Vogue 7975 Striped collarless jacket

I finished up my jacket today!  The pattern is Vogue 7975.  The jacket came together pretty quickly.  I love a collarless jacket for ease of sewing. 

I used large hooks and eyes for closure, but I think I prefer it open.  Maybe I would need more hooks and eyes to prevent gaping totally.  I used a rayon cream-colored lining.  Nothing exciting, but I didn't want to risk a color or pattern showing through the cream stripes. 

I was super careful about matching up stripes everywhere, and I think it shows.  I am SO proud of this jacket.  I think it looks super expensive.  I will probably mostly wear it with jeans this winter, but it would also be fantastic with a cream skirt for a formal look.

I think the camera angle is making the collar look a little uneven because I was super meticulous about getting that to line up perfectly (had to rip it out and restitch once).  The only thing I wish I'd done better is keeping the facing/lining from peeking out.  I understitched, so I'm not sure how to do this better without topstitching.  Any ideas?

 

A bit more progress

I put in the lining tonight.  Now it just needs some hems, some hooks and eyes, and some good pressing.

 

Striped jacket progress

Here is the progress on my striped jacket.  I can't decide on the sleeve length, so I'm making them full length for now and we'll see what looks good.

Striped jacket in progress

Here is a look at my current project, which I am super excited about.  The pattern I am using is Vogue 7975.

 

For the fabric, I started with two colors of Sawyer Brook's textured cotton Marco.  I cut the fabric into 4" strips, selvage to selvage.  I then seamed them together to make this new, wide striped "fabric."  All of the pieces are cut out, and tonight I plan to cut out an allover lightweight interfacing to really protect the seaming.  I can't wait to see how this one comes out.  I'm thinking of making this an anchor to enter the Pattern Review mini-wardrobe contest.