Dearest Needlework Monday friends...
I'm glad to share this happy-making project with you all: a favourite wee jacket - as ever, from the 50c stall in Telese Terme, south Italy - which was too wide around the midriff, was transformed into a more perfect garment, by way of some tucks and some glamourous pockets!
These were the pockets; a small purse, which came along with two other kind of round table-mats - all with this fringe on. They appear to be south American, or north African? Either way, they are silk, and I had a lovely time taking apart the fringe, then unsewing the sides of the wee purse, which left me with two shapes just right for pockets!
There were a variety of jackets, skirts or trousers that I could have put these pockets on, but I had this particular wee silk cropped jacket, which I knew would be divine and would go with the bright colours in the embroidery.
This is me taking a test run with the darts first, checking that they will not be too tight: in fact, they are a tiny bit tight, so I will take apart that small piece of sewing from the side seams, as the darts at the front (which you see above) are already fixed into the pocket positioning.
The inside of this wee jacket is a wonderful creamy yellow colour... sewing it was a nice experience: slow, simple, tidy, easy work.
Before I'd worn it, and made the seams more firm; this is the side of the jacket, showing where I took it in.
Pinning the first pocket in position: exciting!
And pinning both in place: I did this whilst watching old episodes of Project Runway. 😇
It was easy too, to sew into the silk outer and inner layers, when adding these new pockets. I used black cotton thread and a long needle. The pockets don't need to be super-sturdy, as they are more for decoration than for putting e.g. hands into - so they don't need to be prepped for heavy wear-and-tear.
Yey! This is it sewn! And the sleeves extended: the sleeves were also a bit out-of-kilter: they have a huge cuff and are meant to function with this cuff rolled back - but the inside lining doesn't quite sit right with one of them, so the jacket always looked lop-sided. I fixed this by unrolling the cuffs, then turning just a wee bit of turn-up cuff.
I wore the jacket out to day: perfect weather where it is getting very hot, but there is a cool breeze and it's cool in the shade too. I really love the feel of wearing a jacket like this. Silk is such an amazing material to wear on one's body!
A couple of snaps to show the jacket on....
Projects like this are important to me, as I'm always learning more through my hands about materials and techniques, and I gain a huge amount of satisfaction from improving the clothes that I have. Much more fulfilling on multiple levels, than just buying more clothes!
Behind me in this last photo, is a red gingham dress which I also altered this week: you can just see the double waistline which I improvised. I sewed a second elastic around the upper-waist (under my bust), by running a piece of bias-binding along the inside, then feeding the elastic through with a safety pin. 😍 I still have to resolve some over-ruffling, but it already sits much better than before.
A presto, thank you for reading and upvoting my post, and many good wishes to you all in your needlework adventures!
