Salme Cropped Blazer

The finished Salme Cropped Blazer (see planning post here).

THE FABRIC: I used a medium to heavy weight wool from PA Fabric Outlet in Fabric Row. A bit heavier than the pattern recommends, but I've been eyeing that fabric for a while, and am happy to have something to do with it.

THE FIT: Based on bust and waist measurements I came in between an 8 and a 10, I started with the 10 thinking I could always alter down a bit. The size 10 muslin was so big, I scaled down to a 6. Granted, I'll be wearing the jacket with a strapless dress, not over a shirt. I ended up making that size as drawn, except that I moved the bust dart up 1 inch ( I say all that like its no big deal, but it is more alteration than I have ever done before, and exactly 2 more muslins than I have ever made).

ALTERATIONS: The pattern does not include lining. I altered the pattern pieces to make a lining. I used a modified version of the Grainline Studio Bagged Lining Tutorial. I sewed the whole jacket together as described, but I didn't miter the corners (a particularly weak spot in the instructions), so that I could machine sew the lining to the jacket. I first sewed the lining to the front facing, bottom corner, up around the back neck facing, down to the other bottom corner. Then I machine sewed the sleeve edges together exactly as described in the tutorial. I machine sewed the bottom edge last, leaving a hole to pull the garment right-side-out through. Then I hand sewed the hole and the mitered corners. Sounds tricky, but worked beautifully, with a little forethought on how to cut the lining pieces to fit. The mitered corner is a bit unresolved here. Next time I would drop the angle for  cleaner finish.

THE PATTERN: If you caught my accidental post a few weeks ago (oops, that's what I get for writing the rough draft online), you'll know I have a love/hate relationship with this pattern. I love this jacket, the design and construction are so perfectly simple. Unfortunately, the instructions leave a bit to be desired. The jacket is so simple to put together, the limitation of the instructions isn't a huge deal, except that such a great design, deserves better instructions. The construction is very straight forward, with minimal shaping, allowing me to make the few alterations I did, without my head exploding. I would say, this is an easy pattern for an intermediate sewist.

This is a great little jacket, and I'm surprised I haven't seen more of it out in blog land. Once you've done all the prep work, the actual jacket comes together very quickly, and offers a ton of customization potential, and it is very simple to alter to fit you just right. I have an idea for at least one more of these jackets, unlined, long sleeved, and lighter weight. I would love to do one in stone-washed denim, but I really doubt the 30-something mom that I am, could pull that off!

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Salme Cropped Jacket Planning
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