V8620 The Stars Aligned Wool Jacket (and a partial Stash Buster)

Have you ever completed a project and wanted to shout from the rooftops?
I am so happy with my jacket!

Look at my grin!

This jacket - V8620 - a Marcy Tilton design - is Out of Print, but I was very lucky to stumble upon a stash of patterns in the back corner of a home dec store a few weeks ago, and bought a mass of Betzina and Tilton patterns for my own stash.  (That's STAR #1 - Let's keep track!)

Here's the line drawing:

Note the Empire Line and the dropped back.  This is a dreamy shape for my figure!

STAR #2 is my recent and desperate need for a new Winter jacket - something I can throw on and feel stylish in.  I have a few nice leather jackets, but they aren't warm enough for Winter's approach and the ski jackets in my stash are not sexy.  My good, down Winter coat needs a new zipper (and I hate working on repairing down coats).

STAR #3 / 4 / 5?

FABRIC

Last Winter I uncovered a gem in the Value Village Thrift Store - a bizarre, but wonderful felted stripe that was perfect for my BFF's colouring and a cardigan project.  I hoarded the chucks and scraps for someday - I loved the fabric so much.  I believe I paid $8 and change for the yardage.

Then, this Fall I won a yard and a half of a wool coating from Elliott Berman Textiles

And then just a few weeks ago, I was back in my local Value Village and found a sweet chunk of  quilted lining:

Finally, STAR #5!  Pattern Review's Colour Blocking Contest came up in the calendar!

I'm not sure these are stars, but lets call it the universe - there are a few sew-a-longs on the go for coats - the McCall's PeaCoatAlong has just finished, and I followed the posts for that, and there's another on-going for the Clare Coat.  I also followed Beth's coat study on SunnyGalStudio Blog.

I took a Craftsy course: Terry McClintock's Essential Guide to Working With Wool, and read Brooks Anne Camper's Seamwork Post: A Guide to Underlining,

I debated and finally chose to add the step of hand basting the lining to each piece, as I decided to treat it as an underlining for the too soft hand of the coating compared to the unusual felted fabric.  Other than that I followed Marcy Tilton's great directions for the pattern  (but I hand stitched instead of using the stitch in the ditch method proposed and ended up with a wonderful gem!

The final on my model

Front from the inside

Back from the inside

Here's a closeup of the guts.

Can you see the pocket here?

Look at the beautiful cuff!

And - DH,  my honey,  helped by snapping a shot of the jacket in action at the grocery store:

Love Love Love the Jacket!