Burda 1/2025 #116 again

Here's the second time for this easy to sew pattern from BurdaStyle magazine. The first one was a lengthened version in terry toweling that was made to be a robe/swim coverup, and here's a link to the post.

This time, the pattern turned out to be a great solution for a problematic fabric. I'm pretty sure when I bought this that it was labeled 100% cotton. When it came, I was happy with how rich looking it was, a melange of different colors, with the burgundy predominating. It was flat and smooth like a heavy-ish shirting, and that was what was planned. But look what happened when it was pre washed! It drew up into a texture a little like a large waffle weave which made it even richer to look at, but that dashed my plans. By process of elimination (couldn't be a shirt, couldn't be a dress, couldn't be pants...) it was destined for jacketry.

It was also clear that to preserve the texture there was going to have to be a lot of hand basting and sewing, so I needed a very simple pattern. This little cropped jacket was the winner because with its extended shoulders and deep armholes, it would let me wear dolman tops underneath. I didn't have anything like that.

whole lotta texture

There was indeed a lot of hand sewing. The little patch pockets had to be totally done by hand. All of the seams that weren't vertical or close to it had to be hand basted. In most cases I did two rows of basting - one inside the seam allowance, and one outside. After checking that the seam length still matched the pattern (it was easy to draw up the lines of basting if the seam line had gotten too long), I stitched between the basting lines on the machine. Hems were all done by hand as well as the inside of the front band. I decided to leave off buttons and buttonholes.

I was surprised at how much I like this cropped length. Photo shows it with pants that I would never actually wear it with 😄, but gives an idea of the general look. One of the fabrics Burda recommends for this pattern is sweatshirting, and I'm thinking when fall rolls around I might whip one up using that material. It would be super cozy and comfy, and that one would be quick to make!

I've been on a bit of a sewing jag lately - lots of sewing but no documentation on the blog. Catch-up posts are forthcoming.