Completed: The Kelly Anorak

Hey guys! Thank you for all your great comments, suggestions, and feedback on my last post! I’m so happy to hear that y’all enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it 🙂 With that being said, my stint as a ~travel blogger~ is now officially over (well, until I save up money for my next trip – the verdict is still out on where exactly!) – back to regular sewing posts!

BUT before we get into the project – some class-related stuff!

• I’ve got two classes at Workroom Social in March that both still have a couple of spots left, if you’ve been on the fence and are looking for a reason to treat yo’self 😉 (it IS Valentine’sDay, after all! ;)) The Jeans Making Intensive is March 2-3, and the always-popular Pants Making Intensive is March 4-5! The jeans class primarily focuses on construction and finishing a pair of jeans (we use the Ginger Jeans pattern – which, btw, I’m wearing in these photos haha), while the pants class has a little more fitting involved and sews a classic pair of trousers. Both are going to be super fun and I am so excited to be back in NYC in a couple of weeks! ♥
• Speaking of Workroom Social – Camp Workroom Social is coming back, and I’ll be back as an assistant to Amy of Cloth Habit’s Bra Making class! Registration is currently open only to alumni, but will be open to the public soon. I cannot WAIT for another round at camp – last year was freaking amazing (and so, so, so beautiful!) and it will be so fun to reconnect with old friends and make new ones!
• Finally, speaking of Amy and bras -she’s coming to Nashville to teach a bra making workshop at Craft South! Having worked with her at camp last year, I knew we had to have her at the shop for a workshop – she’s a fantastic teacher and so knowledgeable about bra fit! Amy will be in Nashville September 22-23 to teach her Bra Making Weekend Workshop at Craft South. The class will make Amy’s newest pattern, Harriet, as well as learn basic fitting and finishing methods. Oh, and I’ll be assisting the class 🙂 I know a lot of people have been asking when we’d do a bra workshop in Nashville – so there ya go! You can sign up for the workshop here. It’s gonna be amazing!

Ok, back to sewing!

Today’s project is actually last month’s project that I am just now getting around to posting – the Kelly Anorak from Closet Case Patterns!

While I am not typically a fan of “vacation preparation sewing” – mainly in the sense that I get really stressed with those sorts of deadlines and thus sewing doesn’t even up being very fun – I did make this jacket specifically for my trip to Egypt. I thought it would be a useful thing to bring with me – a nice light layer to ward off the morning chill in the desert, yet breathable for when the sun got all crazy in the afternoon. I also liked that it had those big, roomy pockets and was long enough to cover my butt. My orange Minoru fills most of these slots, but I’ve worn it to death over the years and it’s starting to look ratty – plus, that poly lining isn’t exactly the most breathable thing. Also, I just really love sewing jackets. Sue me 😛

As I said, the Kelly Anorak is a lightweight and unlined jacket – meant to be worn between seasons, not necessarily your crazy winter coat. I’ve seen some people make it out of waterproof fabric, but in my experience I usually carry an umbrella when it rains anyway (and I also own an actual rain jacket – although I still prefer the umbrella, as I don’t like getting my shoes and pants wet!), so this is good enough for a super light drizzle. The pattern features a zippered front with a snap closure placket, a 3 piece hood (which stays on your head much better than the 2 piece kind – it also doesn’t flatten one’s hair as much), big ol’ gusseted pockets, a drawstring waist, and a sleeve placket so you can roll up the sleeves. I actually saw something real similar in JCrew while I was out holiday shopping one afternoon, so I got the added bonus of being able to try the thing on before making it!

The fabric I used for this jacket is an old favorite that’s shown up in tons of my past makes – solid organic cotton twill from Mood Fabrics. The color I used specifically is Olive, and yes, I realize the color on their website photo is way off and no, I don’t know why that is. If you are picky about color, you will definitely want to order a swatch of this stuff. Anyway, I love this fabric because it is easy to work with, has a nice brilliant color, washes/wears well, and is reasonably priced (at least in my opinion!). And it comes in so many colors! Mood pretty much always carries this fabric, FYI, so even if it’s sold out on the website – either hang tight and wait for it to get restocked (I promise it will) or just call the store and have it shipped from there.

Most of the little hardware bits and pieces were picked up in the NYC Garment District when I was there in November. I knew I was going to be nitpicky about everything matching just so, so I wanted to check out the goods in person. The drawstring, grommets, cord stoppers, metal tassel ends, and zipper are all from Pacific Trimming (I knowww there are other places in the GD to buy this stuff – and maybe even for cheaper – but I just love Pacific Trimming, esp their zipper room!). The zipper is actually a Riri zipper, cos I wanted that shit to be extra fancy. I think I paid around $20 for just the zipper – so it’s not necessarily cheap at all – but it’s really nice, both in terms of how it looks and how smooth it zips! It was also nice to have it cut to the correct size, and also be able to choose both the finish of the metal teeth and the color of the zipper tape, cos again, I was feeling nitpicky about that shit! 🙂 I knew this jacket was going to be a time commitment to make, and for that reason, I’m ok with spending extra money on nicer materials.

The only notion that I did not buy in NYC was the snaps – I just went to Elizabeth Suzann‘s studio during their lunch break and used their industrial snap setter, ha! That thing is really cool and I kiiind of wish I had one, but honestly I am always looking for an excuse to drop by and chat with my old coworkers so for that reason, I’ll continue mooching off theirs!

Since the jacket is unlined (and, for me, primarily worn wide open), I took extra care to finish all the seams for a neat interior. Most every seam is flat-felled, with the exception of the arm holes (only because I didn’t feel like futzing with that shit. I just serged them). I used two different threads to assemble the jacket – a polyester thread for the seams, and then a cotton thread for all the topstitching. I would have just sewn the entire thing with the poly thread, but the color I had on hand was off enough to where the topstitching didn’t look right – and the only thread I had in a suitable color was cotton. In my experience, cotton thread simply does not hold up as well as polyester thread, which is basically indestructible. Considering all the work that I put into this jacket, I didn’t want my threads to fail! So I just used cotton for topstitching – and used a triple stitch, partially for added durability and also because it results in a more visible stitch.

I will be completely honest with y’all – I didn’t exactly enjoy the process of sewing this jacket. A big part of the reason was because I was under a pretty tight deadline to finish it before my trip (even though I promised myself it was ok to take the Minoru if I didn’t finish, and that everything would be fine – I still rushed!), but I also found some of the directions to be a bit confusing. The Closet Case Patterns blog has some tutorials on the trickier steps, but some of the information actually contradicts itself in online tutorial vs pattern instructions. The zipper placket specifically was really head-scratching to me, and I had to walk away a few times. There’s a discrepancy with the seam allowances written in the pattern instructions vs the blog tutorial, which I found really confusing. I believe the version on the blog is the correct one, though, if I recall correctly! Another thing that really threw me off was that my zipper pull was on the opposite side of the tape, than what you see on the blog. Finally, I was not a fan of how wide the finished facings are – they are really really wide (too wide, in my opinion). I ended up turning them under additionally and sewing another line to make them more narrow. At the width they were as drafted, I felt like they would just end up flapping around with wear and showing my ugly white interfacing. Nope, not doing that.

Anyway, minor complaints – and may also just be personal, because all the reviews I read just gush about how clear the instructions are. So it could just be me!

As far as sizing and fit, I made a size 2 – which is my normal size for this pattern company. I actually did make a muslin, so I could double check the fit, length, and drawstring placement. The length and drawstring were perfect, and the fit was pretty good. The only thing I changed was the shape of the arm hole – it was a little too big, which made the entire jacket move along with my arms when I lifted them. I raised the bottom by about 1/2″, as well as added to the back of the arm hole, and then took a bit (maybe 3/8″) off the front of the arm hole as it was pulling. This is a pretty standard adjustment that I make to most patterns that involve sleeves. I think I just have really weird-shaped and/or small armscyes haha who knows.

One thing I wish I could have found a way to change was to make the snap on the pocket functional. It’s just there for show and to hold the flap in place – the pocket doesn’t actually snap shut. I considered adding the other side of the snap, but it would have shown on the inside of the jacket (and since you need to interface it, would not have made the inside look as nice). One idea is to interface a scrap of the twill and sew it to where the snap gets inserted, so all you see is a square of twill on the inside. I may do that in the future. It’s not a dealbreaker not being able to snap the pockets closed, but it sure would be handy.

At any rate, this jacket was TOTALLY worth the effort – I think the finished result looks pretty damn good! There’s definitely something to be said about using nice materials, as they really elevate the garment into something that looks extra nice. But I am also really happy with the craftsmanship that went into it – I’m glad I took the time to do the flat-felled seams, rip out mistakes and fix them (even though we all know that shit can be agonizing haha), and even deal with making a muslin first. All totally worth it in the end. And while I made this for Egypt and our upcoming spring weather, it’s actually been handy for the majority of January & what we’ve experienced so far in February. I realize everyone is getting pummeled by snow right now, but y’all, it’s been 70 degrees in Tennessee this past week. I am starting to wonder if we are going to skip winter entirely! I had plans to make an actual winter coat this year, but I may put it on hold until the next cold season because I’m not really feeling super motivated with the weather as it is currently!

I used twill tape to finish the neckline (as suggested in the pattern instructions). If I’d thought about it while I was buying my supplies, I would have tried to find a tape that matched my olive fabric. Oh well! For the label, I serged around all 4 sides of a scrap of twill, then sewed my label (which is from Dutch Label Shop) on top of that before attaching it to the jacket. The hanging loop is a small piece of leather that I cut to shape and sewed on by hand.

Whew! Sorry about that photo dump – I guess while I’ve gotten better at editing down and posting less photos of myself, I can’t say the same about detail shots 😉 haha.

I leave you with one last photo of me. Sorry, not sorry:

Note: The fabrics used for this project was provided to me by Mood Fabrics, in exchange for my participation in the Mood Sewing Network.

Save

Tags: anorak, closet case patterns, completed, cotton, cotton twill, jacket, kelly anorak, Mood Fabrics, Mood Sewing Network, outerwear