Almost an year ago when I saw this beautiful cream and black double face jacquard I thought it would be nice as a reversible garment of some sort... but what and how came to me later after seeing all those beautiful Sydney Jackets popping up all over the SBC and especially after seeing "live" one of the many versions Ute made. I realised the lapped seams this pattern employs were perfect for constructing a reversible garment. The only thing I had to figure out was how to make the pockets. I wanted to keep them while maintaining the reversibility. My solution to this problem was to keep the pattern slash pockets on one side and add patch pockets over the slash pocket bag on the other side. To do so I had to move the pocket placement in a suitable position.

The pattern calls for fabrics that do not fray but my beautiful wool jacquard does... a lot. I finished all the edges with an overlocking stitch on the sewing machine, using cream thread in the needle and black thread in the bobbin. Actually, I sewed the whole thing with this thread set-up, switching as necessary. The overlocking stitch I used looks identical on both sides. The result is an edge with a raw aspect but that will not fray.
The pattern states that seam allowances are 3/8 and the seams are lapped by 3/8 and sewn in the middle which actually means those lapped seams have a 3/16 s.a. each. I wanted the seams to be lapped only by the width of the overlocking stitch so I had to reduce the seam allowances to about 0.3cm. After finishing the seams I joined the pieces by sewing on the edge of the overlocking stitch from both sides.

This pattern has a very interesting construction with a raglan sleeve extended into a back yoke shaped with a small shoulder dart. Add to it my very peculiar fabric (the fabric has the greater amount of stretch lengthwise), you get a combination very difficult to muslin (unless you buy twice the required fabric but as you can imagine they didn't exactly throw it at me - I kinda had to give them a kidney in exchange). Therefore I crossed my fingers and sewed it pretty much as designed with the exception of the sleeves that I lengthened to 3/4.

One thing I noticed during the mandatory google image search pre project start, is that the center back yoke seam will stretch out without proper precautions. That's because it falls on bias. Not being able to interface or stabilise it with any kind of tape (it's reversible) I basted the sh^° out of it before even overlocking and then inserted a thin strip of twill inside the lapped seam.

Pattern: Sydney Jacket by Tessuti Fabrics
Fabric: 100% WO
Size: XS (ref. measurements 177/84/68/96 cm)
Fitting: -
Mods: lengthened the sleeves to 3/4 length, adapted the pockets to allow for a fully reversible garment

The one thing that I don't like about it, is the back neck - it doesn't lay on the back of my neck. With fabrics having more drape it's not so annoying but this is quite rigid. Next time I know I'm gonna fiddle with it, maybe raise that whole back neck - shoulder line and increase the shoulder dart value.

Because the black thread blends in better I decided to place the patch pocket on the white side. I first made the slash pocket on the black side with the pocket bag cut out of lining fabric then on the white side I covered the bag with a piece of lining the same width as the patch pocket only shorter, basted it in place and hand stitched the edge corresponding to the pocket opening. I then applied the pocket piece over it and machined everything in place.

I am not normally a big fan of the "I'm wearing a blanky" look but this has just the right amount of structure not to be one. I am also having some trouble as to deciding what to call it. Is it a jacket, a coat or one of those coatigans (hate that word)? Well it doesn’t really matter … I really like this Sydney.

Thank you for visiting. I would love to hear your opinion and if you like it put a <3 on it!