Pattern Review- Butterick 5331, Ruffled Collar Jacket

After making a couple of duds I am so excited for my new hot pink jacket! This is garment #11 for the Pattern Stash Contest at Pattern Review. If you check out the contest report, you'll notice that I'm in fourth place at the moment. The ladies in first and second place have more than twice as many items sewn. That's ok though, this contest has motivated me to kick it up a notch and start sewing instead of just collecting patterns.

I loved this pattern ever since I first saw it for the view that I made. I love the ruffled collar- of course ruffles are all the rage right now. And I'm always a sucker for puffed sleeves- love the feminine details!

I really wanted a fabric that would make a statement so I opted for hot pink linen from Denver Fabrics. I also got buttons to cover- I think covered buttons give the jacket a more tailored and expensive look. I spent about $20 to make this one.

I made a size 14-one size smaller than the pattern recommends for my measurements. WORD OF WARNING: if you don't have pencil arms, you will need to re-size the sleeve band. Even if I had gone with a 16-those sleeve bands would have been way to small. I didn't notice this until after I had sewn up one sleeve (I should have been prepared for this because I've had problems with sleeve bands before). Luckily, before I had sewn the sleeves into the jacket, I slipped the sleeve over my arm and noticed how small the band was. I didn't have enough fabric to do a different sleeve and band. Instead, I cut new bands- about 1 inch extra in length. Then I sewed them to the existing sleeves but didn't gather as much as the pattern called for. This solution worked great, and the sleeves are fine now. I would recommend measuring your arm circumference and comparing this to the length of the band while you are cutting out the pattern.

Other than this small speed bump, the garment went together smoothly. It's rated an "easy" pattern and I really didn't have any trouble with the instructions. There is one error in the instructions that was pretty obvious to me but might not be to a beginner. In step 20, when you are sewing the collar to the collar facing, it does not tell you to stitch it before trimming and turning it to the right side. A minor error.

The jacket fits great and I love the color! I usually go for neutrals and blues... so this is a pleasant change for me. It looks great with jeans. I can also wear it with a cute skirt or slacks.

I have two more garments finished- more on those in the next couple of days.

~Byrdie