let's hear it for the boy

friends... meet the red jacket.

and prepare for photo overload.

that self-satisfied smirk is totally justified. i finally finished it! to be perfectly frank, i sort of feel like i just gave birth! (i totally reserve the right, should my future self ever actually give birth, to come back and give my present self a good slap for that comment) but really - there were times there when i thought this lovely lady would never be finished!

and she is a beauty, isn't she? this red jacket was just the thing to perk up a chilly, dreary winter day (by texas standards, ya'll).

i spent the past evenings and weekend hand stitching all the finishing touches. the upper collar was fell stitched along the neckline and draw stitched at the gorge line. the lining was fell stitched in place at the shoulders, neckline, armholes and along the front edge - all, of course, as per claire's instructions. sometimes i have serious doubts about wearing a garment hard that has predominate hand stitching, but have you ever tried to rip out fell stitches or back stitches? they are far more resilient than machine stitching! i will be posting some construction shots shortly - it was just far too dark to get decent pictures once we got home from our photo session this afternoon.

and, of course, there is that leopard print lining! the print is a bit louder than what i originally had in mind, but it was also $8 a yard, rather than the (far more tasteful) $36 a yard silks. and truthfully, its kind of grown on me. in fact, i bought extra yardage - so you'll be seeing this print pop up in a, how shall we say, less subtle way in the near future.

i used burda's 07/2011 sweatshirt sports coat for the pattern, however i redrafted the upper collar to get rid of the collar stand. the actual coat is made from wool gabardine. its underlined in white cotton batiste and then interfaced with goat hair canvas along the upper part, lower edge, lapels, collar, and sleeve caps. the lining is rayon challis - not a very typical lining fabric, but it was soo soft, and, as i mentioned - cheap(er)!

i made the executive decision at the last minute to leave out my self-made shoulder pads. while they looked nice, they gave the jacket more of a structured, formal look, and i sort of had a slightly slouchier look in mind. the difference is almost insignificant, but i feel it was the right decision. i did, however, leave the sleeve heads in, to support my dimpled sleeve caps!

here i am testing the fit of the back and shoulders. the ironclad test? weird lunge-y moves on the pier (what? thats not what you do?) there were no popped stitches, so i gave it a gold star, and moved on before i start getting real nit-picky, because, lordy, i could pick and tweak until i'm blue in the face!

my inspiration for this outfit came from one of my favorite style blogs, calivintage, who first introduced me to the term "teddy girls". i was going for a sort of mid-century, boy-meets-girl look (thus the title of this post - and also this song - a favorite from yesterday my youth). my red jacket inspires such things in me.

i would be seriously remiss if i didn't thank my husband for these photos today. and for putting up with my farting about deciding where to take them. and for making the executive decision for me to not reset the sleeves on this jacket for the 10th time, and just let them be. husband, thank you. you are the wisest of them all, and i don't know where i'd be without you.

outfit details:

jacket - self made

shirt - american apparel

jeans - j brand

shoes - urban outfitters from a long long time ago

scarf - not sure. a thrift store perhaps?

xx