I bought this Butterick B6108 Pattern many moons ago. I had no event planned to wear a suit to. Luckily a dear friend decided to plan a day of enjoying the art of punting on the lake at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne. I thoroughly recommend Punt Tours.
Most of my friends decided to attend in early Edwardian attire, but I decided this was the perfect opportunity to make my first suit.
In the beginning I was going to make the pattern on the left. However I changed my mind after I made the skirt. I decided to then make the one on the right, and I am glad I did.
The fabric of choice was wool. It is Autumn here in Melbourne, Australia, so wool was perfect. I knew the best place to purchase quality wool, was from Crossley Job Lots . Many of their fabrics are dating back 30 to 40 years. So the fabrics automatically have that period feel.
The skirt was pretty straight forward, however it was my first time making pleats with wool. Gee this fabric creased nicely under the iron. :-)
Now with the coat. I was a little nervous, it was going to be a challenge, it was my first coat! I decided to make some changes with the pattern. I decided to eliminate the large collar flap but keep the smaller collar. My reason for doing this, I am a short person of plump build and the larger collar, I felt would overpower the look. So I removed it and moved the buttons to the top of the triangle flap. I felt the buttons would hold the flap better and gravity and the weight of the wool would do the rest of holding the suit in place.
I also decided to make the cuffs smaller as well. When I placed the full size cuffs on the sleeve, I just had to laugh, they made my arms look very short. Thus I had to reduce the size of them as well, they worked, but I could have reduced them a little more.
Overall the Butterick B6108 pattern was a joy to make. Excellent instructions and illustrations. I used a combination of the sewing machine and hand sewed when it came to inside lining.
One of the things that really threw me for a loop was the grain markings on the skirt. It seems kind of strange to cut a skirt entirely on the bias.
ReplyDeleteI have made this pattern and it is critical to cut the skirt on the bias. My skirt material was the same as was used for the trim on the collar and cuff. As a result of using fairly light weight fabric cut on the bias, the skirt moves and flows like a dream when on the body (think 30's glamor dresses, most of which were cut on the bias). Only cutting on the bias will create that effect.
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