Raglan Sleeve Jacket

I am finally getting around to doing my entries for One Pattern, Multiple Looks! A two month contest and I do all the sewing the last two weeks. Typical. You can read the official pattern review here.

A note on the pic--I made the dress I'm wearing for my 22nd birthday! Eleven years ago! I hadn't worn it in *years* but held onto it this long because I made it the summer after I graduated college, when I was a live-in nanny for one of my professors. His daughter's birthday was also in August and I made us matching dresses. Although I was very close with the family when I lived with them, for some unknown reason (I mean really unknown) they stopped communicating with me when I moved away for law school. It was quite painful to lose what felt like "family," especially because I didn't know why, and this dress was one of the few links I had to them and that time. Well, everything really does come back in style because with the current maxi-dress trend I wore this work Monday and felt completely stylish. I'm glad I never got rid of it.


This is the first variation on this vintage 1978 Stretch & Sew pattern (#1582) purloined from my mom's sewing room.

I have been using this pattern for over a decade now, which is a little scary! I think my first version was for a costume based on the 1990s Kenneth Branaugh/Emma Thompson movie version of Much Ado About Nothing, a really lovely movie if you haven't seen it. Try not to think about what happened between them afterward. Then there was the orange floral calico one I still miss. It is bad for me to be able to remember--much less miss--specific garments I have gotten rid of. Cleaning out my closet is emotional and difficult enough without knowing that I won't necessarily forget about something the moment it's gone and realize I was silly for getting all sentimental in the first place. I just need to remind myself of the hundreds (hundreds! I tell you) I have gotten rid of that I don't remember. Like the gray v-neck sleeveless t-shirt dress that was a little too short. Wait, I remember that one, don't I?

So, what's slapdash here? Mostly the matchup between the lining and the fashion fabric. I'm pretty sure I put the fashion fabric sleeves in the wrong sides (meaning backwards--left sleeve in right side, back of sleeve to front of garment and vice versa), because I had to trim down the sleeve at the neck a *lot* to get it to line up with the front neck edge. There appeared to be some major iron shrinkage going on, even though I pre-washed and dried, so that made the matchup wonky too. I had to pin the two pieces together at the neck and then trim off the bottom, then sew the sides and back together, turn, and then do another trimming & trueing before sewing the neck casing. And then I had to get the sleeves the same length! I don't know if this counts as slapdash because I actually did try to get it right, and I think I did ok because I don't notice any distortion anywhere.

Here's the "official" picture of the front curve topstitching.









Here's the other side:






I think that little point counts as slapdash.