Francine jacket and class

So today I have what I think is a pretty epic make but has been a seriously long time in the finishing! Back, last summer, I signed up to take the Sew Over It, Francine jacket class and it's taken me until now to finally finish up the jacket and blog about it!  Plus you get some bonus pictures from my recent trip to Paris.

 Classic tourist shot!

I've taken a couple of classes at Sew Over It, both with Julie as the teacher and while they're not cheap,  definitely think they're worth it.  The fitting advice that Julie provides is invaluable and I love that they have toiles of all the makes so you can get an idea of fit and size, without having to make up your own toile, which I'm always too lazy to do.

I made my jacket from this cream wool which came from my mum's stash and is actually older than I am.  Before the class, I went shopping for a suitable fabric on Goldhawk road and from a red herringbone.  As I have zero will power, I also bought a bunch of other fabrics at the same time.  When I got home, I was a good sewist and stuck my purchases in the washing machine to prewash.  About half way through the cycle, I realised that I'd put the wool in with the other fabrics-mega oops!  The fabric had shrunk in size and was completely unusable for the jacket.  Luckily my mum could come to my rescue (and actually I like this wool better than the original).  The lining is made from a really gorgeous mint silk that I got from simply fabrics in Brixton. I'm really kicking myself that I didn't buy more. I would love a top made from this, although since I'm still in my (eternal) search for a top pattern that I like/works for me, I wouldn't actually have been able to make it up yet. It was a slippery bugger though, and since I'd love to have some more silk items in my wardrobe, I should brush up on my silk techniques because it really does deserve skill and attention.

While the class was great, it was pretty intense and knackering learning all the new tailoring techniques.  Plus there is a lot of hand sewing/tacking involved in making a jacket which is really not my favourite thing to do when making clothes (although weirdly I like it at other times). It was also held over 3 of the warmest weeks in London and none of us in the class wanted to be trying on our jackets during the classes as we were already melting.  August is obviously the logical time to be making a wool jacket!

One of the reasons, I took quite so long to finish this jacket was that Julie told us about the amazing service provided by DM buttons in Soho and I wanted to go and have my buttonholes professionally done.  As they are only open 7-3 on weekdays, and I work 9-5 in a totally different area of London, this was tricky to achieve.  However, I finally made it and was able to finish off the jacket with these vintage black and gold buttons from my stash.

I'm really pleased that I finally got round to finishing the jacket and can now wear it for the rest of our miserable winter.  It kept me nice and toasty for a wander around Paris and little trip to Marche St Pierre.  My long suffering sister took blog photos and then entertained herself by taking pictures of me touching all the fabric!

Personally I think I was fairly restrained, I came away with these 4 fabrics; a couple of gorgeous jerseys, a giraffe quilting cotton for a baby quilt that I'm making and a length of silk to try some of these careful silk techniques that I was talking about.

Anyway, I'm off to dream about what to make with them, while simultaneously trying to write my thesis!  Have a lovely week all!