McCall's M7291

It's been a while, I know. If any of you have seen me on Instagram, I have been playing around, making this capelet for MONTHS. (It doesn't take that long at all to make, I just took super-long pauses.) 

My reasoning for not making as many things as I was before is because I'm working on a myriad of other creative things in general (involved 3D Roomstyles, fashion sketching, and putting together a mini fashion collection on Photoshop, hand-drawing and designing my own prints), plus I have finally graduated to a store manager position! Yay! After nearly a decade of ASM, I finally have "my own" store. 

Anyway,

this one is McCalls M7291!  

I accidentally made almost exactly what was on the pattern packet. Online, the fabric was a little more ". mustard-y yellow but to me, the fabric color reads more "tan-brown". This pattern is actually a "Learn to Sew" pattern (haha, I have been making my own sewing patterns for over 13 years now) but I couldn't resist picking up this pattern because of the unique construction of it. 

 I used a melton wool from fabric.com. I had used their melton wool for a Burda wool coat before and I love it! I think it ended up with just the right amount of drape.

 Ok, so here is a crappy phone photo of me. Originally, I had planned on adding these wool flowers onto it for a more unique effect, but they just ended up looking misplaced and bulky....in a bad way. It was a more artistic approach to it, but it doesn't work. However, if perhaps you did a flat applique on the sleeves (I think a black version with colorful, different sized star appliques could look amazing!) that could work.

The purple inside sleeve is an accident, but a great accident. I made my own lining for this capelet (yup, I hate jackets with no linings!) and miscalculated how the sleeve lining should work out. I didn't have any more fabric left from the melton to make an inside sleeve facing to attach to the lining, nor did I have enough lining to recut the sleeve linings. 

Sooooo I went with this purple poly poplin in my stash.

The inside lining is not as smoothly finished as I would like, but I had issues with imagining exactly how the lining would work out with the way the sleeve is sewn inside the princess seam of the jacket. Either way, you would end up with an exposed, ugly seam on the inside of the jacket. 

What I COULD do is do a Hong Kong seam on the inside to cover up my serged edges, but I don't have that kind of patience nor do I care that much. The inside is well-enough finished to my liking and the outside looks great. 

I have definitely made a better jacket lining before (like my Burda one from about 2 years ago now) but it's fine.

Here's a more detailed look at my new capelet on my dressform.

 

Alright, now I just need the weather to be maybe 50 degrees-ish and I can wear this outside! It's been a mild winter in Chicago, so maybe I can wear this sooner than I thought? I would only safely wear this in spring and fall though. It gets far too cold and scary out here to ever use this as a "winter coat".  

This is a great pattern and a beginner would have a lot of fun with it if they didn't use a melton wool like I did (too much to finish probably for a newbie) but a ponte knit or a thick knit could work nicely for someone brand new to sewing!