The project that made me love my sewing machine again. And hate buttonholes.

Last post I showed a picture of Martin's Christmas present, a reproduction (nearly) of this Civil war jacket. I'm quite ashamed to say that this was the first garment I'd undertaken since leaving university, and when I first started drafting, that definitely showed! I can't believe how much I'd forgotten since my degree - my notes were nowhere near detailed enough. Ugh. After failing to remember how to draft jackets from scratch (something to practice for another day perhaps) I decided to swallow my pride and start from a pattern. This is based somewhat loosely on McCalls 4745, though it came up very small so there were a lot of adjustments to make on the first fitting.

Drafting out of the way, my actual sewing skills started to come back to me :) The jacket is fully lined and interlined with the lining finished by hand. The cuffs, collar and centre front are piped and the buttonholes are painstakingly and maddeningly sewn by hand (I was still doing that on Christmas Eve)


The russian braid (rideekulously expensive postage, go to London instead if possible) on the cuffs looks awesome, but was actually pretty easy - it worked much better freehand than trying to pin the braid on before sewing.

He even gets an inside pocket, because I'm that generous! The only thing I'm not entirely happy about is the collar. I'd never done a standup collar in university so I sort of made it up and it doesn't lie entirely flat. I'll get it right next time though!



Thankyou for modelling Martin. Yes, you were marvellous dear. I shall get Tyra on your case right away.