Hot Patterns Metropolitan Bouvier Jacket in Mood Fabrics' Stripe Linen

Talk about a fun fabric, this Mood Fabrics’ Italian Striped Linen is just that.  This is a double-faced fabric with rust and taupe stripes on one side and the other it is taupe-rust.  I fell in love with the awning stripe and had to have it.  I really wasn’t sure what I was going to make and then I decided a jacket with some shaping, no closures and some interesting details.

I went with Hot Patterns’ Metropolitan Bouvier Jacket and loved the cuffs, rounded collar and the half back belt.  This linen is soft and thin, even with the double-faced so I interfaced all the body pieces of the jacket.  Now cutting this fabric was a bit of a challenge.  Remember the part about rust-taupe on one side and the other is taupe-rust.  I did all my cutting in single layers and my first piece, I totally missed the colors are switched.  After that first mistake, I was extra careful and really double checked my cutting.

This jacket has princess seams, so where I could I tried to match up the stripes, as long as they didn’t get to thick.

Take the back – I matched the rust from the back to the side back for a more cohesive look.  I am also quite pleased on how the collar matches the back stripe.

The back belt is a bit smaller than the pattern piece, I wanted just a single stripe.  On that belt, I wanted to use decorative stitch.  I used one from the category Antique Hand Embroidery stitches, I really liked the thickness of this stitch.

I would call this jacket soft shaped, more relaxed style.  I made a size 12 in the back and 10 in the front, the back is just a bit big, if I make it again, it is going to be a size 10.  I also think some of the sleeve cap should be removed, which I did remove some but a bit more would of been better.

This fabric really makes this a statement jacket and I am quite pleased with my stripe matching, look the collars and labels match on each side!

The jacket can be lined or unlined.  I went with the lined, as you can see part of the lining in this picture

I would recommend cutting the sleeve lining longer than the pattern piece (which is the same as the sleeve).  I do better with extra fabric in the sleeve lining.

Love linen for summer and this stripe will be so fun for all summer long.

If striped linen isn’t your thing, check out all the Mood Fabrics’ Linens