Ilford Jacket 3 ways

Oh what a journey this pattern has been on in my life! I have made it three different ways and enjoyed all 3 of them! I am going to briefly walk through the makings of these 3 and let you know the ups and downs!

First of all, I decided to make the long version out of viscose fabric over a year ago and I still have it! It is one of my favorite shirts/blouses and really goes well with many outfits! I have an entire blog post about this make here. I cover french seams and everything! Go check it out if you are interested!

Moving onto the next, more recent version. I decided to make a short version in corduroy with some fabric that had been in my stash for a very very long time! I am so excited to layer this jacket over so many things and wear even bigger jackets over it. I think it is the perfect layering piece. Sewing with corduroy added a little bit of bulk but nothing I couldn’t handle.

I made sure to grade my seams nicely and definitely chop off corners and areas that were bulky for the internal seams. Also, sewing on corduroy can be very forgiving, especially when top stitching. So that is great news!!! I think this pattern has so much potential to be made in so many different fabrics.

AND last but not least….my hubby got a version as well! I had some beautiful melton wool from Blackbird Fabrics and it worked so well! It is not really a scratchy wool and it is a jacket so it is never straight on the skin.

I was thinking that my husband needed a jacket of some sort but not a full on coat. He doesn’t wear big coats very often. There are several reasons for this. One is because it is not that cold where we live! Also, he is a stay at home father, so he definitely has places to be for the kids, but he never has to really dress up. He really likes more of a grab and go coat.

Before making this jacket for him, I decided to take some measurements so that I could get it to the length that he wants, for the body and the sleeves. Much to my dismay, the sleeves were too short, even though I lengthened them! I also lengthened the bodice a few inches because he wanted it longer, but that turned out just fine.

When he tried it on and the sleeves were too short, I was devastated!! I thought to myself, “do I need to cut all new sleeves and redo the placket and everything!” Well, I took about a day to think about it, and then decided I would just make a much longer cuff. I think that it doesn’t look quite as good as if the sleeve was longer and the cuff was normal size. I am still happy I could save it though!

That’s all folks! I am really happy with the result of everything! I can’t believe one pattern could look so different each time I made it!