Friday Pattern Company Unisex Ilford Jacket

I’ve made this jacket twice, and I like it, but the collar attachment detail isn’t great. It requires you to cut into the body fabric so that you can flip it down into the button band but up into the collar. It’s a weak joint, and an unattractive finish.

You can see on the red one that it leaves a little gap between the placket and the collar. On the green one, it bugged me so much that I made a little binding to cover it up.

I’m not that experienced with jackets, so I don’t know how to do it better, but it seems to me that it’s the job of a pattern company to figure that out for us, so I’ve lost a little confidence in Friday.
 

The Ilford Jacket was my first foray into a jacket or shirt type pattern and it went better than expected!
The material is a cord from Croftmill which is carries the phrase ‘Be Bright, Be Bold!’ I was worried that I’d be perilously close to Mr Tumble territory, however, it’s got enough of a mustard tone to it, for it to be lovely whilst still nice and sunny.

The pattern itself comes together very easily and the instructions are dead easy to follow especially with the YouTube sew along. Even though there is a placket and collar to make, they are well explained and in my view it is absolutely a pattern which a beginner could easily access.

The fit across the chest was fine for me in a medium (38 inch) and I just added a couple of inches to the length and arms as I’m quite tall. The tip in the instructions of measuring the finished garment against something you already own was great and gave me confidence that I wouldn’t be ruining something by adjusting the pattern.

I just added a couple of pockets but there are plenty of options available. The way they are designed you see the edge of the fold, so if I made square pockets I’d just sew the folds the wrong way and invert them which would avoid seeing any edges.

It’s a pattern I’d highly recommend making and I’ll definitely be doing another.
 

October/2021
What a great pattern to sew up!  I made 2 jackets … one out of chocolate brown corduroy and the second out of a black cotton drill that sewed up beautifully!  My only issue was getting the collars in to my satisfaction …  (I just came back to sewing after a 25 year absence … and collars were a bit of a challenge!). Loved the different types of pockets!  I plan on making a long black jacket using up scraps of denim, drill and linen!  I live in the Pacific Northwest and we are going into our fall/winter. These jackets will get a full work out!

Fun jacket to sew, sizing was a little big on me …but, plenty of room for layers … instructions were clear and precise!   This company get bonus points, in my book, for being able to download this pattern numerous times.❤️✅??

I'm sure like me you have seen the Shaket (shirt - jacket) trend and I knew that this one couldn't slip me by... and there was only one pattern that I wanted to use for my Shaket. The Ilford jacket. I chose to use a brushed cotton to give a lumberjack vibe, and I love it! This pattern was an absolute dream to sew! The instructions are clear and easy to read. Even the placket cuff came together with little head scratching. It was very satisfying being able to create something that looks so good in a relatively short period of time. I would highly recommend this pattern to beginner sewers as well as more advanced hence the 5 star's

You can read my full blog here www.stitchandspool.com/pattern-reviews/ilford-jacket/

IG: Stitch_and_Spool

Sometimes when sewing, I have a definite plan in mind and it’s all plain sailing.
Sometimes that plan goes straight out the window and I cross my fingers and hope for the best. This project is one of the latter but lucky for me - it turned out to be great!
I bought this lovely cotton aptly titled Frida’s Garden in a New Year Sale. It’s a quilting cotton but that did not deter me, kept it aside, thinking it would be perfect for a crisp summer dress. Then the heatwave came and on Saturday I sat down to cut the fabric ready for my summer shirt dress. But alas to my dismay neither pattern I had in mind (Megan Neilsen Darling dress or TATB Lyra dress) would fit!
In my eagerness, I forgot to measure how much fabric I had! This is 114cm so narrower than I’m used to, and it has quite a large directional print (Frida is about 11 inches tall) so I had to go back to the planning board.
Not wanting to purchase another pattern, I reviewed what I have and after looking online I saw a few Ilford Jackets which had been hacked into a dress, which I thought could work for the overall idea I had.
I found Chelsea from Friday Pattern Company has a tutorial online which was helped to cement my plans. I’ve made this pattern before (see previous post for review) and knew it was a simple make in terms of construction so felt confident in making this. Following her steps, here’s my finished shirt dress!
It’s pretty much the same as sewing the jacket with shorter boxy sleeves, adding a little side slit at the thigh and a belt with belt loops.
Chelsea recommends to lengthen the jacket but I didn’t have enough fabric so this is the longer length jacket in a size S no modifications. Maybe a tad too short but hey, that’s what I have nude colour cycling shorts for!
I’ve made this before and the construction was straightforward. With no pockets or sleeve placket, I made this in one afternoon and it was a chilled, stress free few hours sewing.
When I tried this on mid-sew I was really unhappy - probably because I still hadn’t come to terms that it’s not a Lyra which I had my heart set on. But when I tried it on after sewing on the last button, my feelings were the exact opposite - it’s such a lovely dress, I’m really glad I made it and would definitely recommend everyone try out this pattern! Whether it’s the jacket or over shirt/dress hack, you will not be disappointed!
This may not be the exact dress I had in mind, but it’s a damn good effort and, regardless, this fabric makes me happy, it brings me joy and that is enough to ensure this piece will be worn a lot this summer! I also think it’s quite a versatile item - it can be worn as a summer jacket, over shirt, swimwear cover up or dress, and can be dressed up or kept casual.
Happy sewing and thanks for reading ?