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Sunday, January 20, 2013

Butterick 5469 Boiled Wool Jacket

Thank you for the nice comments on my wool pencil skirt and weighing in on the tuck-or-no-tuck dilemma!  The comments mostly confirmed to me that untucked is a better look with that skirt, but there's nothing wrong with tucked either.  On to the next... 


I bought this boiled wool fabric at a fabric market in Germany about 4 years ago.  I think I remember being very pregnant at the time.  Boiled wool jackets are traditional in that area (though not very popular for everyday wear now from what I saw), and my mom has a few.  I tried on a bunch while I lived there but the ones I liked never had long enough sleeves for my monkey arms. 

After I found the fabric I liked, I couldn't decide on a pattern.  Thick boiled wool wouldn't take well to darts or a lot of seams.  Eventually I paired the fabric up with Butterick 5469, now out of print, but I still worried there were too many seams.  While I was sewing it last week, the weather was quite cool and I was getting excited to actually wear this jacket here in Florida.  Of course, now that it is complete, we are back in the 70s here.

The only change I made to this jacket was to lengthen the sleeves.  If I were to make it again (I keep thinking it would be nice in linen texture), I would lengthen it a bit.  It is quite a "shrunken" fit. 
The boiled wool ended up working very well with this pattern.  The princess seams lay nicely, and the pockets have great body with the pleating detail but aren't too bulky.
Here is a closeup of the details.  The pockets are pleated to stand away from the body a bit.  Instead of attaching the collar and front facings in the usual way, I just attached them wrong-sides together and trimmed close to the stitching (closer on the outside than inside) for a decorative finish with no bulk.  The sleeve hems and bottom hem are just left raw since boiled wool doesn't ravel and I didn't want the bulk of hems.
This jacket was actually quite quick to make since there is no lining and lots of raw edges.  :-)
 

8 comments:

Uta said...

That's a great jacket! I keep meaning to copy a boiled wool jacket of mine that is falling apart. You make it seem do-able!

me said...

Nice looking jacket and what a gorgeous color.
Marciae from SG

Andrea said...

Nice jacket, you look good in red. I hope it gets chilly enough to wear it again!

Diana said...

This is so pretty on you Jenny. I love the pattern you chose and the colour is beautiful!

Lois Evensen said...

Very nice. You look great in everything you make.

Audrey said...

This jacket looks super cute in boiled wool. And you look great in red. Warning, I may have copy your fabric pattern combo. I have the pattern and lots of felted wool I have made from wool knit.

velosews said...

Great colour choice. I bet it felt rather freeing to know have lining or seam finishes to deal with. I'm looking forward to doing this in a few months.

Unknown said...

Love it!
Try it with something high-waisted to make the jacket look a little less shrunken.