Silhouette Patterns GA's Jacket, A Failure

Oh my Gosh! I worked so hard and I just couldn't get this one to work! Its Peggy Sager's GA's jacket #1913 and is suppose to be copied from an original Armani jacket. I was so excited to make this one.

First, I should say that there are very few instructions provided for this rather difficult pattern so beware if it's on your to do list.

I didn't make an actual muslin but I sewed the lining first and it seemed like a good fit.

 I chose size 2 because the finished garment measurements seemed to be  adequate for my measurements. The sizing on Silhouette patterns is based on finished garment measurements and not on body measurements.

The sleeves had an awful lot of ease but I thought that because I was using  wool for the jacket, I could shape them, shrink them and make them fit.  Not so.

There were no real drag lines anywhere on my lining/muslin so I thought the jacket would be a piece of cake. Oh my ---!!! I was so wrong!

I spent a lot of time quilting faux leather to use for the front insert, the back side piece,and the collar , lapels, and pockets. So when I had the body of the jacket constructed and tried it on only to find these horrible diagonal drag lines from hip to bust, I was very disappointed.

 I checked to see if I had maybe stretched the wool adjacent to the front side insert but it seemed to still be the same size as the pattern piece!

What to do, what to do? I finally  pinched a dart adjacent to center front and that seemed to get rid of most of the drag line. I decided to complete only one side of the jacket with this dart sewn in, just in case I should be wasting my time.

Next, the sleeves and they were a real disaster. Way too much ease and they really looked awful.

I tried raising them  at the shoulders and pinned them and they looked a little better. I measured and transferred the fold to the sleeve pattern piece.

 I essentially chopped off about 5/8" of the sleeve cap. I then took out the sleeve , and recut and resewed it. Again, a little better but not perfect.


Was it worth while continuing or should I trash it? I had spent the better part of three days working on this thing by now. I decided to construct the collar and lapels and to apply them to the jacket. They were partly made already so why not?

That done, was I happy ? NO! but I just couldn't admit  defeat. I took out the other sleeve and fixed it, added the dart to the other side front, changed my mind about the leather pockets, restyled those and finished the darn thing. I even had trouble with the buttonholes!

I'm far from happy with this jacket and with the exception of the collar and lapels. It's barely wearable. I  despise this pattern and it's going in the trash! No point in it taking up space in my sewing room. But  to tell the truth, my problem was probably due to the weight of my wool in comparison to the quilted faux leather.

 

To tell the truth, now it's  too small and it will go to one of my sisters who is at least one size smaller than me. Here it is on Antoinette.

My husband pointed out that I don't often have failures, so I shouldn't feel too bad. But the worst thing about it is that I've been giving sewing lessons  for the past six weeks now in my home and my students will want to see how this project turned out. I don't want them to feel discouraged if they see that their teacher, after fifty years of sewing still produces a wadder. BooHoo!

I do hope you had better luck in your sewing room this week than I did! Lol.

More later from