Minoru

img_20151019_154644I made another jacket, hähähähä! In my mind sewing jackets is even more fun than sewing button ups or jeans. The only problem is that they take a lot of space in closets and that you really cannot justify having more than let’s say 6 jackets per season ;) Another problem with me and my jackets is that I my bike every morning an afternoon and that I need jackets that are warm, water and draftproof.Right now I just don’t have the motivation, time and skills to sew a ski jacket and so I’m always wearing my rtw jacket when it gets really cold. That’s okay for me and until I am ready to try to sew a ski jacket I’ll just sew some more “normal” ones :)

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Also I hade some wool fabric in my stash from when I ordered a whole winter fabric bundle in spring. All spring and summer I thought about what to make with this fabric and I finally settled on the Sewaholic Minoru Jacket, even though my thick and heavy fabric really wasn’t suited for this pattern. But you know, I love myself a good challenge ;) And I tell you, this project wasn’t short in challenges. When I measured the fabric I found that I had less than 1,50m of it, and I would have needed 2,3 m according to the instructions.

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Nevertheless I decided to lengthen the pattern pieces, because you know, I’m large.

img_20151019_153422When I placed the pattern pieces on my small piece of fabric I realized, that I had to shorten the pattern pieces at the hems. I shortened the bodice pieces as much as I had to, so that they fit on my fabric. I shortened the sleeves as much as possible. Even though I couldn’t cut the collar and facings from the wool fabric. Especially because I wanted welt pockets. So I decided to cut collar and facings from lining and I omitted the hidden hood.

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I sewed the pockets according to this Tutorial. I still don’t manage to sew clean locking welt pockets I am happy that the worst parts are hidden by the pocket flaps ;) I didn’t sew the interior pockets, taht are suggested by the pattern because I found that I don’t use them.

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The lining is a flannel leftover from a dress I made once. I cut collar and facings cross grain.

img_20151019_154546 Luckily I didn’t have enough fabrics to line the sleeves with and so I remembered that flannel isn’t slippery enough for jacket sleeves and so I used some very slippery lining fabric. That works wonders I tell you! I don’t have any problems getting into this jacket.

img_20151023_150406To make this jacket water and more important wind proof I interlined it with climate membrane that I bought here. I only once got into rain, and it was very slight so I cannot really tell if the jacket really is waterproof, however I can tell you that it is draftproof! :)

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Lazy as I am I only pinned the interlining to the wool, that worked out okay, but not super well.

img_20151019_153418All in all the jacket turned out okay, but because of some issue I had not everything is as neat as I wanted it to be. But don’t get me wrong, I’m totally okay with that. My major problem was that the fabric was too thick for the pattern. I couldn’t gather it, so I made small pleats. Also topstitching was really hard! And don’t even mention cutting it! I literally had blisters on my fingers!

img_20151019_153413Because I thought that a plain black jacket is too bring and because I always wanted to try it I embroidered a feather on the jacket. I used black embroidery yarn what makes the feather almost invisible but I wanted something subtle and I wasn’t sure about how my firs embroidery would turn out.

img_20151019_154703I sewed size 6, which is my Sewaholic size. I really liked the instructions, but I also think that they are not suited for total beginners as there are no details on how to insert the zipper, but that is totally fine. After finishing the coat I found that there is also a  Sew Along for the Minoru, but I cannot say anything about it, as I didn’t use it.

Even though I had some troubles with this jacket I really really like it now, The greater the challenge the better the garment, right?! ;) I even like the shorter length as the jackets looks great with flared skirts too!

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The pictures were made during a trip Marvin I made to the Balck Forest. In the backdrop you se the Triberg Waterfalls.

Thanks for reading and tschüss!

 

Katharina

 

 

 

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5 thoughts on “Minoru

  1. Carolyn

    Oooh, it’s gorgeous! Every single Minoru I’ve seen has been lovely, yours included! The fabric sounds like it was very difficult, so yay! for you for successfully making it work so well for you. It’s beautiful. And I can’t believe you got the whole coat out of just 1.5m. You’re a wizard!

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  2. Lisa

    What a beautiful gorgeous setting for your awesome jacket! You brought up so many great points about making a jacket and this one absolutely does not disappoint. Great idea about embroidering a motif in same colored thread as your jacket. The length looks perfect here. I always learn something from what you make. :)

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