Cherry Cola Coat: aka My Minoru

So, I made this jacket AGES ago.  And I kept promising to post about it.  Whoops.  Well, better late than never.

Things I love:

I love how easy this coat was to sew up! It really went rather quickly, and the instructions were so easy to follow. Tasia did it again!

I love the fabric that I used :) I was a little worried about the fabric at first.  I have always loved the print.  I bought the fabric online, and I know what cotton canvas feels like, but I was still a little nervous when it came in the mail I kept thinking "oh man, is this going to make a good jacket?  Is the fabric going to be right?"  But after it all came together, it was so great!  I love how vibrant the colors are, and the pink pops of cherries make me smile!

I changed a few things.  I added pockets, although I should have made them on my muslin as well, because I didn't get the height of the pockets just right.  I used the pocket pattern from the Peony and just stuck it right in the side seams.

I also couldn't quite find the right zipper length that I wanted, so to compensate, I didn't put the zipper all the way to the top of the collar.  Instead, I added these FABULOUS buttons that came from my grandma's button stash that I inherited!

Aren't they freakin' amazing?!?!

Things I would change next time:

I wouldn't line the whole thing with shiny, slippery fabric.  I would line only the sleeves with slippery fabric.  I don't really love opening up the zipper and seeing the high gloss fabric peeping out at me.  I think I would prefer a matte fabric.

I would sew in the waist elastic during the muslin phase.  I didn't do this, I just drew on the line, and it looked great, and in the final project it is so close, but I would have dropped the elastic down about 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

I would decrease the size of the hood.  It is too tall on me!  Haha, when I actually pull the hood out to wear, it is so tall that the front flops down over my eyes.  I would also definitely not recommend using a slipper fabric to line the hood.  Bad plan.  It slips on my hair, so the hood has real trouble staying up.  So either my hood is falling off my head or over my eyes.  Ugh.

But, all those changes aside, I love this jacket!  I wear it all the time!  It is so cheery, and I get compliments on it all the time :)

Below are a few photos from our Engagement Session.  Almost my entire outfit can be credited to Sewaholic patterns *grins*  Minoru Jacket and Renfrew top.  Two of my favorites combined!  All photos were taken by Brandon Witzel.  He took both our engagement and wedding photos!  He did such an amazing job :)  If you live in the Portland, Oregon or LA, California area, look him up!

Confessions of a newly-married, newly-moved, new-careered, sewaholic

Alright lovelies.

Time for some bold-faced honesty...

Have you heard that little truth about getting married, wanting to snuggle down in your new nest with your new love-bird, and eat yummy things; spending all your time oogling googly eyes at each other... and getting chubby.  Yeah.  It's wonderful.  And it sucks.  So, I haven't gotten fat, but I've definitely padded some areas a little more than I would like and it kills my drive to sew.  Why would I want to spend so much time and energy, lovingly fitting, professionally finishing, and meticulously sewing a form fitting dress for a body that I'm not proud of.  Super lame.

So, I've been avoiding sewing.  And I've missed it so much!!  A few things have fired my obsession for sewing again.  One, I discovered Bloglovin' in lieu of Google Reader shutting down.  This lovely blog following format allowed me to totally indulge forced me to catch up on blogs that I hadn't read in a while.  This made me so uber jealous that I wasn't sewing beautiful things for myself that I immediately went to my pattern stash and fabric stash and said, "to hell with this feeling chubby business!"  And made a skirt.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new skirt.  I have a second version on my cutting table at the moment. 

I was wearing the skirt, and my sister-in-law took some photos, and I thought to myself... not too bad :)  But I would love to look better.  I suppose that sewing awesome clothes for myself is a decent incentive for getting in shape.  So again, I'm on the war path.  I'm warring against my adipose cells.  Healthy food, gym time, lots of water.  We'll see how it goes.  Good thoughts, prayers, and encouraging words accepted.

As for this blog.  I love blogging.  It makes me feel as though I can connect with sewing friends in a way that I'm not able to do in my face-to-face, everyday life.  I also a little bit of an 'excitable follower'.  I suppose what I mean by this is, I read this fantastic blogs like Sewaholic, Lladybird, and Oonaballoona, and I want to blog as well and as prolifically as they do!  I get swept up in the awesomeness of posting, and comments, and wanting to be a well-known name in the sew blogging community.  But I can't do that.  A) I'm not that great of a writer.  B) I don't really have a whole lot of time to do it.  C) I have an awesome husband to spend time with...

So.... I am promising myself a few things.  I promise to try and post on here enough to keep in touch with people, and share my makes.  I also promise to spend more time actually enjoying sewing things, exercising, and spending my time with my hubs and my friends than I do trying to turn this little area in to a well-traveled, interweb, metropolis.

So there it is.

I'll try and be back soon :)  I'll show you what I'm trying to make.  I've missed you all.

xoxo
Montana