Grainline Morris - Breaking Ground

Woo Hoo!  It's Spring!
Time for layers and figure-revealing jackets! (Or, let's be real, I'm in Canada: I'm just raising my shirt-tails to  bum-revealing)


I will fully admit that I have avoided Grainline Studio patterns so far:  no slight intended (and I doubt, taken), but the aesthetic isn't me - I am all about soft and curvy and flowy, upward movement, and face/waist framing and Grainline is: not.  I feel like it is less romantic and more business casual, and I have seen the waxing poetic about the Scout Tee, the Farrow, and the Morris for ever - and just kept right on looking.

Farrow, Scout, Morris from Grainline Studio

That said, when The Breaking Ground Blog Tour came up and I was thinking through what pattern company I might want to look into, I came across several versions of the Morris that were my style, and I thought: self, perhaps you should give this a whirl.

So - I bought my pattern from PatternReview.com - (I get a tidy discount because I am a member, and I was featured recently and had a little coupon gift to use).  I took my file down to the local Staples Copy Centre and (after a wee struggle and realization that the A0 version worked best on their printers) had a pattern on my table to trace.

Now - I started to do all my normal adjustments - but then I changed my mind, and decided to make the pattern as printed - to do a proper review I think that's only fair.  So here is my review considering the pattern as written, no adjustments, to my size specs, following directions step by step.




So - there are a few caveats we should address for this pattern - it is a straight forward pattern: Sleeve, Front, Back and Facings. There is magic in a pattern like this - the fit has to work without princess seams and darts - and this pattern is a little piece of that magical land - it actually works pretty well.

I LOVE the facing application and construction process for this jacket - you end up with a nice and tidy unlined, stretch woven or stable knit jacket.  My choice of a stretch twill/denim worked very well, and I have a nice casual jacket to throw on over jeans when I run to pick up a kid on a work from home in my jeans sort of day.  I think if you are experienced with fitting for your body it is a great little pattern, or if you are a slim, somewhat broad shouldered gal, you should be able to make this out of the package.

That said - I think you should be prepared to measure and pattern fit.  The chest/bust measurement vs garment for a size 14 was bang-on.  The sleeve is a slim sleeve - so definitely measure and ensure you have some ease.  In addition, I found that the shoulders were wider than my own and I am pretty typical lately (after a significant weight loss) - so plan to measure and adjust the shoulders.

Too broad in the shoulder, and too tight in the bicep.
Gainline Morris

I perused the Internet and found one example after another of a wrinkle at the back of the jacket between the armpit and the shoulder - go check it out online - it won't take you long if you google the images for the grainline morris blazer.  I'm not sure if it's because the sleeve is too narrow, combined with the shoulder so wide - but I like the construction elements of this jacket so much that i am going to tackle this again, with a bicep adjustment (I like Sewaholic's instruction-set) and a shoulder adjustment (Colette's Albion Sewalong has a nice graphical step by step guide to a narrow shoulder adjustment).

In the end I have a jacket that is wearable with bare arms underneath.  It's a great item to throw over my general uniform and to dash out looking a little like I tried  :)

This post is part of the Breaking Ground Tour - pushing each contributor to try a new pattern company.  I purchased all materials with my own cash - so opinions are entirely my own!  more blogs links below.

Here are the rest of the Breaking Ground Blogs (direct links to Breaking Ground posts) Anne-Mari Sews, Sprouting Jube Jube, Sewing A La Carte, Tales of a Tester