Larkrise Blazer

Thanks for everyone who entered the giveaway, we have the Baby Jegging Winner:
{selected by random.org}
 Kellie said...

My favorite holiday movies are the classic kids cartoons, love them, still to this day, probably helps that now, I have little ones to watch them with :) Thanks for the giveaway, so cute!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Making this blazer has been a big deal to me.

It's the most I've ever spent on fabric--sapphire velvet.

It's my only article of clothing that is "dry clean only".

Any long sleeved piece of clothing with sleeves that are actually long for my orangutan arms makes me happy.

Due to wearing solid Old Navy tees most of my life, wearing a blazer makes me fancy and grown up if that makes sense...almost like playing dress up a little actually.

It was something I thought it would be nice to be able to make for myself one day, and finally that day came and although not perfect, it turned out looking like I expected and I was pleased.

The Larkrise Blazer

Princess seams, shawl collar, three button closure, fully lined.

The inspiration for this came from a british TV series.

I am a big fan of Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters. I've always liked the period films set during Regency England.  So my mom told me about a series called Larkrise to Candleford.  It's a BBC series with 4 seasons and that was pretty much all my turns for Netflix picks this summer.  I'm sure a lot of people would hate it, but I really enjoyed the series.

ANYWAY....

{source}

The main character Laura wears this blue cobalt velvet coat quite often and each time I always thought how much I liked the color, drape, style, and sheen of her coat.

Here's the only photo I could find.

So that's my inspiration, but obviously hoped to make a modern version.
I did come across J.Crew's Schoolboy velvet blazers in my search too.

 I decided I wanted a feminine blazer, and went with the shawl collar, which means the whole collar is added on in one piece, where a traditional lapel has the body center front panel fold for the bottom point, and a small collar is added for the larger/ behind the neck point.  The shawl collar seemed less business blazer to me.

The velvet was $25/ yard!  Crazy.  So with a 50% off coupon at JoAnns I bought the 2.5 yards but it was the most expensive cut of fabric I've ever purchased.

So I was nervous to cut into this and decided it would be best to make a mock blazer first, so I made the uncut corduroy blazer if you remember seeing that one.

The main difference between them is the Larkrise is fully lined, where I didn't bother lining the corduroy.

I chose a periwinkle lining that was on clearance. 

I used half ball 1/2" buttons and covered them with the velvet scraps.  

An easy fun way to have a nicer look and perfectly coordinated buttons!

I wore it this day with my houndstooth sheath dress, navy tights, and riding boots.  I think I'd like to try wearing it with a more causal look, like jeans and just a tee under it or something.
But being dry clean only, so far I've only brought it out for special occasions...which for us means events with no kids to vomit on me.