Golden Rippy’s Omega Angel Jacket

I keep getting questions from people and not just in the sewing blog community: “what are you up to? I miss your blog entries!” I’ve been sewing a lot lately (this is the start of four unblogged projects), but finding it difficult motivate myself to take pictures for the blog. Part of me wishes I had a dressmaker’s dummy and could just take pictures of my garments on that instead. My weekends have been either busy or I am at home sewing or just generally unmotivated to put on makeup and set up the camera. My nights have been taken up with physio or doing physio exercises as part of my goal to treat myself better and get onto the path of living without chronic pain.

The last of my winter hibernation mode is holding on, but I have been slowly getting out of it. It’s nice to have warmer days now in Toronto rather than the -30 Celsius that took over February. I found February to be a very rough month. Around the end of January, I twisted my knee while trying to lift an 18kg box of cat litter into a grocery cart. Lamest way to injure yourself ever. I had trouble walking and have been in physio ever since with amazing results. My knee is pain-free now and I am walking a lot better and now we are working on other pain centres in my body to make sure I don’t hobble down the aisle at my wedding.

Of course all this work in another area of my life means that the blog gets neglected. But for good reasons and reasons that leave me with more energy and happiness in the future to create more blog entries. 🙂 For now, I don’t mind if the blog gets a little neglected as I take care of myself. I am trying to catch up here, though.

I’m starting with the last project I completed: Golden Rippy‘s Omega Angel Jacket. I got it as part of the Sew Fab Winter Bundle. After I saw Amy’s version on Friends Stitched Together, I clicked buy so fast I sprained my fingers (kidding kidding). Amy and I have similar body types so I knew it would suit me. I loved the princess seams, large pockets, and the details: arm pocket, arm stripes, bolero, etc.

I have been looking for hoodie designs with more interest than a regular hoodie. Of course, this isn’t a hoodie, but it’s the style I was going for so I feel okay sacrificing my desire for a hood. How often do I use the hood anyway?

The pdf goes together pretty well. I did a two inch full bust adjustment to the pattern, but it wasn’t necessary since there is a lot of ease built into the pattern. My future versions will be in the straight size XXXL.

There are a ton of pieces for this jacket including several rectangles that you cut out according the instructions. All in all, a lot of cutting and measuring during that process. There are over 25 pieces to cut out for this. Cutting out took quite a while. Construction was a lengthy process because of all the details and topstitching.

The pattern doesn’t have a sewing level listed, but claims: “It looks difficult, but the instructions make it an easy sew.” The instructions are clear, but I wouldn’t label it as an easy sew. It is definitely more intermediate or advanced beginner. I would actually place it more at an intermediate sew.

I had particular trouble with the arm pocket and getting it to work. You are supposed to have a band around the side of the pocket so it is 3D. You attach the band to the pocket piece and then top stitch it on to the arm. Because of the bulk of my contrast fabric, I just couldn’t get it to work properly and chose to not use the band and simply stitch the pocket piece on to the arm. Because of my frustrations, I didn’t topstitch as well as I could have so it’s not perfect. 😦 Although, seeing the picture below, the three stripes aren’t as bad as they look there… seems there was a bump in my sleeve when I took the picture.

But the arm stripe on the other side went well:

I also found the arm construction difficult because of the bulk created by the bolero. For future versions, because there will be others, I will leave the side seam construction and install the arms in the flat and then sew the side seams. That will be easier for me given the position of the bolero.

The bolero topstitching also went wonky because of the bulk of the material. Because stretch isn’t really needed in this jacket, I might use a thinner woven for the underside of the bolero in future versions to reduce the bulk and get prettier topstitching/buttonholes. Technically, this is a wearable muslin so I am accepting imperfections here.

I sewed with my serger for most seams and then my regular machine for all topstitching and the zipper. My iron ran hot the entire time, because there is a ton of pressing you will need to do to get the pieces to lay flat. It’s rather difficult getting sweatshirt material to press.

The fabric I used was black sweatshirt material and black ribbing from Joann’s and a sweatshirt print find from the thrift store for the main. I used five lime green buttons on the bolero, which is a change from the three recommended. My buttons are also smaller than what the pattern called for, but I like the look.

Edit: I meant to say this in the entry…. The zipper came out slightly wavy. I wasn’t impressed with the quality of it so I wasn’t surprised that it came out wavy unlike the zipper in my Hello Kitty hoodie. I bought it on ebay for very little. Next time, I will get another from zipperstop. More expensive, but a lot nicer results.

Here is the gratuitous photo shoot!

And when you edit your post and realize you didn’t take pictures of the front with the bolero closed, you just toss it on and take a pic after work….damn that fifth button didn’t get buttoned:

I will be changing a few things for the next version:

• Making the size as it is drafted without alteration.
• Shortening the sleeves, but increasing the length of the sleeve bands. My personal preference is to have thumb holes in my sleeve bands for hoodies/knit jackets.
• I will continue to make the arm pocket without the band, since my ipod fits in it anyway.
• Experiment using a thinner woven fabric for the underside of the bolero and possibly the pockets.

TL:DR Review

• Pattern: Golden Rippy’s Omega Angel Jacket
• Pros: Interesting design/details, clear instructions, good structure/fit
• Cons: Barely any with the pattern, except that the arm pocket construction could include tips on working with a bulky material and a little more detail
• Make again?: Absolutely! Although, I will make it without pattern alterations.
• Rating:  5/5 stars

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