First Attempt at a Fitted Jacket

I just completed Butterick 5331, a fitted short sleeve or sleeveless jacket with shoulder princess seams. I have never really attempted a fitted jacket, so selected this one as a place to start because it was unlined, and that seemed a bit simpler.

I did a little "snoop shopping" before deciding what I wanted to make, and found a number of short-sleeved jackets available in stores for summer. Many of them were in vibrant colors, like this Nanette Lepore, I found at Nordstrom:


Unfortunately, I don't have the money to spend $425.00 on a jacket that will be in style for one season, so I wanted to make a quick version, from some fabric that was not too expensive. I chose a 100% cotton tone-on-tone brocade in fuchsia.

Overall, the pattern was not difficult, but I made a couple of changes and small alterations, and I found a significant mistake in the instructions.

First, the mistake. I bought the 1 3/4 yard recommended for 45 inch width fabrics for view D. No matter what kinds of contortions I performed, how I laid out the pattern pieces, there was just no way to get the second set of the front center pieces cut (you have to cut 4, since the second set serves as a facing). I ended up having to go pack to the fabric store to get more fabric, praying that they still had some available, otherwise my simple, unlined jacket was going to become a not-so-simple lined one. Fortunately, they had some left and I picked up another yard. Since I now had fabric to spare, I decided to change from the small cap sleeves of view D, to the puff sleeves on view B.

Now, to the changes that I made...the instructions directed you topstitch the princess seams. I decided to do the princess seams as flat-fell seams, because that would give a similar "look" as topstitching, but would also serve a purpose, and hide the unfinished edges of the seams.


For the remainder of the seams, I used a hong kong finish, and bound the edges with binding strips made from a fat quarter I picked up on my last trip to the fabric store. Rather than cutting it into strips, I made "endless bias" and was able to get a long enough bias strip out of it to complete the binding on the jacket using only one fat quarter. If I remember to take pictures, I'll make a tutorial, but it is pretty simple...you basically just turn the fabric into a tube and cut the bias strips off of it like a spiral. Using that method, you can get over 20 feet of 1 inch bias strip from one fat quarter. I also added the hong kong binding to the edge of the front facing before stitching it down, and also the hem...rather than using hem tape.


The only fitting issue that I ran into was the width of the jacket. I did flat pattern measurements, comparing to an Ann Taylor jacket that I liked the fit of. Apparently, I had an attack of the stupids, because what I thought was "just like" the Ann Taylor jacket really didn't fit at all. It fit at the waist and hips, but was huge across the back and under the arms. Interestingly, the issue was not with the center back or the center front...the princess seams were all in the right place...but the side back and side front widened significantly.

I fixed it by putting the jacket on inside out, pinning out the extra, and re-sewing the side seam, tapering back out to the original seam near the waist. Then I re-cut the armscyes, so that they wouldn't be too small given my alterations.

It was not a case of simply cutting the wrong size, because I ended up cutting a full two inches out from underneath each arm. Comparing that with the pattern means that I cut something like a 14 across the back, tapering out to my standard 18 at the waist and hips. Normally I don't have to do this, but Butterick has always given me trouble with the width of their bodices. I made a truly spectacular disaster of a wadder from Butterick 5030, because the bodice pieces, while they fit at the waist, grew to such incredible size that the front of the dress gaped open like a bathrobe. And that was AFTER removing a good six inches under the arms. Seriously, who is Butterick designing these patterns for? Female body builders? Drag queens?

In the end, however, I was able to salvage the jacket and I think that it looks just fine. It will be a nice way to brighten up my wardrobe for work this summer. Plus, it gets so hot here in St. Louis, it will be nice to be able to look office-appropriate and not be busy melting inside a wool or synthetic suit jacket. I think it will look nice with either a black or white cami and coordinating pants.