Paola Workwear Jacket in Wool Tweed

 

This is my third Paola Workwear Jacket and this time I made it in wool!

It was my first time sewing with woven wool fabric. I've sewn with merino wool fabric plenty of times, I've just been holding off sewing with woven wool because I really dislike having to dry clean, which is usually what you're supposed to do with wool garments. 

Specs

Pattern: Paola Workwear Jacket from https://fabrics-store.com/

Fabric: Wool Blend Tweed Coating (90/10 wool/nylon, 369gsm or 10oz) from The Fabric Store Online. 1.5 yards. mystery pink-purple cotton poplin in stash for Hong Kong seams. 

Size: 0/2 (their smallest size)

Mods - many that I added in previous iterations  + some new ones this time around: 

• 21.5" body length
• 1" longer sleeves
• deeper body hem
• hem sewn the way Helen's Closet's Pona Jacket is
• Hong Kong (HK) seam finishing
• Top pocket piece as bottom pockets, 1 inner top pocket scaled down to 86% (with original hem allowance)

inner upper pocket, if you can see it

How I washed the wool

I really wanted a wool jacket, so I decided to buy some. And I got to wondering, if I can handwash my handknit wool sweaters, why can't I do the same with sewn wool garments? I started researching about it and read some conversations on various forums and it seems like handwashing wool is something that people do, as long as you are careful with it. I think clothing stores just tell you to dry clean because it is the easiest, though more expensive, way to handle wool. 

So I tried to be careful washing this wool tweed: soak in a bucket with my typical Kookaburra wool wash that I use for knits. Then squeezed out as much water as I could. Then put the fabric in a mesh laundry bag and spin in washing machine for a couple minutes. I stopped the spin early, to reduce agitation as much as possible. It seemed to have come out okay! It is a loose tweed so it is definitely more delicate than something like wool melton. You can try it as well, but just be careful. I'm not liable for any damages, haha. 

Pattern quality

I've made a lot of changes and added a lot of features to this pattern over time. It is a pretty good FREE pattern, but the instructions are a bit sparse and vague. I noticed a drafting issue on the shoulder seams once, which I've since corrected. The front/back shoulder seam was 3/4" longer than the other, which is pretty egregious to me. However, I think it's something most people don't even notice, especially since this pattern is so popular. I didn't even notice for my first iteration until after when I was wondering why my plaid didn't match up. Fabric can stretch and ease, which is why some wouldn't even notice. 

On sleeves (gets very technical)

I will give them high praise for drafting a great sleeve though. Some patterns have sleeves that are very hard to move around in - restrictive when you try to lift or move your arms. This has always worried me when I sewed sleeved woven garments in the past and I thought I was shaped weird and just didn't know how to fix a problem like that. After sewing this pattern, I realized that this sleeve issue isn't a problem at all because the sleeve cap height is fairly short. For my size, it's 4 3/4" tall, which worked great for me. Some other patterns have the height at 6" or more. Here is some photos explaining what I'm talking about. A taller sleeve cap is typically used for garments like coats and blazers, where as it states, "movement is not a priority". That phrase sounds so ridiculous to me. I don't know when I would ever be in a situation where I would prioritize style over movement. Arm movement is ALWAYS important to me. 

I don't think you will have this issue with this pattern, but since I'm already talking about it, if you do find yourself needing an adjustment like this, Sew Sew Live has a video about when she adjusted it for her Kelly Anorak. The link will take you to the exact timestamp when she starts talking about it.

Here is me being silly and incidentally shows you me moving my arms freely. 

If I had a carousel plugin on this blog, you could switch back and forth quickly and see me dance.

On HK seams

HK seams was also new to me. Since it's an unlined jacket and too thick to do flat felled seams, I had to do HK seams. The process was quite long but it wasn't too difficult. Sometimes I wasn't able to catch the binding on the second line of stitching, so I'll need to work on my technique a bit more. 1 1/4" binding width was a good choice though.

Some project grievances

The pattern calls for 6" buttons but since I shortened it, I did 5 and positioned the way it is in this Pendleton jacket. Is it just me or are these buttons comically large? They are 1" buttons as called for in the pattern, but I think a 3/4" button would look better. I did some research and that's typically the size used for blazers and coats. I might buy the smaller size and redo all the buttons. And I guess sew up one edge of the buttonhole a bit so that they don't open up. 

Also, these patch pockets seem to make the jacket look not as polished as it could be. I'm thinking I could change them to welt pockets in the future. Though that's a bigger undertaking than changing buttons. 

Sewing with wool

Thankfully, since this wool is so thick and loopy, a lot of seam lines are semi-hidden, so wonky seam lines aren't as pronounced so I won't feel as obsessed about fixing them, which is great for me. It was also very satisfying to press. Which helped with this snowman-shaped craft wood I bought at Target to use as a makeshift clapper for only $1.50, originally $5 but on sale after the holidays. Score!

I can't wait to sew with wool again. I already bought several wool fabrics after. A 4th Paola could be in my future. Possibly with a bust dart added in, to make it more feminine.