Personally, I like to knit practically year round. But most people tend to knit when the cold weather hits. How do I know? Well, it's one of the fun things you can see using Google Trends.

If you are a bit nerdy like me, you might have fun looking at all the neat trend graphs. Here is how people search for 'knitting':



See how there are dips in the warmer months and surges of interest in the colder months?

Sewing also has a rise and fall with the seasons. But, compared to knitting, it is much more stable:


There you have it!

As the weather warms up over then next few months and you find your interest in knitting and/or sewing fading, you are not alone. It looks like many people lose interest. While I plan to keep going, I hope that you will be back again once the weather gets cold again.

That's right, there's such a thing as 'knitting marathons'. I just found out about them myself.



Above is a picture of David Babcock, who ran the Kansas City Marathon in 5 hours 48 minutes 27 seconds while knitting (back in October of 2013). He ended up with a 12 foot 1 3/4 long multi-coloured scarf that broke the world record. More about it here.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. I have been busy organizing my sewing room and my kitchen. In the meantime, here is a collection of Antique Animal Postcards from 1914. Quite a few of them have the doggies or kitties sewing.

Materials:

• 2-ply Ultrex
• Polyester lining
• Flannel (for pocket lining and the small triangle collar pockets)
• Snaps
• Velcro
• Seam tape
• Seam sealer
• Zippers (one large 2-way separating, 2 small pocket, and 1 small separating)
• Polyester thread
• Interfacing

Pattern and Alterations

This is a heavily altered version of Burdastyle 08/2011 #103.


I made several muslins and lots of fitting adjustments and features. I added a large collar, a waistband, and a hood to the coat. I also added a zipper and facings.

I was able to "bag" my jacket, which means I sewed the lining in place (including the hem) with the lining and main jacket inside out. I was able to pull the jacket rightside-out through one of the openings for the armpit vents. This post by Grainline post was a good guide on how to bag a jacket.

I was really happy with the armpit vents that I added. The are inconspicuous and are very functional.

Vent open

Vent closed

After I put my jacket together, I handsewed the lining to the armpit vent opening. I pressed the seam allowances of the lining before sewing it into the jacket, so it was very easy to sew.


I also handsewed some snaps onto my small inside sleeve tabs.


These small tabs wrap around a small loop on my inner jacket and snap in place. This means I can take both jackets off at the same time without the sleeves getting bunched up.

Sleeve tabs in action

I also decided to go with snaps for my waistband. At first, I couldn't decide whether to use snaps, buttons, or buckles. But, I couldn't find anything but snaps, so that's what I went with. I just added a third belt piece to wrap around the back so the jacket has more room to gather.

Another alteration was to the front pockets. The front pockets are inside the jacket and made with cosy flannel. Zippers keeps the pockets closed and the pocket flaps protect from the wind, while looking stylish.


My Completed Jacket!

Here is the jacket with my microfleece inner jacket inside:



 And here is me wearing it:

Long shadow - the sun is still so low!

It looks and feels great. The hood works well, too:

Matching sunglasses!

Now, I'm off to spend more time outdoors and see how well it works in the cold and snow.

Here are all my jacket posts:

• Sewing: Maybe a Winter Jacket? 
• Sewing: Picking a Winter Jacket Pattern 
• Sewing: Winter Jacket Muslin 
• Sewing: Winter Jacket Alterations 
• Sewing: Picking Outerwear Fabric
• Sewing: More Winter Jacket Muslins 
• Sewing: Winter Jacket Update 
• Sewing: Armpit Vents
• Sewing: A Hood for My Jacket 
• Sewing: Winter Jacket Collar Features 
• Sewing: Winter Jacket Adjustable Waist Options
• Sewing: Winter Jacket Sewing Order 
• Sewing DWR Fabric and Waterproof Outerwear    

And if you need more help with your own jacket, I also recommend taking a look at the Sewaholic Minoru Sew-Along for tips.

I definitely had some struggles with the Ultrex that I used for my winter jacket. In order to get my machine to sew the material, I had to use Microtex 70/10 needles, change my foot plate to the straight stitch plate, and use my walking foot.

Straight Stitch Plate

Even with all of this, my machine would still not sew when there were more than 4 layers and liked skip stitches every now and then.

I ended up borrowing my friends sewing machine to get the job done. All her machine needed was a Microtex needle and it sewed with no problems. So, if you struggle with the fabric a much as I did, It's not you - It's your machine. I'm definitely going to get a another sewing machine because I otherwise enjoyed sewing with this fabric and want to do more in the future.

If you are trying to make your project waterproof, then you will have to seam seal. I only had 1 yard of seam tape, so I used it on the shoulder seams. I found it very easy to work with. You just have to go slow and iron a small part at a time.

Inside Back of Jacket

I used liquid seam sealer on the rest of my seams. It's definitely a bit messy, but also seems to work. If I had more seam tape, I would have used it instead, because I really liked how well it went on (no waiting for it to dry). But, the liquid seam sealer is great if you make any mistakes and have to rip out stitches or for really tricky parts that are hard to iron.

This guest post on Sewaholic about sewing waterproof outerwear was very helpful.

PS. I was very disappointed with Seattle's Fabrics (from whom I bought my Ultrex). I emailed them twice for needle recommendations and heard nothing. I had to search the internet for a few hours to find the information I needed.