Tree-mendous Jacket finished

Well, that was an adventure. But it’s done, and it’s cozy (of course, it’s also still hot summer here). In putting it all together, there were a couple of things that didn’t go as smoothly as I’d have liked.

Sewing around the curves of the neck were a bear because of the bulk. In the photo above, you may be able to see there’s a crease in the lining where I was sewing from the jacket on top, and it caught some of that extra fabric and pleated it. I picked that out and re-stitched it after I took the photo.

I also reinforced the shoulders with topstitching along each side of the seam. The lining was only attached and topstitched along the bottom and the openings, and it felt like it needed some additional anchorage in the shoulders. The construction for adding the lining was to sew the two pieces together, right sides together around the bottom and the jacket front and neck. Then you turn it right side out through one of the sleeves. Doing that was a bear, let me tell you. At one point, I didn’t think I was going to be able to pull it all through without breaking seams. But with a long time of pulling and coaxing little bits at a time, I finally got it through.

I originally thought I might make another one of these jackets with just the patchwork, but I think what I’ll do first is make the Edyta Sitar Beachcomber Jacket. Then I’ll see which style I prefer. There is a lot of bulk/extra fabric in the sleeve of this one that doesn’t appear to be in the Beachcomber jacket. Of course, I may only need the two, ha!