Sewing JAM # 14 in Spurts

I'm writing this post in spurts in between pressing open my latest jacket facings....and letting the section dry out on my pressing tool before moving on to the next section.  I'm an impatient person so this part gets me distracted and scattered.  Perhaps writing about the project will keep me more focused.
Jacket #14.  Wow, that surprised even me.  Now, remember that the "jacket" in 2011's project is any third layer.  Some of mine are multiples and lightweight, not heavily tailored jackets at all.  
Tomorrow I'll post my pics of the year in jackets but here's the one under way today.  

I'm sewing up another new to me pattern, Vogue 8483 (now OOP, no surprise since I'm  always late in the fashion game.)


The fabric is a very lightweight silk tweed which feels almost like linen.  Fabric Mart, of course.

It looks more substantial than it is so I underlined the entire jacket with silk organza.  I used silk organza from my collection but even it is quite lightweight and did very little to change the hand of the fabric.  


I was hoping to give it some more "oomph"  but it seems to merely have done some stabilizing.  There's mid weight fusible interfacing on the facings and collar and also ambiance lining so it's working out in the end.  I do believe that this large collar would benefit from a slightly firmer fashion fabric next time.  


Sewing in spurts is usually a good tactic for me but this time it slightly back fired.  I made a muslin and pattern adjustments back in late October (thank you again, Michele, for your advice and help in selecting this pattern to add to my repertoire) then cut it out and did the silk underlining right before we left to come down to Florida.  Wonderful, that means some the tedious work is already done!  Whoops, I forgot to pack the leftover fabric (trust me there's plenty of it up north) Why would that matter?  Well, as I got close to finishing the jacket this week I wanted to try out some buttons and buttonholes....but have no scrap fabric to use.  Nor do I have any scrap fabric to make the suggested loops.  So what to do about a closure?  Aha, another sewing friend's idea to the rescue.  At one of our neighborhood ASG group meetings one of our friend's presented a RTW idea she had seen.  Snaps are definitely "in" right now but sometimes a snapped up garment looks a little strange without an exterior closure.  Instead of a button, one designer (sorry my memeory can't say which one although it might have been Akris, one of my favorites) did a subtle embroidery in the closure area.  
I pulled out my embroidery floss collection (why do I still have embroidery floss when I haven't done counted cross stitch in several decades?)  and mixed together three colors 

then stitched a small sunburst design where the snaps will be sewn.  
Pressing is almost done so now it's time to settle down with handsewing and a TV show tonight.  We're re-watching Downton Abbey in preparation for season 2 starting in about 10 days.  
Hooray, last jacket of 2011 almost done!