You might have seen this baby pop up on the Fabric Mart blog earlier this week... I wrote a ponte-theme post, with one garment for me and one for time. Ponte power couple?
The fabric is a fabulous midnight black viscose/nylon/lycra ponte, really thick and smooth and high-quality. I'm pretty excited because I was able to squeeze this blazer out of much less fabric than the pattern called for, so I had a fair bit of this fabric left over for another project! #Winning.
This is the Hot Patterns Metropolitan Chimera Cardigan-Jacket-Vest pattern (phew! always such lengthy pattern names at Hot Patterns!), which is described as "semi-fitted... [with] panel seams plus ‘Dior’ darts... and a slim shawl collar." It comes in two lengths, has a two-piece sleeve (or vest option), and has patch pockets or faux pocket flaps.
I wanted a long, slouchy, "boyfriend-style" blazer that could be dressed up or down, so I opted for the longer length jacket with long sleeves. I skipped the pockets for now, but I am thinking of adding the patch pockets on; I think they'll look nice.
Fit-wise, I struggled to choose a size. There aren't any finished measurements and I know Hot Patterns can run big. On the other hand, this blazer is meant to be somewhat slouchy. In the end, I decided to choose the same size at my Hot Patterns Fast and Fabulous Shirt Tail Ts, a size 14 (my measurements put me in a 16 bust, 18 hip). Trying on the blazer, I think I might have gone up a size at the hip to a 16, but since it's a closure-less jacket, it doesn't really matter.
A quick tissue fit showed that I would need some room in the sleeves, especially if I wanted to layer this blazer over long sleeves, which I do. I did a one inch full bicep adjustment, which was a little bit tricky with the two-piece sleeve, but Fit for Real People helped me through. The majority of the adjustment ended up on the upper sleeve... in retrospect, I probably didn't need to bother slashing the under sleeve.
I quite like the Dior Darts (small bust darts that originate in a side panel seam)! Those were a first for me. Now I'm looking forward to trying them out in another Hot Patterns pattern I have in my stash, the Plain and Simple Tailored Ts.
I wanted to topstitch the shawl collar facing down all the way around, but didn't want the topstitching interfering with the look of the panel lines and darts, so I just topstitched the hem facing. It looks a little bit weird because my stitching just stops in the middle of nowhere where the hem facing ends and collar facing starts, but oh well. Maybe the patch pocket will cover it!
I wanted to topstitch the shawl collar facing down all the way around, but didn't want the topstitching interfering with the look of the panel lines and darts, so I just topstitched the hem facing. It looks a little bit weird because my stitching just stops in the middle of nowhere where the hem facing ends and collar facing starts, but oh well. Maybe the patch pocket will cover it!
I'm having a little bit of trouble with the bodice of the blazer pulling away from the shawl collar. I understitched the collar, to the facing in some spots and to the bodice in others, depending on which side would be showing on the outside, but it's not really the edge rolling that's a problem. I hand stitched the facing to the bodice underneath the folded-over part of the shawl collar, but it's not perfect at the bottom where I couldn't handstitch. I noticed this same issue with shawl collar on my Seamwork Delavan, so perhaps it's a shawl-collar issue.
In the end, I quite like the blazer despite a few minor quibbles with it. It looks great with jeans (paired here with my Ames jeans and double-gauze Beatrix), but I think it will look nice with skinny pants or a pencil skirt for work. Thanks for the fabric, Fabric Mart!