FO: Magnolia Jacket

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we are ruled by forces of water: tidal, meteorological, glacial.

They create a sense of intimacy with our surroundings: a tree in the rain is not just a tree, but shelter; a fire in the damp is not just a fire, but safety.



They remind us of the youth of our geography: our rocky beaches and jagged peaks, carved by the methodical hands of ice and time.

They tell us of the pull of things: that the forces that draw water towards us and away are constant, unchanging, endless.




There is a feeling to all of this, a sense of balance and rightness and repetition. By this definition, there is nothing new on this earth, and there is a measure of comfort in that knowledge: the rain will come down, and the tide will turn, and water will shape the land, each without regard for anything but its own purpose.

And yet, there are small things that locate us in the landscape of this greater design: the wonder of finding something old or somehow familiar, that falls into the grain of your life and grows into something you've never experienced before. A quiet magic in everyday things.

A pair of boots, a favorite coffee cup, a blanket. A stone. A rainy day.

A jacket.

  

Details
Photography: Melody Hirsch
Jacket: Magnolia Jacket, by Cory Ellen Boberg
Dress: Vintage Hal Ferman dress, from the amazing Trove Vintage Boutique
Socks: Waving Lace Socks by Evelyn Clark
 Boots: Fluevog Adriana Nuni

Tailored Jacket: A Body, Constructed

  

Today, I spent the day at my tailoring teacher's house, reconnecting with my love of wool. (As if it ever really left!)

And, to my surprise, I got a pretty astonishing amount done. In five hours, I finished building the pocket; interfaced the shoulder and lapel; connected the shoulders and side seams; built the sleeve; built the collar; set in the collar; pressed up and sewed the mitered sleeve cuffs. (It makes me tired but proud just looking at that list written out.)

This morning, I had a bunch of pieces of wool pinned to a hanger; tonight, I have a jacket that - though unfinished - I can put on my body.

So much further to go, but so much progress nonetheless!

Tailored Jacket: Building the Front

Houston, we have fronts! On Monday, I went out to my tailoring teacher's house to work on my jacket. I was there for about five hours, and in that time, I pressed everything, put together the back of the jacket, and built the front of the jacket, including in-seam pockets with a contrast flap.

The process was slow, but really wonderful and precise, thanks to my teacher's patient guidance and amazing iron. I had always heard about how pliable wool is for tailoring, but I had never experienced it with the level of iron that I had been working with. Spitting and inconsistent steam are a constant problem with most irons I've worked with - that, and for some reason, I'm totally allergic to the concept of using a press cloth. I hate how little control and visibility they add to the equation, so I weasel out of using one whenever possible. I always thought that meant I'm just a bad, lazy sewist.

So imagine my delight when I pressed my first seam open with my teacher's iron - no press cloth required because of the coating on the soleplate, hallelujah - and the ripply, thick seam gently opened and flattened with a generous burst of steam and a little bit of elbow grease. Seriously, it was magic.

Her iron had a detached boiler, maintained a consistent temperature, and let out concentrated gusts of steam by pushing a big orange button on the side of the iron. (It was also heavy: by the end of the day, my wrists were definitely aching.) Between pressing and physically whacking thick areas with a clapper, my seams ended up practically melting together on the front of the jacket. Like buttah.

I already knew I liked tailoring from taking the techniques class, even with boring cotton muslin - but this was a whole different (complex, exacting, wooly, crisp) story. And I think I'm in love.

Happy Wednesday!

<3

Cory

Design Notebook: Tailored Jacket Patternmaking

  

This week - after getting my Line & Proportion notebook signed off (yay!) - I started working on my Tailored Jacket for school.  It's one of the big things I need to finish before I can start on my Ball Gown, and it has to meet certain criteria to be approved; specifically, it has to have shoulder pads, a full lining, a two-piece sleeve, a tailored pocket, a mitered cuff, and a notched collar.

I designed a boring jacket that fit the requirements back when I first started at school, but late this last year, I came upon a photo of a beautiful two-tone Balenciaga suit from 1947 and was instantly inspired to design a new one. I wanted to retain the iconic New Look wasp waist with exaggerated hips, but make it contemporary enough to wear with skinny jeans and pencil skirts alike. Plus, I had to put on a bow on it, 'cause it was kinda Balenciaga's thing.

I started with my jacket sloper for the basic fit, and popped the bust dart into the princess seam.  I know from previous experience that for a good fit between my waist and bust, I need small darts at the side fronts, so I incorporated these lines into the design. The back has pleats that add a little extra fullness, which, combined with the bow, keeps the back from becoming a total snooze-fest.  I already have my fabrics picked out, and I'm going to start hunting for the perfect pink lining and vintage black glass buttons so I'll have everything ready to start construction by early April.

Happy Friday!

3 Projects

 

1.  Line & Proportion Notebook

This week, I've been holed up on my couch - once until 3 am! - tearing examples of pleats, sleeve plackets, silhouettes, and colors from a pile of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar magazines. The pages above are for a Fall moodboard and a page on Tucks & Gathers, and I have approximately a billion other pages to complete.

Leafing through these magazines, mostly from 2010-now, is really interesting as a study of trends: in the past few days, I've found out that it's nearly impossible to find an example of a sailor collar on a contemporary garment, and that models Karlie Kloss and Laura Stone work a lot, and that the rest of the US must wear a lot more wool jackets and coats than we Northwest folks do, because the pages of Vogue are absolutely littered with them.

So if you stop hearing from me, it's probably because I'm lying in a pile of Vogues, page protectors, and thousands of little pieces of cut-up magazine paper on my living room floor, alternating between cackling maniacally and softly cooing at Dolce & Gabbana ads.

 

2.  Tailoring Techniques

I was halfway through my Tailoring Techniques class when I started the fashion show last year, so I jumped in last night to work on one of the final techniques I need to get it signed off: a patch pocket with a flap.

There's something really wonderful about the methodical care of tailoring: pressing seams with the heat of your fingers; gently pulling a basting thread to ease a seam; topstitching just a thread over the edge of the pocket to secure it. It reminds me that it's okay - and even desirable - to take time to do things correctly, and to enjoy the process, not just the result.

 

3.  Line & Proportion Illustration: Vintage-Inspired Plaid Dress #2 

I did my first illustration for this project a while back, and decided that I wanted to try different illustration techniques for each of my designs; I started with colored pencil and ink, and planned to illustrate the other three with Copic markers, paper cutouts, and watercolors. This is the second technique, Copic markers. The fabric is a check rather than a plaid, on an Hourglass figure with a Romantic style. It took me three hours of watching Dollhouse to fill in the check pattern, but in the end I'm really happy with it. It almost has a watercolor-like look, but it feels slightly more precise.  And this is a dress that I would definitely wear if it existed, which is kinda fun!

Welcome to new readers from Untangling Knots' recent post on Seattle knitters - if you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend checking out the other bloggers she mentions, as they are super great.  Thanks for reading, and happy Friday!