Corduroy Swing Jacket

I have had lots of requests to expand the size range of the swing style jacket that was published in my Sew Cute Couture book (Cute As A Button if you have the Australian publication - the content of both books is exactly the same)  The original jacket was sized 6 months through 3 years and was styled with a full cut sleeve and a back yoke with a 2" center back pleat for width to accommodate the fullness of the matching bishop dress.  Here's a couple of different fabric variations made up from the pattern in the book.

My new project is made up in black feather wale corduroy with lots (lots!) of periwinkle blue corduroy piping. Because the feather wale corduroy is not really heavy enough to be jacket weight I fused light weight interfacing to the back of the uncut yardage prior to cutting out the pattern pieces.  It gave the corduroy a beautiful  'hand' and great stability which I think saved me when trying to pipe around all the scalloped edges.

 The jacket has a more tailored two piece sleeve and allows for a turn back cuff in the contrast fabric.  This turn back sleeve also buys adjustment and growth room.  The back of the jacket has lots of visual interest with a scalloped, piped yoke overlay and a 3" box pleat down the center back. 

 I had enough of the coordinating dress fabric left over so I chose it as a lining for the jacket.  This jacket goes together completely on the machine with the exception of the little bit of hand work involved making the cast-on stitch flowers on the self fabric covered buttons. 

The coordinating under dress has a sewn in piped corduroy belt and shaped corduroy cuff on the sleeve to tie in with the scalloped and piped edges on the jacket.  The button down the back skirt of the dress is pleated rather than gathered onto the bodice.  It gives a nice tailored look while still keeping the 'twirl' factor in the fullness of the skirt.  

I used two very helpful items making this project.  The first is this applique foot to make and apply my piping.  It's not sold as a piping foot but it is perfection for making and applying mini piping -especially around curves.  It has a center groove that holds the cord perfectly in place and is very short to allow easy movement around curves.  The second is a little gadget called a 'perfect pleater' which I used to attach the skirt to the bodice of the dress.  I am also in love with my new Pfaff Creative Performance.  After 20 years of sewing on a Pfaff 7550 a new machine is showing this old dog a few new tricks!    

I will size this jacket and dress in a 4-8 for classes in the fall.  I'm getting ready to try another one in this fabric combination.  I am making a concentrated effort to use up some of my stashed Liberty prints.