Medieval Matador

Spring is coming. Good news and bad news.

Bad news: AP tests 1st half of May. Which means I'm going to spend a lot of time studying. Which means my fashion and fine food exposure for the next month is going to be limited to: 

1st derivative of position is velocity. 2nd derivative is acceleration. 3rd derivative is jerk!
Courtesy of Zazzle.com

i 8 sum pi...get it? :D
Courtesy of cafepress.com

Good news: I've made enough clothes up to this point to last me through it!

I made this jacket last summer; I wore it last night to dinner and decided to take some pictures.

I LOVE the design of jacket A. It's like a cross between a matador and Queen Elizabeth. Except it's powder blue. 

YES THERE WE GO.

When I made this I was still pretty new to sewing. Which means it taught me some important lessons. 

1) IRON YOUR FABRIC BEFORE YOU CUT IT. If it looks wrinkly, iron it. Otherwise the pattern pieces will come out distorted and you will have to RE-CUT. 

2) You know what, no cutting fabric after 6:00 at night. Cutting is just too permanent for nighttime. ;) 

3) There's this thing called a nap. And unfortunately my fabric had it, and I didn't realize it, and the nap (the direction of the velvety stuff) runs the opposite direction on the back of my jacket as the front. Whoops!

But even after lots of angry cutting and recutting, and despite some messed-up nap that doesn't really show anyway (whew!), my jacket came together..and I think it looks pretty cool.

I made the gathered trim around the neck and bottom of the jacket by cutting strips of fabric on the bias, folding them in half, and gathering them.

I also trimmed the sleeves with the same ruffles, which is not called for in the actual pattern, but I thought would look cool.

I used self-faced buttons.

I also added a tiny little hook to the trim at the neckline to hold the front of the collar in place; otherwise, the collar was flapping around strangely and the curved shape of the bodice opening was getting distorted.

I'm hoping to get some sewing in soon! I have a pair of shorts that are halfway done and a bunch of history lectures to watch...who can say multitasking?