Sewing the jacket for my Mother-in-law is going pretty well so far. As mentioned in a previous post, I used a raglan dress pattern as a sloper to make up a jacket pattern. I made up a jacket muslin for my MIL to try on.

My MIL loves it so far - especially, the large asymmetrical collar. The muslin fit very well. I was afraid that my measurements would be off, but I was actually pretty close. The only major change was shortening the bodice. While making the jacket, I drew a line across the waistline according to the pattern. This made it easy to see that it was too low, so I just I pinned it up (as shown in the photos). This one change made a big improvement to fit.


I also pinned up more of the waistline at the sides than at the front and the back. I'm guessing that this is just doing the opposite of a swayback and swayfront adjustment. It flattens the shaping at the front and back.


My MIL and I went shopping for wool fabric for her coat. She was having a hard time deciding and kept mentioning how she didn't want something too heavy, too warm, and too formal. I then asked her if she really wanted a winter coat. That got her thinking and she started to take a second look at my winter jacket, which I was wearing at the time. Long story short, we've now decided that her jacket will be made of 2-ply Ultrex, like my jacket. I'm glad we didn't just buy the wool fabric online and jump into it.

I'm now working on a second jacket with all the features (like pockets and cuffs). That way I can make sure my pieces actually fit together.