Left-over garment

While rummaging through my scrap fabrics a couple of weeks ago for jeans patches, I found a large scrap of coral coloured linen, left over from a suit made in the late 80’s (yep, boxy jacket with gigantic shoulder pads and super short, tight pencil skirt, all class back then!) With a little clever cutting, (ie, seams in the facings) there was just enough fabric for a capped sleeve summer jacket.

I used a couple of different patterns to create the jacket. The body is “Retro” Butterick pattern (6241) - without the peplum and waist darts. I also included a button loop, and curved the front edges away from this. The pleated capped sleeves are from this pattern (again! I know).

If you’re using pattern piece from different patterns like this, check the paper pattern pieces against each other to make sure they’re going to fit together. In this case, I needed to use the sleeve pattern piece for the next size up to fit into the jacket armhole. As builders say “Measure twice, cut once.”
The mother-of-pearl button is Victorian, I bought a long, long time ago (for what seemed like a horrendous price at the time) from a vintage store in St Kevins Arcade, Auckland, but it has been used and re-used on many garments since then, so feel I can justify the money spent on it. It flashes beautiful iridescent teals and corals in different lights. The striped lining is from The Fabric Warehouse, and ... I now have no idea where the linen came from.