Shawl Collar Luffa Jacket
I tried Waffle Patterns for the first time for this project and let me tell you, it was such a great pattern. I loved it so much!
I chose Luffa (Shawl collar jacket) pattern. I fell in love with the design of this jacket when I saw it, it was a perfect length that I wanted to make, the fitted princess panel lines looked very flattering, and I liked the shawl collar which I think is more feminine than lapels that are on suit jackets or blazers.
My experience with Waffle Patterns
I bought PDF version of the pattern and printed out at home. The PDF pattern has "layers" which allow you to print out the size you want to use. I thought that was so useful because the printed patterns are nice and clean instead of having million lines that give you a headache! Each pieces are marked which made the assembling process pretty easy.
The instruction has lots of coloured illustrations too! What I found really helpful for beginner coat makers such as myself was that things like "how to set ease around shoulders", "why the lining pattern is partly larger than the shell pattern and how to fit the bigger lining onto shell" were well explained in the instruction!
Those tips are really important to make your coat to look and fit great but I feel like they're often not even mentioned on some patterns. I personally dread making welt pockets or bound button holes, but that was thoroughly explained in this instruction as well.
The talented lady behind the Waffle Patterns is Yuki, and I'm sure she's Japanese (she's Amsterdam based.) The pattern and the instruction come in both English and Japanese so that was a bonus for me! (Japanese is my parent tongue.)
Overall, I thought this pattern was so well made and was such a pleasant experience to sew a Luffa jacket. It made me feel like my sewing skill just became so much better but I think it's just because of the great pattern :)
My Luffa Jacket
I used wool (might have been a wool blend) fabric! It's really light and soft.
The part I struggled the most is probably putting together the collar. I had never sewn a shall collar before and it was a bit tricky.
The bound welt pockets went more smoothly than the last time, which was nice!
Luffa has two pattern pieces for each sleeve. This was also my first time sewing sleeves like that, and I love the fit!
This jacket is the most well tailored (and complicated) outerwear I’ve ever sewn but thanks to the great instruction, it went fairly quickly.
My dress form is actually smaller than me, so the jacket may not look well fitted here, but it fits great on me.
That being said, I might do a bit of sway back adjustment next time.
I picked dark brown wooden buttons.
I found a cute tiny heart print lining fabric that colour matches to the shell perfectly! Score!
I'm really happy with the fit!
I'm so happy with Waffle Patterns that I'm already planning a next coat project... They have a great selection of outerwear patterns!
Great pattern like this makes me feel that my sewing skill is actually improving. If a beginner person is ready for a little more complicated project, I’d recommend using Waffle patterns!
Have you made anything with Waffle Patterns? How was your experience?
Dec 28, 2016
