Minoru Completed! A labour of Love.

Yahooo, finally I have completed my Minoru Jacket. It was a tough day in the sewing room today but we made it.

Today I started from step 15 alternative to slipstitching cuffs to completion. Step 15 nearly killed me, death by pins in the tips of my fingers, that is until I came to my senses and basted the sleeve lining. Then life became a little easier.

Next was stitch in the ditch, and an all new nightmare begun. I will confess to doing this step 4 times before giving in and stitching over the top stitching on the hood piece, it looks okay, not as good as it should but I can live with it. My problem was my main fabric was red and the lining was ivory, if I used only red thread and the line got a bit wonky (lots of people found this happened due to layers) the red line showed on the lining. I changed to ivory thread in the bobbin and I wandered onto the red hood. Now I know I can sew a straight line but this step, I hate to say...... whipped my butt.

Finally I was at the waistband stage, now I thought this might be difficult but really the hardest part of the waistband was locating some 2 inch wide elastic!!! But I managed to find some, so I breezed through this step, I even had time for a quick cup of tea.

And finally we arrive at hemming and done. This bit was pretty easy on the central back piece but I found my jacket hem wanted to pull out of shape a touch on the side back panels. I also had to trim the bottom of my pocket as I had put it in just a touch to low, but they are still very much usable and still a good size for my hands.

End result: I love this jacket and cannot wait to be able to wear it. Bring on a cold Winter!!!
Would I make it again? Yes I think I would, but not out of denim, in fact I would like a charcoal one to wear to work.

My fringe is not really like this!!! It was windy.

Can you see my pockets?????

I was so excited to finish I begged my husband to go down to the park to take a few quick snaps. The colour seems hard to capture in a photograph and I am straight from the sewing room. It is still quite hot so I did look funny to people passing by.

Also a quick note if you head on over and visit Noile she has posted Minoru Jackets from around the world..... and I made it on her post Whooo Hooo (prior to jacket completion of course).

Dana