Simplicity 1248 (Again) - Vampire Biker Jacket

When I bought this embossed pleather jersey fabric a couple of months ago, my thoughts immediately sprang to a gothic version of the Simplicity 1248 pattern I used for my Time Traveller's Blazer a while back. I really love the idea of a faux-leather jacket with totally exaggerated cuffs and collar, and I'm hoping the embossed print will make it stand out even more.

Here's a sketch I made of this jacket and the trousers made from the same print (stay tuned for the post on them) - I'm kinda crap at drawing prints as you might be able to tell!.

Because jersey is lightweight and stretchy, it's not really the ideal fabric for tailoring. I interlined it with some medium-weight, non-stretch linen I had lying around, which made a much sturdier fabric that no longer had any stretch to it. Doing this is pretty straightforward - just cut out the pattern in both your outer fabric and interlining fabric, baste your interlining piece to your outer piece, and then treat them as one. As this makes the seams a little bulkier when sewing up, I stitch them down like below, making sure the stitches don't go through to the outer fabric.

Last time I'd used this pattern, there were a couple of issues in adapting it, as it is designed to button over a corset, and is therefore shaped slightly differently. The main problems were that the jacket front was too narrow and that the bust placement was too high for a non-corseted bust. To deal with the first issue, I added 1.5 inches to the front piece before cutting out - with hindsight, I could still have added more to entirely get the cut I'd wanted, but it was definitely better this way. For the second issue, I'm gonna be a lot less helpful, as I just followed the markings I'd made on the pattern the first time round. Basically, I think I just played around with the pieces until they fitted more naturally, so if you're struggling with that issue, then just pin the hell out of it I guess!

What else should I mention? Lining! I just used standard black lining - it's so unexciting I didn't even take a picture of it. Helpful.

I didn't want the loops given in the sewing pattern, so the jacket needs a different kind of closure. As yet, I haven't come to a firm conclusion on what I want to do. A button would be the obvious choice, but I am very scared of button holes and messing the entire thing up. The other option is to hold it together with the brooch below.

It's kind of a cop out to use a brooch, but it has a Victorian feel to it that goes very well with this gothic Victorian jacket. So at the moment I'm not sure, but for the time being at least, I'm gonna stick with the brooch.

Overall, the pattern sewed up pretty easily. It probably helped that I'd used it before so knew what I was doing, which is often an issue for me in following patterns (and life in general...), and that I didn't have to make any real alterations or do any fittings as they'd already been done (god I hate alterations). And this time I managed to not screw up the pockets, unlike the complete fail I made in my other version of this. 

But why are you still talking, woman?! Show us the damn photos! Here's some juicy mannequin action to tide you over until the photoshoot pictures.

Update: Click here for the matching trousers and a few photos of the full ensemble! Or look below for other jacket-focused photos of the same ensemble.