25/11/2012

Elementary ! My Watson Jacket !

A few months ago, in my explorative quest of independent patterns designers, I bought the pattern for the Watson jacket, by New Zealand based Papercut Patterns company, attracted by the simple chic of the design.

I've waited a long time to find the right fabric. And it was worth the wait.
This summer, during a business travel, I came across what could be the most well kept secret in the world of fabric shops. In Quimper (Brittany, France), in a shop no larger than a parking lot, you can find haute couture fabrics, recovered from the parisian workshops at the end of a collection, and others bought from the same factories as the designers. The owner has customers from Russia, Japan, China, ..., and can talk to you about "his" fabrics for hours on end. The ransom for this, however, is that he can't advertise his shop, so the only way to know of his shop is word of mouth or a lucky strike. The fabrics, however, are not cheap. I feel a bit ashamed of the amount I put in just a meter of fabric, but seeing the result, I'm quite happy with this impulsive purchase (well, it was love at first sight, really). The prices range form 40€ (for simple cotton, or wool), to nearly 200€ (for digitally printed Galliano silk) for a meter of fabric.

But now, on to the jacket !


If you have already made a lined jacket, it's not really difficult to sew, depending on the fabric you use. But I would not recommend it if you have heavy adjustments to make, as you'll have to take the cape in consideration.
Sometimes the explanations were a bit cryptic, but overall, the step by step is easy to follow ; it just lacked a few notches for a bit more precision in sewing, in my opinion.

I didn't have enough buttons to cover, but didn't know this until I made all of them, and had to use the test one ; I sewed it under the collar, where it never shows...


I found this lining to be perfect, golden with a blue glint.
As the cape fabric is very lightweight and prone to slackening, I topstitched at 5mm the bottom of the cape.


The fold at the back of the cape gives a welcome ease, and the design of the bottom back brings further originality.

I'm very pleased with this pattern. The result is perfectly true to the photo on the envelope.
It's very flattering, and I never received so much praise for a garment I made.

ps : if you hadn't guessed, the "couture" fabric is the tartan one.

5 commentaires:

  1. Really lovely! I love the look of this jacket as it's cape-like but more flattering. :)

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    Réponses
    1. Thank you !
      I also love that, compared to a cape, my arms stay warm.

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  2. Love your coat! Gorgeous fabrics! Mine's just finished!

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  3. Oh this is absolutely gorgeous! I never thought of making the Watson in two fabrics before - such a great idea. :-)

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  4. Thank you very much !

    Most of the time, people think the cape part is not sewn to the main part though...

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