Cashmerette - Auburn Jacket Hack
This was my entry into round 2 of the 2022 Sewing Bee themed "Buttonholes as the feature".
The sewing Bee is an elimination contest, the first round everyone can enter then each subsequent round only half the entrants progress to the next round.
For the second round the theme was Button Holes as the feature. Participants had 7 days to complete their garment featuring button holes.
After a lot of designing, creativity and indecision I decided on classic tailoring paired with black and white cotton sateen.
I found this amazing jacket I had rescued from a costume cull at the theatre I volunteer at. It is sadly moth eaten in places but the quality of construction and design lines are perfection. It was the bound buttonholes combined with the unique pockets and angular seam lines that drew me to it in the first place. I saved it for these reasons as it is a size 12, will never fit me and I detest the colour!
Inspiration Jacket by Elvie Hill
my design made using Pret'a'template iPad app.
Cashmerette Auburn Blazer.
Finally, a blazer that fits curves! Experience the joy of a classic lined blazer designed specifically for a full bust. The Auburn Blazer features sleek princess seams, a sophisticated notched collar, and a single button closure. Complete the look with angled welt pockets and two-piece vented sleeves, or go for a cropped length and a clean sleeve finish. Whether sewn in a woven, stretch woven, or stable knit, the Auburn is sure to add polish to your wardrobe and style.
I used the PDF pattern which I bought especially for this project.
Pattern Sizing:
12 to 32, in cup sizes C-H. I started with the size 18 G/H cup as my base pattern.
I wanted a blazer I could Frankenpattern that I knew would fit me really well first time. This is the first time I have made the Auburn Blazer from Cashmerette. I just trusted that the garment would fit me first time as all the other Cashmerette patterns have in the past.
Fabric Used:
Cotton Sateen for the main fashion fabric and a zebra print sateen for the lining. Acetate for the upper sleeve lining as I only had a remnant of the zebra print sateen and it wasn't quite enough for two full sleeves.
The square zig zag stripe buttons have been in my stash for years waiting for the perfect garment to come along. This was defiantly it!
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I drafted off the size 18 G/H cup with standard bicep after checking my measurements against the size calculator. Usually I am a 20 G/H cup but this pattern said I should use the size 18 so I did.
I made a toile of the Auburn Blazer is to check the fit. All I needed to do was lower the bust point 1" so the curve of the bust fit the apex of my bust. I also added 1/2" to the top of the centre back seam tapering off to the waist to add a bit of room.
I left the sleeves as the were for view B without the sleeve vents.
Design Changes
I used the design lines of my Elvie Hill jacket to shape and redraw the pattern.
I wanted to alter the princess seam lines to the angled ones on the original jacket but this alteration would have taken up too much time and the jacket needed to be about the buttonholes.
I cut out my fabric and then interfaced all the black pattern pieces with Universal Interfacing which has a slight stretch so the sateen would retain its stretch for comfort.
I added a back yoke piece to achieve the angled topstitching at the centre back seam.
I made lined patch pockets instead of the welt pockets included with the pattern
The lining of the pocket is visible because the topstitching holding the pocket on is set back from the edge.
looking down the princess seam line into the pocket
I drafted off my patch pocket in the black and the zebra fabric. I sewed the pockets right sides together leaving a small opening to turn the pocket through. I turned the pocket out and carefully pressed them. I hand stitched the turning opening closed.
I sharpened the collar points to be more angular. I also cut and spread the outer edge of the collar to make it a bit fuller like the Elvie Hill version.
I widened the jacket front from the centre front line to the front edges to allow the room for the bound buttonholes.
I reshaped the front lapel to a square point instead of the curved one in the pattern and added flat piping to give the shape definition.
Bound Button Holes This was my first time making bound button holes and I used the technique from "Couture Sewing Tailoring techniques" book and DVD by Claire B. Shaeffer.
Test buttonholes to get the right size for the square buttons
Using tacking stitches to mark the vertical and horizontal lines for the buttonhole placement
The wrong side has a woven light weight buckram to stabilise the fabric.
Pocket buttonholes
I used an extra strong thread in white with a 4mm stitch length for the topstitching.
After topstitching the hem, collar and front opening I pulled the thread tails to the inside of the garment and tied them off so there is no reverse stitching and the lines are nice and crisp.
There wasn't enough zebra lining fabric to fully line the sleeves so I just did a cuff facing
teamed with Cashmerette Calder pants
The label Elvie Hill of Melbourne, its made with natural wool from Chatillon Mouly Roussel, a prominent French textile manufacturer.
I researched Elvie Hill and she was a famous Australian fashion designer in the 1950's and onwards. She passed away at the age of 100 leaving quite a legacy in Australian Fashion and I feel privileged to have been inspired by her amazingly simple looking but very complex jacket.
Elvie really appreciated fabric and movement. Her understanding of why beautifully made clothes would stand the test of time is something that we can hope is the direction people will take as they move away from fast fashion towards a future of more sustainable garment manufacturing.....hopefully!
Excerpt from article By Janice Breen Burns, The Age newspaper, February 22, 2016.
"In her heyday as one of Australia's top couturiers, Hill says luxury was less about the latest look and hottest logo, than it was about flattering fit, impeccable craftsmanship, and the way pure silks, for example, could feel on the skin and swish just so around a woman's knees as she walked"
Elvie Hill jacket
This was my entry into round 2 of the 2022 Sewing Bee themed "Buttonholes as the feature".
The sewing Bee is an elimination contest, the first round everyone can enter then each subsequent round only half the entrants progress to the next round.
For the second round the theme was Button Holes as the feature. Participants had 7 days to complete their garment featuring button holes.
After a lot of designing, creativity and indecision I decided on classic tailoring paired with black and white cotton sateen.
I found this amazing jacket I had rescued from a costume cull at the theatre I volunteer at. It is sadly moth eaten in places but the quality of construction and design lines are perfection. It was the bound buttonholes combined with the unique pockets and angular seam lines that drew me to it in the first place. I saved it for these reasons as it is a size 12, will never fit me and I detest the colour!
Cashmerette Auburn Blazer.
Finally, a blazer that fits curves! Experience the joy of a classic lined blazer designed specifically for a full bust. The Auburn Blazer features sleek princess seams, a sophisticated notched collar, and a single button closure. Complete the look with angled welt pockets and two-piece vented sleeves, or go for a cropped length and a clean sleeve finish. Whether sewn in a woven, stretch woven, or stable knit, the Auburn is sure to add polish to your wardrobe and style.
I used the PDF pattern which I bought especially for this project.
Pattern Sizing:
12 to 32, in cup sizes C-H. I started with the size 18 G/H cup as my base pattern.
I wanted a blazer I could Frankenpattern that I knew would fit me really well first time. This is the first time I have made the Auburn Blazer from Cashmerette. I just trusted that the garment would fit me first time as all the other Cashmerette patterns have in the past.
Fabric Used:
Cotton Sateen for the main fashion fabric and a zebra print sateen for the lining. Acetate for the upper sleeve lining as I only had a remnant of the zebra print sateen and it wasn't quite enough for two full sleeves.
The square zig zag stripe buttons have been in my stash for years waiting for the perfect garment to come along. This was defiantly it!
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I drafted off the size 18 G/H cup with standard bicep after checking my measurements against the size calculator. Usually I am a 20 G/H cup but this pattern said I should use the size 18 so I did.
I made a toile of the Auburn Blazer is to check the fit. All I needed to do was lower the bust point 1" so the curve of the bust fit the apex of my bust. I also added 1/2" to the top of the centre back seam tapering off to the waist to add a bit of room.
I left the sleeves as the were for view B without the sleeve vents.
Design Changes
I used the design lines of my Elvie Hill jacket to shape and redraw the pattern.
I wanted to alter the princess seam lines to the angled ones on the original jacket but this alteration would have taken up too much time and the jacket needed to be about the buttonholes.
I cut out my fabric and then interfaced all the black pattern pieces with Universal Interfacing which has a slight stretch so the sateen would retain its stretch for comfort.
looking down the princess seam line into the pocket
I drafted off my patch pocket in the black and the zebra fabric. I sewed the pockets right sides together leaving a small opening to turn the pocket through. I turned the pocket out and carefully pressed them. I hand stitched the turning opening closed.
I sharpened the collar points to be more angular. I also cut and spread the outer edge of the collar to make it a bit fuller like the Elvie Hill version.
I widened the jacket front from the centre front line to the front edges to allow the room for the bound buttonholes.
I reshaped the front lapel to a square point instead of the curved one in the pattern and added flat piping to give the shape definition.
I used an extra strong thread in white with a 4mm stitch length for the topstitching.
After topstitching the hem, collar and front opening I pulled the thread tails to the inside of the garment and tied them off so there is no reverse stitching and the lines are nice and crisp.
The label Elvie Hill of Melbourne, its made with natural wool from Chatillon Mouly Roussel, a prominent French textile manufacturer.
I researched Elvie Hill and she was a famous Australian fashion designer in the 1950's and onwards. She passed away at the age of 100 leaving quite a legacy in Australian Fashion and I feel privileged to have been inspired by her amazingly simple looking but very complex jacket.
Elvie really appreciated fabric and movement. Her understanding of why beautifully made clothes would stand the test of time is something that we can hope is the direction people will take as they move away from fast fashion towards a future of more sustainable garment manufacturing.....hopefully!
Excerpt from article By Janice Breen Burns, The Age newspaper, February 22, 2016.
"In her heyday as one of Australia's top couturiers, Hill says luxury was less about the latest look and hottest logo, than it was about flattering fit, impeccable craftsmanship, and the way pure silks, for example, could feel on the skin and swish just so around a woman's knees as she walked"
