FINISHED! On the Line Veste Michelle

This project has been hanging around so long I wasn't sure I would ever do it. But I finally just knuckled down and did it. It is of course the Veste Michelle by Republique du Chiffon.  It is made using some denim stripe that I bought at Tessuti in January called 'It's on the Line'.  It's lined with some cheap yellow lining (the same as my Bomber). On the advice from my friend Jen (who has a great new blog btw!!), I turned the fabric around so that the stripes run sideways. I was worried that because there is a bit of stretch in the fabric that it might distort but so far so good. 

There are heaps of great versions out there of the Veste Michelle and if you ever decide to make a Republique du Chiffon pattern a great place to stop by is the RdC Made by You blog. It goes without saying that Julie has made one, well 4!! lovely versions in fact and Ginger Makes also made one.  

So, straight up, I'm not sure if I'm wearing the jacket or it's wearing me. It's a straight size 36 with no adjustments. It's supposed to be oversized and it is definitely that helped along by my height.  I debated making it smaller but on all the versions I saw they were reasonably oversized, just not as long perhaps as mine. I feel that it's ok when I'm accessorised up with my every day winter additions of beret and scarf, but without them, I'm not sure that it's balanced. I need to play around with some Spring styling. It's a bit of a different style for me, although despite that reservation I like it. I wore it as photographed this morning to a 6 yr old birthday party and I have to say those oversized pockets were fantastic for popping lolly pops and things in. 

I cheated a bit on the patch pockets.  The pattern calls for you to line them but I didn't.  I feel patch pockets are very 'home made' looking but I hope these look ok. I double stitched around them. There is no pocket placement on the pattern piece (that I could find) so I just winged their placement. I've noticed on other makes that their pockets are about the same place as mine. Phew. I omitted the tiny pocket on the top because I felt it didn't look right. 

The printed pattern is in French but there are detailed (French) instructions including photos on the RdC blog  These were both a hindrance and a help and some bits (like the collar) I should have worked through myself rather than trying to decipher the at times odd google translate description. Despite that it is a straightforward make and the lining comes together nicely.  The best I've ever done!

The only real problem I had was 'drooping' of the back facing once the lining was in.  There were some photos of this on the RdC blog but I couldn't understand what I was supposed to do to fix it. I ended up hand stitching the bottom facing to the back under the lining in places.  It solved the problem but I'd love to know what the real solution is! What do you do for the back of jackets to stop the bottom facing 'drooping' down?

So, it's good to have this one finished and wearable! It might even get quite a bit of wear as the weather moves from mid winter to very early spring.  I'm still fixated with Winter sewing at the moment, it might have something to do with the weather, but it's also because we'll be spending 6 weeks in France over Christmas - so double Winter for us this year!