The Late Night Sewist

Hi!

Long time no see again! I have been busy as everyone else trying to still blog in this fast-paced world. But I have the first days of my winter holiday going on and finally took basically one full day to shoot several projects that I have completed in the meanwhile but not had the time to take proper pictures of.

As a tester for Itch to Stitch Patterns I had the wonderful opportunity to test the Winterthur jacket back in October-November. I had this very interesting soft mesh fabric in my stash, originally planned for a similar jacket by another pattern maker. Soft mesh is like softshell on the outside, but on the inside it has a layer of mesh instead of fleece. The mesh is fused to the outer layer resulting in a waterproof but thin jacket material that is easy to sew due to less bulk an that can be made warmer by adding an insulated lining. The pattern was designed exactly for this.

I ordered a very thin quilted lining fabric, but since I wanted my jacket to look extra pretty inside, I quilted a Storrs London cotton lawn over it, following the existing quilt lines. I left the sleeve pieces as is, because slippery sleeve lining makes it easier to put the jacket on.

I also spent a long time deciding over the zipper. I had the perfect length, but plastic zipper and then this metallic one that was 5 cm longer than suggested. I am rarely happy with my shortened zippers so instead of shortening it, I used it as is and that worked just fine.

The jacket was a lot of work (albeit very enjoyable) and I had a few days off work that I spent completely on sewing the jacket. I finished it about a week before the deadline, but had to wait for better weather/light in order to take the photos. And on the day we had sunshine, the wind was so strong that the task was pretty exhausting and complicated.

My jacket is a size 8 and apart from using the longer zipper, I didn´t make any changes to the pattern. It took me a while, but I managed to find all of the hardware and notions in matching color which helps to achieve a professional look.

The jacket is very comfy and lightweight to wear, but since the real winter here in Estonia is much colder, I could wear it only a few times before turning to my last years winter coat.

If you like my jacket and want to make your version, you are welcome to use my affiliate link to buy the pattern. It may look intimidating, but I promise that the instructions will take you through the process smoothly.

I am looking forward to another test from ITS and hoping that it will be again something that I can use fabric from my stash for.

Until soon!