Wednesday, October 26, 2011

I Forgot... I Have Always Loved Dusters (2)

Yes, I forgot that I have two similar long jackets (dusters) in my closets! Albeit two that were destined to Goodwill because I never wear them anymore. However, I still adore the brown, 100% silk Ann Taylor jacket, it was part of a fabulous suit. Because it is a size 2(!), I eventually outgrew the pants. The blue one is a perma-crinkle 100% linen jacket by Mandolorama (?) in Euro size 42 that I bought in New Orleans. So, I suppose I was missing this type of item in my closet and that's why this coat became so important to me. Hmmm.

So lucky me, I can compare the fit of each jacket to my muslin in order to pinpoint what it is I have to change to get the final shape I want. Note: These two jackets don't really fit anymore because of my hips, so they don't look good buttoned, one of the reasons the new jacket will not have any closures.



Front view of the muslin looks good. Compared to the other two I think it may have a better fit in the shoulders, while the others hang over the shoulder points a bit.





Sleeve cap, I have no idea which one looks the best. I know the muslin has too much ease because I had to gather a bit, but in regard to the shape of the others, I have no clue.


It looks like the brown might fit better? What do you think?

 

Back span, with arms raised, I don't like how the muslin shoulders stick up but they do look better than the blue one. The blue also has these horizontal wrinkles along the back I didn't know about. I was surprised to see them because the jacket didn't feel tight at all when I raised my arms.



The brown one, again, looks the best. It is of course a much more fluid fabric than the crisp linen and a cotton comforter cover. Most importantly, you can see that both finished coats have some shaping at the waist while the green muslin falls straight down from shoulder to hip.

 

Rear view is the big problem. What I don't like: how the muslin bags out above the rear, is too wide everywhere above the hips, and has those vertical lines alongside the armscye. You can see that the shaping at the waist of both the blue and brown flatters the rear end view. Both of those jackets also have a center back seam which might be my salvation and a better solution than a narrow back adjustment*.





Side view, again too much fabric in the same exact spot: around the waist and above the rear. The shaping on the other two give a slight bit of shape to this view too.



My next step is to compare the measurements from the finished coats to the corresponding points on my muslin and see where I stand.

* Though I did find excellent instructions for one on the web from Threads, various blogs, and this great pattern alteration series from the Texas A&M AgraLife extension program.

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