these rose gold, beehive shaped buttons from Totally Buttons online. These are plastic buttons, with a metallic finish and I really had my heart set on metal buttons, but so be it. I’ve worn this jacket to work frequently, usually over a plain black shift dress or trousers but it’s also great with jeans and a white tee.
anniesinstitches 