Chocolate, How I Love Chocolate Brown

My mind turns to jackets this time of the year, where I live on the northeast coast of North America. Summer is starting to wind down and the air is cooler. As a bonus, the humidity is usually diminished a bit, which is welcome relief!

I used a rayon lycra double knit from Christine Jonson to make the long version of her Double Collar Jacket. I like this pattern a lot. The collar adds interest to the top of the body (to the face) and the long lines of the jacket elongate the body. The princess seams give plenty of opportunity to fine tune the fit. I used a knit, although this pattern is designed mainly for wovens, but of course knits can be used as well...stretch or not.

In this photo, you can see that I used a cotton lycra sateen, cut on the bias, as the under collar on both collars. The cotton fabric is thinner than the knit, and with the bias cut of the woven, the collar drapes very nicely.

I prefer not to insert buttonholes on knit fabrics. So I changed the design slightly, by inserting a seam at front. I left the seam open at five locations. These openings became my buttonholes.


Below you can see what I did to make this extra seam - shown on my cutting board. Cut the pattern, added seam allowances. Simple.


My two able assistants helped me to ensure the cutting lines stayed accurate.


When it was time to sew the seam,of which buttonholes would be part, I marked their position very carefully. Since there were actually two sets of seams/holes (on jacket and on facing), it was crucial that both sides matched perfectly when fit together upon jacket completion. A double-check from the VP of Materials Evaluation...

An added bonus of the extra seams at center front helps elongate the jacket lines. I repeated this at the side where I sewed the buttons on.

I got my buttons at M & J Trim in NYC. Where I work, as of September 1, we opened an office in NYC. So it was a simple matter for me to stop by M & J after work when I was in NYC for the day. I paid a visit to Mr. Kashi while I was there, too. Got some great stuff. Maybe I'll post it here later.

I have not seen many people make this pattern up, and I don't know why. It looks good, is classic, easy to fit, and easy to sew. I personally changed the the fit slightly at the side seams, and this was easy, with all the princess seams. The front looks uneven at center front in my photo, but I promise, this effect in the photo was caused by blowing wind!

Parting shot. Snowy and Smokey watched the 'fashion shoot' today through the screen door.