Jalie Jacket 2795 - Walking with Turtles

Following my latest venture into outdoor wear in the form of the Kelly Anorak I got a bit obsessed about making another jacket - with a bit of an 'outdoor activewear' vibe.

I'm trying to get out and about for a walk as much as possible at the moment and so it gives me the perfect excuse for sewing something up.  

Enter the Jalie 2795 Jacket. It doesn't have a particularly fun name but it did look quite appealing with all it's colour blocking potential and sporty looking details. 

Jalie have an absolute array of sizes in their patterns  which are given in alphabetical format rather than numerical sizing. This jacket comes in 27 different sizes and so you're likely to find a combination that fits. 

For reference I made a AA-BB (which means nothing really other than it being about a 44-45 in European sizing).

I made a toile for the fit as I wasn't too sure on Jalie and managed to use up a whole load of sweater scraps I had been hoarding. That felt very satisfying to get rid of them. Whilst not the prettiest of hoodies, it's a very warm wearable toile!

The pattern has a high cosy collar, with optional hood, blocked princess seams and some 'sort of' welt pockets. 

My toile was absolutely fine fit-wise so I brought out the big guns in the form of this stretch softshell from Activefabrics (also known as Aktivstoffe for the German site). 

I found it almost impossible to find softshell with any amount of stretch in it, in the UK. Minerva do some but I didn't like the muted colours available at the time and REALLY wanted cobalt blue.

This amazing technical fabric was found on a deep dive of the internet called Medea 4-Way. Water repellent, fleece lined and wind-proof.  

Hat is the Baa-ble Hat by Donna Smith Designs

The final version is a little snug around my hips which is annoying but not so much that it makes it unwearable. I was actually looking for a jacket that went to hip-length but couldn't find anything. Just after I cut this all out, Itch-to-Stitch brought out the Andes Jacket which would have been perfect! Ah well. This may be better with proper trousers.

The Jalie instructions are NOT detailed. There was a 2 page diagram and a few words and I struggled to understand how the welt pocket went together. A quick search of Youtube came up with the goods and it was actually not too difficult. 

The hood of the jacket is great, it actually stays put and has a little rain peak shape on it which is a nice detail.

I'm currently sporting a new 'hair do' which is acting like velcro so perhaps thats why it stays in place!

Having the high collar is a great detail and very warm. I wore the jacket out on a really cold and wet night and can confirm the windproof fabric worked wonders and it was very toasty. Bonus points for being able to fit a t-shirt AND jumper underneath aswell.

The fit is boxy so if you wanted it a bit more shapely, make sure you adjust your princess seams BEFORE doing all the flat-fell or topstitching of the seams. 

I think I have been spoilt by the immaculate instructions and construction of the Kelly jacket as a lot of the finishing on this one is a bit basic. Seams are raw and there are numerous places I think the edges could have been enclosed but were not. I overlocked all my inner-seams and tucked under the inner-collar for a neat finish. 

It was all looking rather plain by my standards so of course I had to add a little jazz to the sleeve. This way when I'm out and about I can take my turtle with me. 

 This little fella is from SisterMintaka by a company called Malicieuse and it's a beauty. I find they don't stick particularly well just with an iron so I did stitch around him for turtle-arm-security.

Photo from Sistermintaka - Iron-on patch

Thank you for reading - hopefully this is of some use if anyone tries the pattern :)

Feel free to comment and come and say hello on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Bloglovin too xxx

Closet Core Kelly - Finally.

Well hello there. Remember me?

Feels like an age since I was last on here but in reality only a few weeks! I've been on Insta if you follow me on there. 

I've not done a huge amount of sewing these last couple of month but what I have done is FINALLY FINISH my Kelly Anorak. This has been 2 years in the making!! Well - it was probably put in the UFO pile for most of that time but here she is in all her completed glory. 

 Hands down the most complicated bit of sewing I have done. So many bells and whistles on this one. Zips, snaps, plackets, drawstring, flat-felled seams...you name it, it's probably got it.

The fabric I chose is a. Fleece Back Softshell and b. Can be seen from space. 

A safety jacket if you will. 

The best bit about Softshell is that it's water resistant, great for a coat, but also doesn't need lining because of the fuzzy fleece on the reverse.I struggled to find non-plain softshell and settled for this bright paint splatter one from Minerva. The rose gold findings are from the Trimming Shop and neon zip was Etsy.

It's quite thick and dense so a microtex needle and a walking foot are a must.

I cut this out and starting sewing it in 2021 at a sewing class. I had messed up the placket about 3 times and had to recut and unpick everything repeatedly, by which time class had finished and it was put in a bag to 'finish at home later'. That clearly never happened. 

After a big ol' sewing room clear out recently I found the bag and decided it was about time Kelly should get made up. After bodging up the placket a further 2 times (I still have no idea what I did wrong but it was too short to reach across the zip) it worked! Not exactly how it was designed but it works.

After getting over the placket hurdle the rest of the coat was fairly smooth sailing by using the Kelly Anorak Sew Along.

I had apparently cut a Size 16/18 and 2 years later god only knows if that was going to fit but I powered through. It's actually a really nice fit however I can't get a knit jumper under there. Just a t-shirt or very thin sweater.

The only adjustment I made was for the pockets. I didn't like the open nature of the ones on the pattern so made myself some square patch pockets that could be fastened with a snapper.

The marvelous thing about the Kelly Anorak is that all seams are enclosed and looks fantastic without any raw edges showing.  The neckline and armholes are bound with bias binding for a nice clean finish. The rest are either enclosed in seams or flat-felled.

The fun part was putting in all the S-Spring snaps. I have a 'Big Green Machine' and it makes short work of snaps and fastenings. About 5 minutes to do the lot!

I finished off the jacket with the only label that would possibly be suitable. 'This Took Forever' by Sew Anonymous.

Definitely worth hopping back on the blog for this mini-win.

Feel free to comment and come and say hello on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Bloglovin too xxx