The 6 month Tokyo Jacket

I started this Tokyo Jacket back in April and finally finished it in the last weekend of August....as you do!

The fabric is from Tessuti (where else) and is a lovely, buttery soft, Japanese Crepe. Though, let's translate that statement shall we: the fabric looks and feels LOVELY = a nightmare to sew and cut! The fabric frayed like a...crazy fraying thing and at one stage I thought the whole thing was going to fray itself to death.

I started this jacket in one of Tessuti's "open classes" where you go along and sew a Tessuti pattern under the guidance of a teacher. In my class we had Silva teaching...she's the Yoda of the sewing world let me tell you!

The fabric took a while to cut out and when I came to attaching the neckband I realised I'd somehow cut it out WAY too short so I couldn't finish the jacket (not that I was anywhere close to that stage anyway). Sadly for me I didn't actually have enough fabric to recut the neckband but Tessuti VERY kindly set aside a piece of the fabric for me so I could recut the neckband another time.

I was going to finish the jacket at home, but after talking to Colette (who owns the store) I went back to Tessuti in August to finish the jacket. Silva was right when she said the neckband was the trickiest part to of the jacket and it would be better to do it the first time in a class environment. It was a bit fiddly to turn the fabric under and topstitch it down so the edge was encased and halfway through attaching the collar the collar started to "shift" and "grow" and "bubble".  It was pretty clear I was going end up in a mess! This is the benefit of the class - you look at the teacher with teary, puppy-dog eyes and she'll get you out of mess.



In my rush to finish the jacket in my second class I somehow sewed the cuffs on the wrong way so they couldn't be turned up as the pattern calls for. In the end I decided just to cut them off and hem the sleeves for a nice, clean (and easy) finish. If you know this pattern you'll also notice I've left off the pocket band...just to ensure I actaully finished the jacket this decade.

This jacket is far from perfect..and took me nearly five months to complete but I'm really proud of it. The fit isn't spot on around my shoulders/arms, but if I push the sleeves up it's comfy and wearable. Perhaps next time I'd make the sleeves shorter so I wouldn't have this issue.  I'm pleased that I stuck with the project despite the fabric being a bit difficult for me to work with. I have some fabric in my stash earmarked for a casual, summery version so watch this space...but don't hold your breath.