The weather here is warming up and nudging above the 30⁰C mark. It’s a bit late to be making a cool-weather jacket but when I saw this pattern released by Lekala (4695), I just couldn’t resist. Ordered and printed the evening it was available, and completed two days latter. Not bad going, but took two weeks to take the photos. Oh well….

 

On the surface it looks a lot like McCall’s 6531. I missed the boat in getting this pattern and couldn’t quite spill the cash to buy it as an OOP. The Lekala pattern includes a lining, even for the pockets. Probably the big advantage is that it is made-to-measure so I didn’t have to make any adjustments to the pattern for fit, especially in the length.

Because it is getting late in the season, I’ve set this jacket up to use more as a windbreaker, than for warmth. The outer fabric is a water-resistant sueded microfibre, and the lining is a cotton voile. As luck would have it, we had a blustery southerly the day after I finished it, and wore it when I took the dog for a walk. It kept the cold wind out without being overly hot.

I did have a bit of a fiddle with the pattern – just can’t help myself 🙂 Since the (lined) pockets are fairly baggy and not overly secure, I added a zippered pocket into the lining. I also left off the storm shield as the piping looked better with the black zipper visible.

I’ve used a 2-way separating zipper. It was 3cm longer than it needed to be, so I added 3cm to the height of the collar. The new collar height sits just below my ears, which I like as I can tuck my face under the collar when it’s too windy. I think there is a mistake with the location of the buttonhole in the collar. The collar is folded in half, so that would put the buttonhole at the neckline edge rather than at the top of the collar.

The waist was supposed to be finished with elastic, stitched to the outer layer only. I’ve stitched the two layers together and run an internal drawcord. I’ve also added an internal drawcord into the hem.

 

I did try to follow the Lekala instructions. The made a bit more sense when I realised that “buttonstand” referred to the front facing. There are very few notches, but the pattern goes together quite well. The only thing that I was unsure about was where to attach the tab for the cuff. I’ve just attached it at the join between the cuff and the lining. So it is more decoration on the full length sleeve rather than a tab to hold a rolled up sleeve.

Here is the finished jacket. I love the extra length at the back hem. It’s very comfortable to wear and just couldn’t resist shoving my hand in the pockets.

There is a cold front coming next week with predictions of snow on the mountains. I might just get to wear it again before summer takes over.