Made by Me: Style Arc Gabby Jacket

If you follow me in Instagram you'll probably have seen a sneak peak of this jacket, and also a blurry mirror/phone photo of me wearing it yesterday.





It's the Style Arc Gabby  woven jacket, described on the Style Arc website as follows:

The stylish sleeve head and reverse revere of this jacket gives the look of now. Wear it with jeans for a casual look or with a skirt for the office or special occasion. This jacket meets at the front therefore no buttons required also the jetted pockets are optional.




I bought the pattern a couple of months ago, thinking it would make a great jacket to wear with jeans.   I love the reverse reveres and the extended shoulders, which I think balance out my wider hips pretty well.  They're also something that have featured quite heavily in some of Alexander McQueen's designs, so after seeing the Savage Beauty exhibition a couple of weeks ago I was tempted to pull the pattern out and give it a go. 

The fabric is curtain remnants from a shop local to me.  They often have a box of remnants and off-cuts outside - there were 4 pieces of this fabric, each the full width of the fabric but only about 40cm long, and they were priced at £2.00 each.  I snapped up all 4 and had just enough to make this jacket. 




I had to cut the back with a centre seam instead of on the fold as directed by the pattern, but this worked out well as I ended up adding some shaping to the centre back seam as well as some darts in the back.  My muslin was just too boxy for my liking.  You can see the darts and back seam in the photo above.  Please excuse the wrinkles, I'd just worn the jacket out to lunch.

The other alteration I had to do was to take out one inch in length between the shoulder and bottom of the armhole.  This area was too long for me, resulting in the whole jacket looking too big.  I didn't re-muslin after I'd taken the length out, and thankfully it's turned out perfectly.




The jacket is fully lined, using remnants from my own stash, a taupe matt satin for the body, and cream poly lining for the sleeves.  The lining was semi-bagged (is that even a thing?) - I attached the lining to the shell around the neckline/fronts/hem of the body and turned right side out through an opening in a side seam.  The sleeve hems are hand sewn, as I wasn't sure exactly how long the sleeves needed to be until I'd got the shoulder pads in. 

The shoulder pads are an important feature.  I ordered some lovely posh ones, but they haven't arrived yet, so I ended up using some cheaper ones from my local arts and crafts shop.  They feel OK though, and hopefully they'll hold up with wear.  I also added some sleeve heads and support to the extended shoulders, as the back of the shoulder in particular kept collapsing in.  This was done using bias cut strips of the fashion fabric, and a lot of trial and error.  I was quite surprised that the shoulders needed the additional support as the fabric is pretty thick and stiff, but it was definitely worth the effort to add it.




I didn't have enough fabric to even think about pattern matching, but I'm really quite pleased with the way the pattern has fallen across the fronts.  I omitted the jetted pockets.  The fabric frayed like mad as soon as you looked at it, and I didn't fancy the additional hassle of trying to make the jetted pockets look good.  I don't think this particular fabric really needs them either.

I am very pleased with how this jacket has turned out.  I do love Style Arc patterns, and this one is not a disappointment in any shape or form, although as usual the instructions are minimal at best.  I didn't really use the instructions that much.  I've made several jackets recently so just did what I'd done with those - the beauty of collarless jackets is they're much more straightforward than collared ones.




  


11 comments

  1. What a great jacket! Those shoulders are something special. Perfect fabric and perfect fit. Best thing I've seen all day!

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  2. Looks great Sam. Those shoulders are very dramatic and you could dress it up or down so I think you'll wear it loads!

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    1. Thanks Jo. Yes, it looked equally good with a smart dress, so I think it will get lots of wear.

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  3. Such a trendy silhouette love it!

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    1. Thanks Manju. That's what I love about Style Arc patterns, they seem more on trend than the 'Big 4' a lot of the time.

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  4. Colour looks fabulous. I'm really surprised that you didn't match the pattern design. I wouldn't have know if you hadn't mentioned it. Looks great.

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  5. When you first showed the muslin for this jacket, I wasn't sure I'd like it with the extended shoulders. But I really, really do! My first thought when I saw these pictures was, "Why can I never find cool brocades like that?" Aha: I have to look in the upholstery section! Great jacket!

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    1. Thanks Gail. Yes, definitely check the upholstery section next time.

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  6. Wow! Fantastic! The extended shoulders are so cool. And I can't believe that is upholstery fabric! Perfect!

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