Gemma’s Eddy Cardigan Blazer
When you have an epic fabric such as this one you need to make an equally show-stopping piece, and luckily knowing that April’s ThreadySetGo pattern club pick was the Friday Pattern Company Eddy Blazer made the decision of what to make very easy for me!
With the beautiful muted tones of this print I knew being an outerwear garment would be perfect, giving the right level of stylishness to jazz up any outfit. I was excited to give the Eddy a go knowing it would be a more involved make, hopefully learning some new techniques along the way and looking forward to taking my time.
The great thing about this fabric is its stability, making it really easy to work with. For my lining I chose a cupro fabric in Khaki green, a choice I did regret slightly during the sewing process as it is a lot trickier to handle – completing all the body darts was definitely a test of precision! However cupro fabric has such lovely softness and drape that I knew it would look and feel so elegant when finished, well worth the effort.
I have to admit sewing this pattern wasn’t as challenge free as I would have liked. One piece of advice is to press every seam as you go, it will definitely make the process much easier especially when it comes to the last stages. In fact, I think I spent more time with my iron than my sewing machine!
Construction was relatively easy to navigate until it came to attaching your lining and body, and it was here that I started to struggle. Completing the vent, hem and fronts are quite intricate and require different techniques, there are a lot of numbered points to match up and I found the written instructions slightly confusing. Luckily there is a YouTube video sew along (and Hayley has made some helpful videos) which I found much easier to follow, and after several days I was finally able to get it all sewn together!
Once the angst of construction frustration had died down and I hand stitched my lining closed, I could fully admire the beauty of this piece! I love how it looks, such an elegant wardrobe staple that will elevate even a simple t-shirt and jeans outfit. I chose to leave off adding a button to the front as I preferred the streamlined look, however I did add some personalised elements – a decorative stitch to my patch pockets and of course no make is complete without a woven label!
Completing a more involved make always brings such a sense of achievement and I definitely feel it with this project. Having conquered it I feel more confident to make another, and think it’s a great project for the pattern club to give everyone a chance to develop and further their sewing skills!