Completed Wrap Jacket
Product page for Butterick 6105
I give this pattern a 5/5
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Materials: black wool crepe, Japanese rayon chirimin crepe, metallic cross weave rayon satin in an orchid color (for lining).
Summary
I picked this retro styled wrap jacket pattern (designed by Gertie of Gertie's Blog for Better Sewing) at one of those fabric store pattern sales. My hoard of patterns is almost entirely composed of sale impulse buys. I don't sew from commercial patterns that often, which is... eh, I clearly have an impulse control problem. But, I'm glad I got this one. It is a beautifully crafted pattern in my opinion. My own result has a le smoking look to it due to my choice of fabrics, but I suppose I don't mind that. It's composed entirely of large fabric scraps from my stash, so my fabric choices were limited.
This pattern is designated "easy" and it has only basic techniques in it, but it does have a slightly fussy bit at the neckline where you're sewing onto this tight clipped corner. I have a trick to doing that which I'll explain in this the review. Other than that it was fairly straightforward, or it's as easy as you want to make it. For my version I included good ol' fashioned time-consuming tailoring such as a nice stabilizing twill tape at the collar roll line and various stabilizing interfacings at the shoulders, back, cuffs, and hem which made it a lot more time consuming.
Sizing and Alterations
The sizing is the usual for Butterick. I usually sew a Butterick size 10, and I found I needed a size 10 with this one. It's a very easy one to fit, due to the forgiving wrap nature of the design. I didn't have to make any adjustments. I usually do a full bust adjustment and a shortwaisted adjustment, among a couple other tedious alterations. It wasn't necessary for me here. A respite!
I didn't have enough chirimin crepe to line the jacket, and I liked the combination of the cream print with the orchid satin, so I split the front lining piece into separate "traditional" jacket lining and facing pieces (they were previously cut in one, with the lining serving as the contrast collar facing) with the chirimin acting as the "facing". It was a very easy change.
Pattern Instructions
I glanced at the instructions for the purpose of this review. They seem quite good. I did notice a small bit I did differently. There is this slit on the left side seam of the bodice where the right tie/strap passes through. But when you turn the peplum seam allowance up and seal it up in the lining, the seam allowance blocks the bottom of the slit. When I constructed mine, I left the seam of the peplum open from the waist stitch line to the fabric edge. For the bodice, I put a tiny tack at the waist stitch line at the slit and left the seam open to the fabric edge. I tucked the split seam allowances aside on the inside the bodice when I whipstitched the slit opening of the shell to the slit opening of the lining. And so, the turned-up seam allowances didn't interfere with the opening, as they were split above the stitching line. Everything else in the instructions seemed fine.
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| Inside of jacket showing slit and facing alteration. |
Special Instructions
The collar is a shawl style with the back of the collar cut in one with the front bodice piece. The dot shown on the drawing of the clipping placement markings serves as a pivot point. One half of the clipped seam becomes the shoulder when it is attached to the back bodice shoulder edge, and the other half attaches to the back bodice at the neckline to form the collar's back roll. Getting the placement to be exact and stay that way can be challenging with only pins/basting.
Stabilize the clipped area with tiny stay stitching (like usual), then apply some no-fray (staying within the seam allowance) to prevent the tiny edge from raveling and distorting into nothing through handling. Then take some silky thread (shown in red on the drawing) and use it to join the pivot point of the clipped edge to the pivot point on the back bodice piece, exactly. The thread is pulled taught, bringing the pieces together at the point. Go through twice and knot the thread, leaving the tails. You can then pivot and stitch the two edges without worrying the tiny clipped edge will shift out of place while you sew, or ravel, and know exactly where to stop (the knot of the silky thread). The knot of the thread is removed afterwards and the thread pulled away, or left in if it blends in enough for added stability.
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| Stabilizing a clipped corner for stitching. |
Conclusion
I would sew this again, but it was surprisingly time consuming given how simple it was. I would have to find some truly interesting fabric to compel me. I wear mostly black, though, so I would have to force myself to wear another color jacket. A color that isn't black? Direct me to the fainting couch. I do like the idea of pristine cream wool and a heavily embroidered pale Indian silk for the collar. Maybe? I don't know. I already have more jackets than any person has right to.
I highly recommend this pattern, all in all. It's a beautiful example of careful, modern vintage inspired pattern drafting. Kudos, Gertie.
If you have questions, feel free to contact me by tweeting @Culver_Design . I don't have enough spare time to keep a spam-free comment section, but I still want to be available to other sewers.
