Sydney Jacket and Liberty jasper sweater

Two casual makes today.  First up  the Tessuti Fabrics Sydney Jacket, which I purchased in pdf form.

Described as "an oversized, draped jacket which features a relaxed collar, back yoke, extended cropped raglan sleeves" and this is what you get.  I cut the extra small size which is for bust 34" (I measure around 38") because the pattern looked roomy.  I think I could have gone even a little smaller as it is still very roomy and after completion I cut off 1 1/2" from each of the front edges.  I missed out the pockets because I felt that with the thicker boiled wool they might look rather bulky.

 
You need to use a fabric which doesn't fray as the edges are left untreated.  I made mine in a high quality boiled wool, which has a lot of body and it has worked out quite well.  You can see how the seams appear neatly on the right side.

 
This is the wrong side and you can see the seams look neat here too.  They are all overlapped and then trimmed.  One thing I would do differently is not to cut the dart as a V, but to make an ordinary dart.  I found that it was difficult to completely close the opening at the dart point and it looks slightly compromised in terms of strength.

Overall this is an relatively easy sew and well designed pattern.  I haven't worn it yet though, because with the rather short sleeves it is just to cold to wear at the moment.  More of a light spring jacket.

Next up is Paprika Patterns Jasper Sweater.

I'd seen so many lovely versions of this, including the pattern illustrations,  that I had high hopes.  I had an idea of using some Liberty fleece with plain fleece.  When you are making a garment there is a moment when you have either basted or pinned or sewed enough to try on and get an idea of what your garment will look like.  There are two results 1) you think hey this doesn't look bad I think it is actually going to work or 2) ..... just not sure you are going to like it and then it is a bit of an effort to carry on. This was one of the latter garments.  It didn't look as I had imagined.  I still feel that way.  It's warm and cosy, but I think I find the bright liberty a bit much and it is much firmer than the navy fleece.  I cut a size 4, but think that is could do with being a little smaller, you can see there is a lot of fabric in the side panels and the princess seams could be a touch further in.

 

It's a pretty easy pattern, although the neck is fiddly and I didn't get a nice crisp V (which is very obvious with the contrasting fabrics), rather a soft of curve.  Overall I am disappointed and I'm not sure whether I will make it again, but it is wearable.  The Liberty fleece is Alice's Garden.

 

 

Which as you can see is pretty busy.