Okay, putting aside the Wool Tweed plaid dress project for a while… I’m going to make myself a raincoat. I bought this fabric in February on a whim and I am NOT going to let myself let it go to waste. It may be almost summer, but I will need a raincoat from time to time.
Initially I planned to make Burda 6360 but there were many changes I was going to have to make to that pattern – it has a lining, the pockets aren’t quite what I want, and I didn’t like the back overlay. So I went a’searching on the Internets and found Jalie 2680.
The vertical panels of Jalie 2680 will hopefully break up the visual impact of all these raincoat girls. It may be a little dizzying when it’s done, but that’ll be a good lesson for me on picking prints. I will have to be quite careful about cutting this out with the raincoat girls facing the same direction.
Jalie 2680 is made for slight stretch woven fabrics – and my fabric is not stretchy. I am using the full bust measurement to choose a size, which is different from my usual practice of using the high bust measurement and doing a FBA. I will probably still do a bit of a FBA, but first I’m going to see what the finished measurement of this coat will be without it. I want to have at least 4″ of ease above my bust measurement. My waist measurement is accurate to the pattern sizing, and my hips are 3″ smaller than the pattern size I’m using. I might broaden the waist slightly to accommodate for the lack of stretch.
I’ve learned from reading some pattern reviews of Jalie 2680 that the upper arm can be a little bit narrow, so I’ll be measuring that on the pattern and possibly making an upper arm adjustment.
I hear also that the hood edge doesn’t line up with the collar edge. I have to think on this one and decide if I want to change the style lines. I’ve bought some elastic cord for doing a drawstring on the hood front but I may not need it.
Finally, the other change I’m going to make is to switch out the buttons and buttonholes for a zipper. I’ve ordered a water-resistant nylon zipper from Wawak (arriving next Friday or whenever). I have a plastic separating zipper but it feels kind of low-budget and cheapass, and I don’t want that! I’m currently mulling over whether I shall put the zipper into the opening edge of the jacket, or figure out how to do a facing from reverse-analyzing an existing jacket.
