Mini-Wardrobe Progress

I’m still alive and sewing! We’ve had houseguests, oodles of kid activities, and that nasty thing called work. I have finished my Jalie top and my dress (I love it!). I still need to post pictures of the top. The pants are done except for a final pressing and a hem. So I’ve got 3/4 of my items done. But, my newest conundrum is the jacket. I have it all traced out but I can’t figure out the layout. I’ve got stripes to worry about and the fabric is double-sided. I have a lot of options to think about. Help!

Here’s the plan again.

 

Here’s the actual pattern, #104. It’s slightly longer than the other pattern and has a gathered back. I could only find #105 online so I used that in my mini-wardrobe plan. I am sticking with the longer sleeves and not doing knit ones. This one has a belt, little rear flounce, and a folded collar.

 

If you look at my fabric, you can see it’s a two-sided wool. I can use either side and I really want to play around with the two sides because they are both graphic. My dilemma is, how do I arrange the stripes? Really, once I figure out the direction of the lines and cut it out, I can lay it out on the floor and play with the dark and light.

 

So here’s my real dilemma. I can’t cut until I decide which way the stripes will go. Also, I only just realized tonight that the stripes go diagonally on the fabric. Meaning if the stripes go horizontal or vertical, the fabric will be on the bias. I think that’s okay for this jacket because it will make it more comfortable. This is a sturdy wool and won’t stretch out of shape. So here are some crude sketches. The closer spaced lines are the “dark” side (Darth Vaders side, ha!) and the lines that are spaced farther apart are the “light” side. There’s a side panel, shoulder yoke, two-piece sleeve, and bodice inset piece so there are lots of lines at work here. I’m kind of digging on the second one with the diagonal “light” piece and the dark inset piece (upper right). I would probably also make the collar the dark color too. Although I like the upper left too with mostly dark and a diagonal bodice inset piece. What I don’t want, is lines all over and too much going on.

 

Here’s you can see the selvedge edge with the diagonal stripes.

 

Help! I can’t cut until I figure out the lines. Once it’s cut, I can flip the pieces over until I’m happy with the dark/light contrast. Aw, hell. I like all the variations. Now that I’m looking at the lower left one, I like that one too.