Things have been quiet here for the last week, mainly because I hit a major roadblock with my Anise Jacket, and there’s nothing I could do to fix it. After getting over my initial disappointment, I picked it up and decided to sally forth – I’ve spent so much time on this, it would be a shame to not finish it regardless of the fact that it…doesn’t fit correctly.
Here, I’ll show you.
It’s those damn shoulders. And I should have known better, based on when my Mom made blazers for me a few years ago.
The shoulders of the jacket are too wide for my shoulders, which is why I’m getting a dent right below my shoulder pad…sigh. When my Mom made blazers for me before, she adjusted the shoulders in since the sleeve seams were waaaay past where they need to fall on me. I didn’t really notice this in my muslin, and when I tried it on again it was so slight and looked ok in the lighter weight fabric. The effect is now emphasized in the heavier weight wool.
I tried using a 1/2″ shoulder pad instead of the 1/4″ pad, to see if it would help eliminate the dent, and it only made the dent more pronounced.
Oh, and I could never figure out that stupid ease in the front of the sleeve head. Why in the world is there that much ease??? Ease like that should be in the back on the sleeve, not the front. And yes, this is inserted correctly.
It looks even worse when I bend my arm, you can really see the shoulder pad.
Same results on the other sleeve, too.
I think this pulling is the result of something that happened when I sewed the welt pocket, don’t think I can fix it either.
Well, I learned a lot from making this jacket, and it’s by no means perfect. There was a quote I saw somewhere recently that said “perfectionism is a disease,” and I have to agree – I was getting so hung up on having everything look just right, and I freaked out when I couldn’t get the sleeves to hang correctly.. As much as I’d like for this to look flawless, it’s my first tailored jacket and my skills will only get better the more I continue to practice and make more jackets/blazers/coats. So for now, I’m finishing up this jacket and will wear it proudly when it’s finished.
![Finished Project: Anise Jacket [Colette Patterns]](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAlgAAAGQAQMAAABI+4zbAAAAA1BMVEUAAACnej3aAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAADRJREFUeNrtwQENAAAAwiD7p7bHBwwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAgKQDdsAAAWZeCiIAAAAASUVORK5CYII=)
Every project is a learning experience and I have yet to make anything completely perfect in all the time I've been sewing. Your jacket looks better than some of the store-bought things I see people wearing around town!
Have you tried moving the stitch line of the sleevecap up on the shoulder? It looks like you could just change the location a bit and trim off the extra seam allowance on the shoulder. Try hand basting with a contrast thread along the shoulder where it crosses your shoulder joint – then just move the sleeve cap to the basting line and stitch.
Don't give up! It'll be a great jacket!
Brooke, your comment is what made me keep going! You're completely right about RTW – so many people wear things that don't fit/look bad. That's the benefit of sewing!
I have no tailoring or jacket-making advice to share, as I know nothing about that, BUT…whenever I feel this way about a project, I force myself to finish it, then usually hide it away in my closet for a couple weeks. Every time I've tried this, when I pull the thing out after some time has passed, I'm like OH, THIS IS CUTE! even though I know it is not perfect. Not the healthiest sounding suggestion, but worth a shot! 🙂
I think it's a GREAT idea! My post goes live tomorrow with the finished jacket – I wore it this weekend, and with the weather getting warmer, I probably won't wear it again until the fall. Maybe I'll like it even more come October!
i know exactly how it feels to have such high hopes and try to do everything right and it still comes out less than perfect. so frustrating! sometimes it does take finishing it and then not looking at it for a while to appreciate that it's not as bad as you initially thought. i really think you could re-set the sleeve cap and shave off part of the shoulder to fix most of the problems. it also looks like the shoulder of the jacket is hitting behind your actual shoulder, but all the extra fabric on the front of the sleeve cap is a little odd. hope you can get something wearable!
Thank you for the kind words of encouragement! I learned a lot about sleeves, of all things, on this project, and your tip is really helpful.
What about trying a different shaped shoulder pad like those for for raglan sleeves? They would fill out the sleeve cap. Bring it to Thursday's Iron Seamstress meeting.
I definitely need to try those out in my next jacket, thanks for the suggestion!
Put in sleeve heads, they will support the top of the sleeve and remove that dent.
If you google "sleeve heads" the blog the sewing divas has a good explanation of them. Good luck.
Yes thank you, I put them in in the photos above. They helped, but not a lot. It's definitely a fitting issue 🙁