A sewing? Weekend

Long post warning!

Last weekend, I attended a 2-day sewing weekend locally. You might wonder why I put a question mark in the title of my blog post, well it is intentional! I decided that since I had 2 days  and some guidance,  I would tackle a "big" project. I picked the Jasika Blazer that I had intended to try and make during the online sew-along in spring. I never got further than cutting the pieces for a toile. Ideally I would have sewn the toile before the weekend but that didn't happen either... so armed with my sewing machine, my overlocker,  my toile pieces, my main fabric send lining, off I went on Saturday morning, full of expectations!

I spent the morning assembling the toile. Then came the interesting (and scary) time to adjust the jacket... I didn't need that many tweaks but they made such a difference. Our tutor Sarah pointed out where I needed to make changes and which changes were needed. I have a sway back so had to take it up 1' in the middle and also it was broader than the straight size 12' I had cut. So we adjusted that too by adding 1/2' in the top of the back pieces.  It was then time to unpick the toile, redraw the pieces on paper, cut then again and put the toile back together. The fit of the Blazer was just transformed by these 2 adjustments that I would never had the confidence to do by myself. I have since noticed that I should really adjust the back on a few other of my garments!

I managed to cut my fabric before the first day was over. I fused the pieces on Sunday morning and cut the lining too. And on Sunday mid afternoon,  finally came the "real" sewing... in the end I managed to sew the darts and get started on the breast pocket.

I didn't need my overlocker,  I hardly needed my sewing machine but I've learnt so much on fitting and I had a great weekend!
Now to pick up all the pieces and make the Blazer. Let's see how long this will take...

Celine