MBM - McCalls 7200 kimono jacket and Style Arc Evie

At the beginning of April I picked up two drapey summer weight fabrics, among other things, from Pitt Trading. My initial thought was to stash the summer fabrics until next summer. When I got them home and saw them side by side, though, I decided not to wait but squeeze in one more summer make.

McCalls 7200 kimono jacket has been kicking around the queue for a while. I’ve had a few likely choices for fabric in the stash but nothing that enthused me overly much so it kept getting reshuffled down the queue. The fabric for the main body is a rayon, while the collar and middle back piece is silk/cotton. Clearly, the sewing gods were waiting for these fabrics to come to my attention!

This pattern is made up of a number of mix-and-match pieces that make up one of four views on the envelope. I made none of those views. This is the short jacket with sleeves, and the plain middle back .

This is a size Medium. By my body measurements I should have made a Size Large, but knowing McCalls definition of ease can be a bit wacky I went down a size.I dunno – I think the sizing is lineball on this one. If I’d gone up to a large, it wouldn’t have been a disaster, but Medium is ok. I added 7cm length to all the body pieces

One thing to be aware of that wasn’t obvious to me until I got the pattern pieces out is that the front band/collar is designed to fold over itself.I wish I'd cottoned on to that before – I would have chosen a pattern with a flat band.  I cut as is, but the fabric I used defied staying folded over neatly so I ended up stitching  it down on the inside in any case.  

I used French seams throughout. This is a very easy project to sew, and it strikes me as a good one for  someone who has never sewn French seams in a drapey fabric before. The simple lines of this pattern would be good practice for a beginner.

The use of the two fabrics together looks as good as I’d hoped, too. So overall, a win.

Underneath is my second version of Style Arc Evie made from a remnant of silk jersey I had in the stash. The first version is here. It is the free pattern from Style Arc for May, so if you are after a basic knit tank, get in quick!

Evie is another simple project, I reckon it would have taken me two hours tops from getting the fabric and pattern out of the stash to the last hem stitches. And a lot of that time was spent fiddling around with the pattern pieces figuring out how to place them on the odd shaped remnant I was using so I could cut it out in the first place.

The pants are Style Arc Talia, reviewed here.

We've had glorious weather this May, but there is a nip in the air which tells me that our short winter is on it's way. Can't imagine I'll be wearing this for a  few months now.