Fast Really Can Be Fabulous!

Making a garment that requires many steps, underlining, lining, handstitching, bound buttonholes, etc. can be a wonderful challenge. But there are times when we just want to make something up quickly that will still result in a good looking garment, and of course, something that doesn't look homemade. The Fast and Fabulous Jacket from Islander Sewing really fits the bill. It's super fast to make, and the results are, well, fabulous!

Since this is an unlined jacket, I chose a fabric that basically does not have a right or wrong side. 

 Here's my almost finished jacket. 

The back. As you can see, the fabric is a bit of an abstract stripe/plaid, so it required a bit of matching, but not down center back since there is no center back seam.

Although the garment is unlined, we still want the inside to look polished and finished. The first step has you serge the edges of the front, back, and sleeves. Another option would be to bind the edges, but of course this takes more time. And because of the way the way that the pattern has been designed, lining it would also be a snap. So lots of options.

In the photo below, I turned my jacket wrong side out so you could see the serged seams.

Love the shaped hemline. A nice aspect about a shaped hemline is that it is especially slimming. 

If you look closely, you'll see that I have not hemmed my sleeves. One thing to keep in mind is that I found the sleeves to be short, and I do not have long arms. So in cutting your jacket, you might want to add a few inches to sleeve. Remember, the extra can always be cut off. A bit of a challenge to add it back. For me the fix will be easy as I'll just bind the edge of the sleeve.

  

The facing finishes the jacket in a snap. I sewed my facing together and then pressed back 1/4" prior to sewing the facing to the jacket. Once the facing was attached, I pinned down the facing and stitched it down. Finished!!!

The jacket was designed to either be made with no buttonholes, or just 1 at the neckline. I decided to do a little something different and used a purse clasp.

I like the unexpected touch :)

I did make a slight alteration to the jacket and tapered it in at the waistline. I did find the pattern very true to size, so pay attention to the measurements prior to cutting. 

The jacket is designed with raglan sleeves, so it's easy to fit and even easier to sew. 

I have not sewn in the pockets at this point. I wanted to get the jacket together before adding the pockets. If you've never done a welt pocket, by all means, give it a try on a scrap prior to sewing it into your jacket. But, the instructions really make the process quite simple, so give it a try.

If you didn't catch yesterday's post, Janet is offering the pattern at a 20% discount to all who come by the blog. Just use the code SEWBUSS at checkout. You can find the paper pattern HERE, and the downloadable pattern HERE. The discount is good until July 22, 2017. 

Happy Sewing!
Rhonda