Finished Project: HotPatterns 1157 - Fast & Fabulous Four Seasons Kimono Jacket

I'm back! After a completely hell-tastic past week that included work (pending release), class (presentation and mid-term all due in the same week), and Grid-hawk, I am back to blogging again. Note that unlike in the past when life got too hectic, I did not give up and ignore my blog for a three year stretch this time.

My most recent sewing project was the Fast and Fabulous Four Seasons Kimono Jacket from HotPatterns:

I actually finished this project two weeks ago, but am only now getting a chance to blog about it. While I do think that the finished jacket is as fabulous as advertised, I did not find it particularly fast to construct (maybe I've just been spoiled by sewing too many t-shirts recently). Although, I'd say that as far as jackets go, this one is pretty fast to put together. Some of the details of this jacket (darts, patch pockets) also that this garment isn't going to be whipped together quite as quickly as some of the other entries in HP's Fast & Fabulous line.

For this version, I chose a somewhat boring-looking gray wool knit because I was looking to tick the "gray belted cardigan" entry on my capsule wardrobe list. Remember when fabric.com got in that huge log of Vera Wang fabrics a few years ago? This wool was one of those--it was listed as a "wool jersey" but doesn't have anywhere near the drape that I'd expect a wool jersey to have. It's a nice enough fabric, but I it's been sitting in my stash waiting for the right pattern for the past 5 or so years. Boring as this fabric might seem, I think this jacket would be fabulous in a fun print, due to the lack of seamlines. In fact, when I make it again, I'm thinking of using a houndstooth doubleknit with faux leather trim.

The finished cardigan is a nice, goes-with-anything piece:

HP Kimono Jacket in gray Vera Wang wool knit

And the back:

 

I didn't notice the wavy hem on this in person or on my dress form. Luckily, with this being wool, I suspect that I'll be able to steam it into a nicer shape, not that a wavy hem would prevent me from wearing it.  The instructions have you do a blind, hand-sewn hem, but I hate hand-sewing with a passion and instead opted to do the hem using the coverstitch mode on my Babylock Evolve.

I made a few other minor design changes, including adding belt carriers (a necessity to keep the belt in a flattering place on my figure) and did a double-row of topstitching using my Evolve's coverstitch to stitch the facings into place:

You can barely see the top-stitching in the photo, but trust me, it's there and it looks nice. Completing this cardigan puts me at 6 yards of stash fabric sewn for the year (3 different pieces) and 24.38 yards of fabric purchased so far this year. Amazingly, I've just crossed the one-month mark since my last fabric purchase. I'm quite proud of myself for that.

I've already gotten started on my next project, which will be a long-sleeved Mr. HP Quick and Easy T for my husband. Over the weekend, I adjusted the pattern based on a RTW t-shirt that he likes and got the fabric cut out. This first version will just be a wearable muslin that I figure he'll just wear around the house, but once I figure out what fit tweaks he needs, I'll make up a few more for him from my recent haul of merino wools.

In non-sewing related news, we got a couple of inches of snow over the weekend. We spent a few hours playing in it on Sunday and had both a sacked out dog and a sacked out toddler by the end of the day. I shall leave you with a video of Arya playing with a snowball: