Katherine Tilton Jacket

Despite the difficult start, my jacket is finished. And, I was wrong about cutting the turquoise facing incorrectly as you can see! I'm fairly happy with it. I made the size 8 based on the ease despite the fact that I would normally wear a larger size. I'm only 5'3" and I did not take any length off, yet I wouldn't mind if it were a bit longer. I did take just an inch off the sleeve length.

It has an asymetrical shape with the right side crossing up higher than the left, and the back dips down a bit. It also has a funnel collar which I really like. Katharine Tilton shows this as both a solid color jacket and a silk-screened version. I would like to try the silk-screening at some point. I've not done it before but I think it would be interesting. What I did do to spice it up was face it with the turquoise dupioni. In addition to the front, I also faced the sleeves, rather than turning up the hem. The pattern calls for serging the seams, but I did french seams on the shoulders and side seams and I did a Hong Kong finish with the turquoise on the sleeve.



Lastly for the buttons, I took a black dupioni and the turquoise dupioni. I cut the turquoise into an interesting design, laid it on the black and did an applique stitch to attach it. I then made 3 covered buttons out of it to unify the black and turquoise in the jacket. Apologies for the fuzzy pics. I didn't do buttonholes, because I don't think I will like all 3 buttoned so I think I will do a simple black snap toward the bottom. I like it -- but it still seems as if it needs something to make it pop.

Easy project -- lots of room to experiment.