Simplicity 2808

And so, my love affair with fleece continues...

I've had this jacket pattern since last winter, but only just got around to sewing it.  I love the style lines, but the model on the pattern envelope isn't quite as well endowed as I am, so I wasn't sure how to go about making it work for me, although with all of the waistline shaping with the tucks I was certain that this would be a great style.  I actually think this would be a great style for most any shape.  Those tucks are perfect for waist definition, even if your waist isn't particularly defined and the back is shaped with long contour darts, which also are quite slimming.  Anyway, since I've learned to do an FBA, I now do not fear shapeless patterns!!

Here is my FBA for this one.  Pretty straightforward.  The only thing to remember was that since this jacket's facing wrapped all the way to the side seam, the facing had to be altered to match the new jacket front.  I also  had to alter the position of the tucks.

You can see the original tuck lines in black, and my new ones in red.  Since the FBA added an unnecessary inch at the waist, I added an extra tuck to trim it back in, then spaced them out evenly.

I love it!  The fit is great, although my dart is just a little on the low side.  I'm still not perfect at placing that side dart.  I also think I could have gone for one more tuck, but I didn't want the jacket to end up overfitted.

Side

And back.

There were couple of things that I don't like about this pattern, and will be doing differently if I sew this again. For one thing, the facings flop out if you wear the jacket unbuttoned, which I tend to do.  I should have lined it, which would have eliminated that problem.  Second, the hemline is weird.  In the front, the jacket is faced all the way to the side seam, but the back is just hemmed.  The pattern calls for you to sew up the (uneven) side seams, then after you've attached the facings, go back and stitch the side seam of the facing to the bottom of the back, both of which you've already edge finished.  Well, this was fussy, and didn't match up!!  I think that for the next go, I would construct the jacket front, including the facings and then do up the side seams so that it could be done in one continuous step.