Day two of my jacket-making extravaganza was all about figuring out how to make a multi-piece, articulated sleeve. We have been using the Nau Urbane Jacket as a pattern, generally, because I love the way it fits. It’s a bit more motor-cycle-y style than I want to create with this jacket (I’m looking for more of a human-powered-cycle look), but it’s not too far off. We’re modifying it by making a sleeker, double layer, one-pocket front, and a more interesting, multi-panel (unlined) back. The sleeves will be unlined, too. My arms and back get hot, so I think this probably makes sense.
One note: I’ve NEVER done this before. My mom is an amazing sewer-person, and knows how to make things, but she’s never done this before, either. So we traced it. Literally laid Swedish Tracing Paper over the jacket and traced it. Tracing dark fabric isn’t easy, but it’s possible to generally follow the seams with a pen. After a little adjusting yesterday, we got the body/vest area of the jacket to fit, which felt like a big win to me. We made the whole thing a little longer than the Nau jacket, and made a two-piece yoke:
If you don’t know, a yoke is the panel that wraps from the back of the jacket/shirt/whatever over the top of your shoulders. By putting it into two pieces (separated in the middle by a seam), we’re able to give the jacket more flexibility around the shoulders cutting the fabric on the bias. Most woven fabric doesn’t stretch along or across the grain, but it will flex on the diagonal. By turning the fabric 45 degrees, we get more stretch and generally +10 awesomeness.
After tracing the arm of the jacket (the underarm was a royal pain in the ass), I ended up with these pattern pieces.
The one on the left wraps over the top of the arm, and the one in the upper right is the underarm piece that has an ungodly amount of complex curves in it. I assume there is some sort of purpose to that, so I can’t complain. The little piece is what I’m calling the “wrist” piece, and fills out the sleeve.
You can also see the color of the fabric we’re using here. The dark wool on the right will make up the majority of the piece.
I pinned the pieces together to see if things matched, and…
Oh my gosh they fit.
At this point, I was wondering if the pattern was going to work in the real world, with fabric and thread. So I had a beer, watched a movie, and took a nap while my mom pieced it together in muslin, to test.
Oh my gosh it works!
Next step: putting it together for real.
One Comment
Ahhh-mazing: 1. That you’re figuring it out and 2. That you can see with all that hair in your eyes.