Photo from ebayshop fabricsaurus, chunky bottle green 100% corduroy fabric. See link below.
It is a free pattern available (to registered users, registration free) at Burdastyle.
It's definitely the most complicated sewing I have attempted. I thought having the instructions in English would make it easier...but I'm not sure I understand any more than I would in Spanish! ;-) The pattern includes instructions but not step by step pictures, much like the Burda magazines. I began making a rough version from calico ("a muslin") this weekend so that I can work out what to sew, where to sew it to and how, and make sure I understand what I'm doing. It's been interesting, not stressful, as making mistakes is part of the reason I'm making a muslin, so I'm not fretting about ruining fabric.
My first mistake was printing out all 26 pages of the pattern, carefully trimming each sheet and sticking them together, drawing the pieces onto the calico...only to realise that the printer had enlarged everything by 10%....so I had to print out another set of pages, this time checking the sizing, then stick them altogether again. But at least I hadn't cut any fabric! Note to self - check printer settings first.
I know that I have a long back, and have worked out that I have to elongate pattern pieces by 2-2.5cm. I was a bit worried that there were no elongation lines on the pattern. The waist was marked, but as the pockets were inserted in the front pieces above the waist line I didn't want to elongate at this point as the pockets would have been positioned far too high up my torso. So I worked out a line somewhere above this - another reason I was grateful that I was making up a rough draft. So far, I think I've got it about right. I'll try and photograph this adjustment and post it here for future reference.
I'm also using the muslin to practise sewing the flapped, bound pockets and lapel collar on the muslin too. I'm finding the instructions a little tricky to follow. The pockets were easier than I thought they were going to be, but I haven't worked out the lapel yet. My old 1970s/80s "Collins Complete book of Needlework" doesn't have quite enough information, so I looked and found an old edition (1976 I think) of "Reader's Digest Complete Guide to Sewing" on Amazon for 55p, so hope, despite not being the latest edition, it'll be able to help me with the construction. I want to change the button hole to a bound button hole at the front too, I'll practise first, I'm not sure how to do that with the lining as well as the top fabric.
The blazer is made up in fine/baby corduroy in the Burdastyle example, that looks lovely, but then I'm biased towards corduroy and green, the colour they have used. I have ordered some chunky 100% corduroy in bottle green from an ebay seller. http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Fabricsaurus
I hope this won't be too difficult to work with - I realise that the fine cord is probably easier. I'm going to take my time, and cross my fingers. The pattern needs around 1.9m of 140m wide fabric, the cutting layout requires the fabric folded double. Unfortunately the corduroy I've ordered is only 110cm wide, but I've ordered 3m, I hope that I'll have enough for the jacket and a skirt, perhaps a short skirt....
Because of unexpected flat stuff - a new hob being installed on Friday morning, renting, I lost a lot of time on Saturday cleaning the kitchen of dust and muck as the work top had been circle-sawed to fit the new, slightly bigger hob and everything was covered with a layer of dust. Still, least it's safe, a gasman doing an annual check earlier in the week had said the hob was leaking gas - so guess I'm lucky it hadn't gone bang.
I found some black shoulder pads in a local shop - no choice of styles, and not things I use very much, but I'm going to try them in the muslin and see how they look. I think that I should be able to buy the lining material, thread and buttons from the market on Tuesday. I've ordered some woven fusible light/medium interfacing from another ebay shop, and will see how it feels with the corduroy. All in all, so far an interesting project - and a necessary one - I'm missing having a jacket, it's cooling down here in the evenings!
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