Business in the Front, Party in the Back

I bought some Marc Jacobs double knit wool and Tissu a few weeks ago, hoping to make a suit. As I have never made pants before, I decided to hole off on those until I learn how to make a pattern for pants later in the semester in my pattern making class. I couldn't wait for the jacket, though. COULD NOT. I looooove this fabric. It sews beautifully. I might use double knit wool for all my jackets from now on. I like it because it is stable like a woven, but stretchy like a knit. In tailoring it is great because of that stretch, and the wool responds to steaming and pressing amazingly. 

Steve says that this jacket is his favorite so far. I said it reminds me of Vivian Westwood's Anglo-mania, whereas he said it reminded him of Janet Jackson's look during the Rhythm Nation era. I don't know if i was even live or coherent of pop-culture during that era, so I honestly couldn't tell you. 

Anglo-mania VS. Rhythm Nation: YOU DECIDE

I decided to do the lace back panel a few weeks after I bought the double knit when I saw it in Tissu. The concept for the jacket came to me immediately- a lace back panel that floats over the double knit. As I was making it, I decided to extend the lace a bit past the shoulder seam, applied like a hand stitched patch, so that it wasn't just a blunt edge. 

No blunt edge VS blunt edge? I personally like that the shoulder echos the back hem with the scallop.

Besides the lace, the only other ways this jacket is different from Ol' Velvet is that I added welt pockets and I interfaced the collar differently. On Ol' Velvet, there is only a simple fusible interfacing in there, making the collar flap around and no stand up, which is ok, because I wanted that jacket to be more casual in look so that it counterbalances the luxuriousness of the velvet. But with a wool jacket, I knew I would have to do something extra for the collar to make it stand up and not flop over. So, using the methods I learned in my tailoring class, I pad-stitched horsehair interfacing to the undercollar, making it super stiff.

Let's get to the pics, shall we?