FINISHED! Ocean spray scuba saunio

I made this quick and easy jacket up on the weekend and wore it to work on Monday.  It's another of those makes that makes me laugh a little when I wear it. But first, let's talk about the fabric.  It's Ocean Spray Scuba from Tessuti. I have never sewn with neoprene before and frankly I didn't think I ever would until I became just a little bit fixated on it through makes by Oona, Julie and Debbie. I then saw this fabric pop up on the Tessuti website which I stalk almost daily and it was in my cart with my eye on a jacket before I knew what I was doing. It's Tribute August over at the Sewcialists so this is my tribute to the neoprene lovers, Oona, Debbie and Julie!

I took this photo with the fabric on the line. You can see much better here the actual repeat pattern of the fabric which was difficult to see online. The colours were also more vivid than my computer displayed. 

I'm sure there are a lot of people who will be making a gorgeous shift dress or the like with this fabric. It certainly deserves to be showcased. Both my mum and Ben thought I should make a dress, but I was a bit frightened off by the boldness of the pattern.  I couldn't work out where to place it and found it a bit bright for my usual style. I was already out of my comfort zone with this print and with the neoprene, so perhaps I should have just kept going, but I had bought it to make a jacket so after quite a bit of too-ing and fro-ing decided to stick with my original idea of the jacket. 

I used the Saunio cardigan from Named Clothing pattern. It was my first time making up this pattern, but I have enjoyed my experiences with Named patterns and this one sewed up nicely. The only change I'd make next time would be to neaten where the facing meets the bottom edge as the facing is shorter than the front and so you are supposed to turn it up where it might be nicer to turn it under somehow.  Looking at the pictures it could perhaps be a bit shorter, but that is deceiving as the front hangs down because of the way the front crosses over.

I'm not sure I'm a neoprene sewing convert.  It doesn't iron well so I had to do a bit of top stitching with my walking foot where I wouldn't normally: firstly around the sleeve seam and then all the way along the front and the collar. Normally I would have just understitched here but there was no way the facings were going to stay under without it.  The style of cardi/jacket means that quite often it flips out so it's good to have the facings there.  I had studied a RTW neoprene dress at the shops over the weekend and noticed that they simply cut the armhole and the bottom without hemming it. I contemplated this, but in reality this neoprene is just bit thicker than ponte so it felt a bit slack not to hem. I used a twin needle with the hem turned up once and it worked perfectly.  I didn't bother overlocking the seams.  It does have good body to it which suits this jacket well.

All in all I like how this turned out. It's not exactly me, but I am so glad I made it into a jacket as I prefer the bits of pattern that I used, especially on the sleeve seam where there is light and dark. I wore it to work on Monday and I admit to feeling just a little bit over the top in it, but I enjoyed wearing it. I like the Named Saunio pattern: the dropped shoulders and 3/4 tapered sleeves. It won't be the last time I make this pattern up.

As for neoprene, I've probably done my neoprene now. But never say never. What about you? Are you dipping into the neoprene craze? Are you participating in Tribute August?