Victorian Sporting Jacket: A little something comfortable

Early in December, I was struck by the desire to make up a jacket or basque to go with this beautiful walking skirt I had been planning. I had the most luscious olive green wool for the skirt and I had been sitting on it, figuratively speaking, until the time was right to make it up. After a bit of a crusade and questioning my friends for advice, I finally found some rather bold plaid fabric that I thought would work.

My initial plan was to make up a sleeved version of a vest I had made last spring. I love this pattern and found it so easy to work with in the past. However, I was a little intimidated by the sleeves. I thought they might be a bit too much for a person of my size and stature. I found myself waffling on how to alter the sleeves and make them less, well, poofy. I moved onto other projects, namely a vest for my husband, and decided to wait on the jacket and skirt once more.

Then one of my aunties surprised me with a fabulous pattern for Christmas. It's part of the Laughing Moon line of historical recreation patterns, and I was immediately eager to make it up. I made my corset last spring from one of the Laughing Moon patterns so I knew that the size would need some adjusting but that it would go together beautifully and that the instructions would be both marvelously complete and informative. Once New Year's day had passed and things settled around the house, I dove into my project.

I knew right away that I didn't have quite enough of the plaid fabric to fill out all of the basque so I decided to track down a little coordinating fabric for the collar. I trotted off to dear old SAS fabrics where I thought I might be able to find something cheap but good for the project. I then ransacked my stash of scraps and fabric to see if I could find something suitable for lining. Since I had committed to the 2012 Fabric De-Stash Challenge, I wanted to use up a good bit of things on hand. I happened to have a lovely dark green rayon-poly blend that I thought would do nicely for the lining and picked up this rather odd shade of gray-green corduroy at SAS.

I washed everything, did some ironing and got ready to cut into my fabric. (Last year's massive Victorian sewing project explosion taught me that pre-shrinking and ironing are not to be skipped.) I have a few tricks now for cutting out my fabric but it still tends to be one of the most time intensive parts of any project for me. I think, partly because I find it so boring, it just seems to take longer than everything else. I measured myself carefully and tried to adjust the pieces appropriately; however, I found later that I still made the jacket a bit too large over all.

Both the corduroy and the plaid fabric were a dream to work with. The plaid was 100% cotton and had a very nice hand. The corduroy, well, it's anyone's guess what the fabric content was for that fabric, but it had good body and cut out very nicely. The lining fabric was, frankly, something of a disaster. As I cut, I did not realize that it was slipping and sliding ever so slightly. When I matched it up to flat-line the body of the basque, these little errors were easily adjusted. Mostly they showed in an uneven length for the lining. The collar lining, however, was another story entirely. I'm still not sure how I got everything to match up for a decent finish. I'm glad to say that I used up all of that green fabric and will never, ever have to sew with it again.

One of my favorite elements of the jacket or basque, as it was properly called, was the back pleats. I thought they were quite stylish and gave it that 19th Century sporty feel. When I was looking at the pattern originally, I thought the pleats might prove the most challenging element of the jacket construction, but I was entirely wrong. They went together splendidly. A little tailor's chalk, a little ironing, a few basting stitches and voila, beautiful pleats! They held up very nicely during wear, as well.

In order to make my fabric stretch, I decided to not only make the collar out of the pretty corduroy but also the side panels. I thought that might give a slightly steamy feel to an otherwise very traditional approach to the basque. I outlined the contrasting panels in black piping to give it a sharper contrast and a bit of a military uniform flair. Once all of the bodice pieces were sewn together, I attached the dreaded collar. Fortunately, after all the trouble of sewing the lining and outer fabric together, the collar attached very nicely to the bodice. I did find that I had to adjust the pining a few times to get everything symmetrical, but in general, the bodice and collar went together very quickly.

Now that I had only the sleeves, hem and fastenings remaining, I did a quick test to see how the basque fit. I was pleased to note that it went on like a dream and hung very well. However, I was unsure if I had made it too large--oh, I had!--or if it would snug up a bit better once I had fastenings in place. I did take in a bit at the armscye as things tend to be too big across my shoulders as a general rule. I had the strange gap that I often get from bust to armscye but I opted not to put a dart in because I was suddenly worried about historicity. (I think I briefly lost my mind or was somehow possessed by the History fairies.)

At last I started putting together the sleeves. They were rather different than anything I had put together before as they had a forward curve drafted into the pattern. I thought that might be awkward to wear but I did not change the pattern. I was very careful, however, to make sure that I had my forward curve actually going forward when I set the sleeve into the armscye. I decided to add military inspired cuffs to the sleeves before I set them in. I used the same corduroy and black piping. Having never added cuffs to anything before, I sort of re-invented the process for myself. They turned out rather nice for a first time venture. Setting the sleeves into the armscye went very smoothly. I did my gathering stitches by hand which can be tedious sewing, but I have found easing quicker that way. There was a lot to ease so I wanted it to happen as painlessly as possible.

Rather than the traditional hem the pattern called for, I used some black double fold bias tape to bind off the bottom edge. I thought it would pick up the black piping and continue with the military feel. Once that was done, a rather quick process, I had the tedium of attaching the fasteners. The pattern called for hooks and eyes and I was happy to comply as I assumed it would be rather less tricky than lining up button holes and buttons for a double breasted jacket. However, I found this to be the least satisfactory part of the process. The only guidance for the hook and eye placement was to use as many as would make the jacket secure. I used quite a few but ultimately not enough when it came time to wear the jacket. I immediately planned to re-visit the question of fasteners in the near future.

The basque pattern had a self-belt which I cut out and prepared in the corduroy fabric. However, I had an opportunity to wear the basque in public before I finished the belt. Like the fasteners, I planned to consider the belt and buckle in the future. Since I intended to change the front fasteners, I decided it was best to wait to complete the belt until that problem was solved. I wanted them to be thematically in keeping with each other.

All in all, the basque was wonderful to wear. I found it quite comfortable, and since it did not require a corset, I simply wore a tank top underneath and used a wide leather belt to help secure the closures. The Saturday I debuted the jacket was rather warm for a Tucson January so I found myself very glad of the absence of layers and the cotton fabric. It provided several hours of comfort while walking, talking, and in general moving as a modern woman. I thought it looked rather nice, too. I shall be looking forward to adjusting those fasteners and wearing it in the future. (I would love any advice on the fastenings, by the by. There is nothing quite so helpful as additional, fresh eyes.)

~La Cucitrice