Lekala #4339 Waistcoat for Lidia

A few months back, Liddy was watching Netflix with the little girls.

I think she enjoyed Ballerina as much as they did.
(I often delegate supervising movies to the older girls, they know my views on what I deem suitable and act accordingly)

Lidia loved the outfit Felicie is wearing.
A waistcoat over a tee, denim shorts over legging and lace up boots.
She asked if we could recreate it.

Although there were other waistcoats that were a better match, Liddy preferred this one with the lovely collar.

The fabric is the Herringbone wool I purchased off of eBay a few years back.
I picked up a roll, for under $20 including postage.
The same cloth I used for...

these dungarees

this sports coat

another pair of dungarees

this coat

And another pair of dungarees.

I used a copper coloured stretch satin for the lining, I prefer apparel satin for lining as it wears better and give more structure to the garment.

Rather than trim my lining and sew my facing to the edges I turned the facings and top stitched them in place.

Lekala don't give you separate lining pieces but rather, instruct you how to trim your main pattern back.

I also chose to under-stitch my seams to prevent rolling.

I went in through the side seam opening (left to facilitate bagging) and under stitched the arm holes, by hand, with a running stitch.

There were no ties on the diagram but they appeared when I printed the pattern and were mentioned in the instructions, the magic of Lekala.

The fit was spot on!

To give a bit more structure, I interfaced every piece, lining and main, with sheer weft interfacing (except for one side of the collar).

The buttons are leather knotted ones, the pocket is a faux welt.

I am glad I used the ties, it allows her to cinch it in.

~My Verdict~

I really like Lekala for fitting free sewing. Liddy is very slim but has broad shoulders and is taller than Jed. Sewing for her with basic patterns requires a muslin and a lot of tweaking.

This was not an easy sew, it was time consuming with all the prepping of interfacing and stay stitching.

I did bag the lining, except for the arm holes. These I did by going back in through the side seam opening and slowly pinning and sewing the seam in small increments. It was incredibly fiddly but left only a tiny gap to be hand sewn.

That said, I really enjoyed it. I do love sewing coats and the like. The fact that they last a long time and hand on well, is a bonus.

Next, the shorts!

Thank you for reading xxx N