This Jasika Blazer from Closet Case patterns is, without doubt, the best thing I have ever sewn.

I have learned more from the process of sewing this Jasika Blazer than I have from any sewing project in a long time.

The weird thing is that I feel like most of the things I’ve learned are ‘soft skills’ rather than actual ‘new’ sewing ‘how-to’ skills.

It’s going to sound stupid, but I’ve never really paid enough attention to what a difference a good press can make.

Nor to what a difference it can make to put in the effort to be millimetre accurate in order to make a perfect collar appear like magic.

Nor to the fact that hand-sewing can actually be a useful skills in my sewing repertoire (rather than something to be avoided at all costs).

I’ve even now accepted that there is actually a place for muslins in my sewing practice (more on this reversal of position later)!

I genuinely feel like these are skills which will strengthen my sewing practice for all projects in the future.

#blazerofglory goodness

I also really appreciated the accompanying #blazerofglory sewing challenge that Closet Case ran in conjunction with the release of this pattern.

Seeing other people sewing along to this challenging, but rewarding, pattern really made be realise that, when a pattern I love is released, I’m not obliged to sew it up in just a week or two.

After all, a positive sewing experience really makes a difference to how I see and think about a sewing project.

So why not maximise the chances of loving the finished garment by taking the time to enjoy the process?

Like many of us, sewing is a passion squeezed in amongst a range of other obligations for me. In my case, it’s a stressful full-time job and a 4 year old monster, but we’ve all got our hands full with various things, right?

The precious nature of our time means I feel that I need to maximise what I get out of my sewing time. And the logical way to achieve a clearly defined maximised output is making more garments. Right?

So, I tend to try to produce as much as possible to feel that I’m using my spare time properly. But producing things isn’t really what it’s all about. Projects like this Jasika Blazer remind me of this!

But, in case anyone is wondering, this project does take quite a bit longer than an ‘ordinary’ sewing project. It took me almost a month’s worth of evening/weekend sewing to do this. Cutting alone would have been a full uninterrupted weekend day. So, since my usual sewing output is 3-4 projects a month, this is definitely a lot more labour intensive!

But I think it has its rewards!

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Jasika Blazer Joy

The evening before the Jasika Blazer pattern was released, I was ogling this gorgeous yellow cashmere at The Fabric Godmother.

It’s a blend of 3/4 wool with 1/4 cashmere. I’d used the same fabric in navy for my Deer and Doe Opium Coat. And I’d seen that it was on sale. For days I hadn’t been able to get the idea of a yellow statement coat out of my head. I’d very nearly bought enough of the yellow cashmere to sew a Rumana Coat.

Then the Jasika Blazer was released! And I was like, thank goodness I didn’t actually give in to 2am insomnia-driven fabric purchasing. Thank goodness I decided to wait until morning. Because this yellow cashmere is just perfect for a Jasika Blazer.

That morning I saw the release in my Inbox, any ‘wait and see’ mentality disappeared.

Before I’d even made it to work that morning, I’d already ordered the cashmere and enrolled in Closet Case’s online course.

And so the speed tailoring adventure began!

Making a Muslin

I’ve always been in the anti-muslin camp. You can read me going on about that topic here…

But, you know, when Heather Lou tells me that it is absolutely essential that I make a muslin, I’m not going to disobey.

All hail Heather…

And, well, I have to say that I might be reconsidering my anti-muslin stance. The main thing that I’d gotten wrong about muslins is that I’d had the idea in my head that making a muslin would nearly double the amount of sewing time involved.

But, in reality, a muslin takes a bit of time, it’s an extra step, yes. But it’s nowhere near as much time as it takes to sew the main garment itself. So, since part of being a fully functioning human being is admitting that we can each be wrong, I’m willing to accept that there may have been fundamental error in my long-held anti-muslin stance!

So, I actually made THREE muslins before cutting out my Jasika Blazer. That’s three more than 95% of my projects and two more than EVER before!

My Jasika Blazer is basically a size 12 but with quite a few changes made over the course of those three muslins. Here’s what I played around with to get the fit right for my body:

• Lowered the tip of the bust darts and moved them over about half an inch;
• Full bicep adjustment (added in about an inch);
• Narrowed the shoulders;
• Sloped shoulder adjustment (together with using thicker shoulder pads). This involved quite a bit of playing around with the armscye, which I ended up lowering by about an inch and half in total;
• Took it in around the bust and at the upper back; and
• Added in a few centimeters of extra room around the hips

When listed like that, it kind if seems like a lot of adjustments, but it really wasn’t too much.

The blazer fitting eBook that Closet Case has made is invaluable.

I also found the Jasika Blazer much easier to fit than pants, for example. I found that it was pretty simple to look at your blazer and diagnose the problem. With pants-fitting I don’t have that same sense of clarity. I look at pants and think hmm, these lines could mean this or they could mean that. Whereas on a blazer I found the changes that needed to made pretty obvious to diagnose.

And if you can name a problem, you’re half way to solving it!

The only place that I got myself into a bit of trouble is that both my removing of excess around the bust and the sloped shoulder adjustment lead to moving around the armscye. At one point it seemed like my sleeve cap was way too long compared to my adjusted armscye and that I wouldn’t be able to ease it in.

The solution to this was taking a few slivers out of the upper sleeve cap. A tip I would never have figured out were it not for the fitting tips I got during the online workshop (more of my thoughts of the workshop are below)!

Cashmere adventures…

The one slightly terrifying moment of the Jasika Blazer process was when my fused fabric started to bubble like crazy as I manipulated it to sew the pockets.

The oracle (google) tells me that cashmere is potentially prone to bubbling when used with fusible interfacing. I hadn’t had this problem using the same fabric in my Deer and Doe Opium Coat, so I was a bit distraught.

Or maybe the Opium Coat is bubbling on the inside but the darker color hides it. But, with this yellow, it was obvious.

And ugly!!!!

It also, however, presses up again pretty well, making the bubbles more or less disappear.

I’ve worn it a few times and day-to-day wear doesn’t seem to agitate it enough that the dreaded zombie bubbles rise from the dead…

So, hopefully this isn’t going to end up too much of a problem in the long-term.

But, if you’re really set on a super-long lasting Jasika Blazer, maybe my learn-from-my-mistakes advice is that cashmere and fusible interfacing (some at least) may not be the best bedfellows.

A journey of firsts

There were a lot of things I did for the first time ever with this Jasika Blazer. Using horsehair canvas (I was lucky enough to find a fusible one!). Using shoulder pads. Using a sleeve head (I’ll be honest, I didn’t even know such a thing existed).

Using tailor’s tacks. Hand-sewing basting thread to help steam a roll line in place. Anchoring a pocket. Sewing a pocket flap onto a double welt pocket. Hand-basting in a sleeve before sewing it (why haven’t I been doing this last one all my life, it’s such a time-saver!)

Chain-stitching! I finally learned to chain-stitch!!! I’d desperately tried to figure out how to do this from youtube videos when sewing my Driftless Cardigan.

I just couldn’t get it and eventually gave up.

This time, with the aid of the online workshop, it finally clicked! So these underarms are well secured with a very satisfying chain stitch!!

Speed-tailoring online workshop

I decided to sew my Jasika Blazer with the aid of their ‘Learn to sew a classic blazer‘ workshop.

Which, I found extremely useful.

I have to say that I found that I used it a bit differently than I used previous Closet Case online workshops (confession, I’m a bit of an addict, I’ve done both the Ginger Jeans and the Sophie Swimsuit one). With the Ginger Jeans one, I felt as though I could almost use the workshop videos instead of the instructions.

This one felt a bit different.

There were often so many details that I still had to use the written instructions quite a lot. For this project, the workshop videos and the written instructions were complementary, rather than the former potentially replacing the latter.

But I’m definitely glad I did the online workshop.

There were a couple of crucial steps where I found the visual guidance invaluable (and not just for learning how to chain stitch). I’m convinced I would have messed up these steps in someway otherwise. The steps where I found it really useful were for sewing the vent and mitred corner, inserting the sleeve head and should pad and bagging the lining.

Plus, having Heather’s fitting advice when I fitted myself into a little bit of an armscye muddle was worth the price indeed.

Plus, on purely practical things – I’ve had this thingamyjig for years and was using it like a clapper.

The online workshop actually showed me it’s full potential!!!

The workshop also gave me the idea of adding a flat piping detail, which is one of the things I love most of all about my finished Jasika Blazer.

I was pumped to add this detail. The fabric is a beautiful print my Aunt bought me for Christmas. I’d actually wanted to line my Jasika Blazer with it but it just wasn’t slippery enough to work. And since using the wrong lining in the sleeves is part of the problem with my Deer and Doe Opium Coat, I was determined to maximise the slipperiness of my lining this time around.

So, the idea of adding the custom piping with this coordinating colour palette was irresistible and mitigated my melancholy at being unable to use this fabric as the lining.

And I love knowing that there is a little bit of gifted fabric worn close to my heart!

In the end, in case you’re wondering, the actual lining fabric is this bemberg cupro lining from Meter Meter.

Jasika Blazer Reflections

So, after a month of careful sewing is my Jasika Blazer perfect?

Well, no!

Or should I say Hell No!!

But it’s still pretty damn awesome.

Whilst I duly steamed the hell out of blazer and used thread to hand-baste the roll line, the transition of the roll line from the lapel to the centreseam isn’t smooth and my roll line tends to roll out and become visible at the centre front.

My lining in the sleeves also wound up a little long (I think because I had some trouble attaching the sleeves with the proper seam allowance due to annoyingly large free arm on my machine).

The upper sleeve still has some slight ripples in it when my arm is in certain positions.

My pocket flap is slightly shorter than my double welt pockets.

The vent pops open a little when my button is done up too.

The vent problem has me a tad befuddled cuz I really feel that there is plenty of room in the hips, so I’m not sure why it wanting to play peek-a-boo.

But, I always say, if there’s going to be a sewing imperfection, it’ll bother me a hell of a lot less at the back than the front!

Out of sight, out of mind!

But, really, who gives a flying f*#@ about these imperfect details.

This Jasika Blazer is still the best thing I’ve ever sewn by a long mile and I couldn’t be prouder even if it WAS actually perfect. And it’s miles above any RTW I’ve ever owned!

Jasika Blazer Tip Time

If you’re here looking for tips, there’s not much I can say the the Closet Case instructions, blog posts and workshop haven’t already told you!

One thing I hadn’t anticipated was that my Jasika Blazer required 2 spools of Gutterman thread . Which was annoying when I’d almost finished but had to wait until I could make it to the store for more to finish… (It’s entirely possible that this is already clearly stated somewhere and I totally missed it…)

I also found it especially useful to force some discipline on myself in the cutting process.

I have to confess that, often, by the time I get to the lining (let alone the interfacing) of cutting a big project, my, ummm, enthusiasm for cutting has waned. The excitement of ‘I’m beginning a grand new project’ has withered away.

Replaced by a whining child repeating “Are we there yet?” ad nauseoum.

And, so, often my lining and interfacing cutting is much sloppier than the shell.

Which is really bloody stupid. Cuz, ultimately, shoddy cutting in those areas will impact on the shell.

So, I was determined to not give in to the urge to be a lazy lackluster cutter.

I forced myself to cut the interfacing FIRST! After all, finally cutting in to the cashmere was so exciting that it generated its own cutting adrenalin rush. No need to also ‘waste’ the beginning of project adrenalin on that. Why not devote it to something boring like interfacing.

And oh, isn’t there just so much interfacing here in the Jasika Blazer…

The other related trick was that I didn’t cut my lining until I was ready to sew it. At which point, after a couple of weeks of intensively sewing the Jasika blazer itself, a little cutting pause for the lining didn’t bother me at all. Consequently, I was able to pay it the attention it deserved.

Soooo, if you’re a lazy cutter, try to think about the best ways to break it down to work with your sewing style and weaknesses!

Doing so made a huge difference. If you’re over here regularly, you would have heard me whinging about how horrible I found it to cut my Deer and Doe Opium Coat earlier this year.

Well, the Jasika Blazer is about a million times more cutting (and more complex cutting) and it didn’t feel like anywhere near as much of a drag.

I really thinking changing the order in which I cut made a difference!

Jasika Blazer: The final word

So, jump up and down if you’re inordinately excited over the fact that you can sew your own tailored blazer!!!

In sum, not only was this Jasika Blazer a project of firsts, of sewing zen, of growth, it’s given me a new (hopefully long lasting) love of pressing!

Can you believe it!

Pressing!!!

At the time of posting, I’ve done a couple of projects since the Jasika Blazer. I am still getting so much joy out of making each seam perfectly pressed! My clapper and tailor’s ham have never seen so much action!!

When I was 18, I moved away to university and, after proudly doing my first load of washing in a communal laundry, realized with dismay that I had no idea how to properly iron. A somewhat exasperated friend showed me the basics but, I have to admit, it’s never really been a forte.

So, at a personal level, I’ve really come full-circle here.

Yes, I have sewn a very advanced complex tailored blazer here.

It’s even rather pretty.

Were I in the mood for similes, I might say that it’s like a golden ray of sunshine.

But the thing I am most bloody proud of is that I have finally learned to use an iron to it’s full potential.

Just goes to show, there’s forever room to grow as a sewist!

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.