Hi All,

So I have been a little MIA here this week, and I do apologize- I have been sick (as you know from my post on Hot Toddies), and I have just been feeling very uncreative and miserable- and not really into posting about it. I have been feeling a little better the last couple of days though, and I felt well enough to start up a new sewing project!

This is one that I’m really excited about- around Christmas my mom bought me a craftsy course ‘Sew Better, Sew Faster’ with Janet Prey who is the woman behind the Islander Sewing System, which is basically all about bringing industry techniques to home sewing- giving you the edge to sew faster and make more professional looking clothes.

So in this course Janet teaches you all her industry techniques and tips through the process of making her jacket, which they send you a pattern for in the mail. And I have been sitting on my pattern for about a month now and I figured it was time to crack it open. I absolutely love the course so far, Janet is a really great instructor, very down-to-earth, and I really like the pattern it is a pretty classic style denim jacket.

Because I didn’t know if I would want to make this pattern in another size, I traced out my size (small) onto tracing paper rather than cutting it out of tissue it came on and then went on to cut out all the pieces and OH MY are there a lot of pieces, 19 pattern pieces to be precise – she calls this pattern the ‘Jacket Express’ but I can tell you it took more than a couple hours to trace and cut all of this out!

As you can see I had to add 2 1/2 inches to the 3 piece sleeve.

I opted to make my jacket out of this denim and, just to be fancy, I decided to do the front and back yoke out of this patterned cotton chintz.

I have started sewing it up- but I’m not going to show you all until it’s done 🙂 Instead what I’m going to do is show you what I have been sewing on- from the home headquarter sewing room!!

The industrial Bernina, this is the machine that my grandmother sewed on when she had her sewing shoppe- it was her pride and joy, and now it is what my mom sews on. I haven’t used it much before making this jacket- but there really is a difference! You can just feel the extra power in this machine- the purr of the motor, the big foot pedal and the knee-control foot-lift so you can have both hands on your fabric when you turn corners! I love it.

And it has really been great for all the topstitching involved in this jacket – it goes through multiple layers of this denim like a breeze!

But that is my progress on the jacket so far- I will be sure to update you all as soon as it is finished, which should be soon since I am sewing faster from this course!

Hope you all are having a swell Saturday!

xo erin