Sylvia's UFO finally finished after 41 years

The finished UFO

At the end of August  I was over at my older friends place helping pack the kitchen up before the new one gets installed.

I was wearing one of my self sewn blouses. "That's a lovely blouse" says Sylvia, "Oh thank you!" I reply "I made it myself".

"Ah" says Sylvia "that reminds me I have a blouse in a similar style I cut out about 30 years ago...."

the "kit"

Long story about cutting out blouse, then broken sewing machine, eventually getting sewing machine fixed, couldn't find blouse bits etc. Anyway short version is I've brought the blouse home to sew up for her before Christmas!

Closeup of fabric

Happily its all there

Already cut out  - Front, back, sleeve, yokes, 2 part collar and cuffs - still with tissue pinned on

Also pattern envelope and instructions and the spare fabric, as well as matching buttons.

So it really is a kit for a blouse. All I needed to provide is some matching thread, some interfacing and then 'just' sew it up!

---------------------

A few months passed, I didn't really have any matching thread and procrastinated a bit, Sylvia found me a few spools of thread one of which worked perfectly. 

The fabric turned out to be Viyella and frayed very badly with any handling so I was very careful when sewing up.

I threaded the overlocker in a neutral beige which was OK to stop fraying.

I spent the last few days carefully sewing it up, and am pleased and astonished to find it fits. No photo though of Sylvia wearing it.

Having had more of a think, Sylvia reckons she bought the fabric in 1982 when she couldn't find a cream bluse that she liked.

the back

the shank buttons

trying to sew the curved cuff neatly.

Sylvia came this evening and was delighted with the blouse, so a happy ending to the story!

Another UFO - striped blouse

I can't remember when I cut this UFO out but it was pre colour analysis with Imogen Lamport as the red is leaning slightly towards orange/brown so I wouldn't pick it now - so pre August 2017.

Initially I had the pieces separate from the instructions, but I was able to find them to follow to sew up the blouse.

Finished blouse

How I found it, cut out but without instructions

The pattern - its the view in the centre

Fabric: stretch woven polyester in a brick red with cream stripes.

Pattern: New Look 6844

Oldest UFO finished - Sophisticated Safari Jacket

That's UFO as in Un Finished Object.

So the story goes something like this. 

Back in 2008 (that's 15 years ago!) I had the idea for a 'Sophisticated Safari' type collection and cut out a jacket from OOP Simplicity 4231.

Here's my May 2008 blog post about my ideas

Sew Ruthie Style: Sophisticated Safari (ruthieksews1.blogspot.com)

By June 2008 I had sewed up the other pieces in the collection and posted about those, but the jacket was too hard and was packed away in a clear zip lock bag.

Sew Ruthie Style: Sophisticated Safari so far (ruthieksews1.blogspot.com)

I then went through a lot of change in my life (moving 3 times in 2 years and getting divorced. 

The next time I dug out the jacket was in October 2016

Sew Ruthie Style: Simplicity 4231 Green Tropical Wool Safari Jacket (ruthieksews1.blogspot.com)

I worked on it a bit and posted about it again in November 2016

Sew Ruthie Style: Simplicity 4231 Green Tropical Wool Safari Jacket (ruthieksews1.blogspot.com)

I next came back to the project in Jan 2021 as part of the UFO sew along on TSP

"I have a UFO started quite a few years ago now. It is an olive green wool jacket in a sort of Safari style, with lots of pockets and a belt. I decided I needed to line it, which meant working out what to do to draft the lining which at the time seemed too hard. I could probably manage to do it now. However its a size too small so not entirely sure what I'd do with it once finished. Hmm maybe a bit of try on would be a good idea, I have got some scraps left so could add panels....."

Then in August 2022 I wrote on my TSP diary thread

"I've fished Doris (the Dressmakers Dummy) out of the corner, and found she's still wearing the half made jacket which is my oldest UFO.So I think I might sew a few seams on the UFO jacket (it uses the same thread colour as the trenchcoat) to get it to a point where it could sit on a jacket hanger and free Doris up for the trenchcoat as I assemble that. I am seriously out of love with the jacket but hey ho."

Yesterday I put the sleeves in the jacket and tried to attach the facing bits that were not yet sewn. Something isn't quite right as I have a tiny gap where the collar and revere come together. This is the problem with taking many years to work on a garment in bits, you've forgotten what you did last time. Anyway it was enough together that I could pop it on a hanger and free up Doris for the trenchcoat.

And on another thread at the end of August

I should finish the pesky UFO jacket of doom as the thread from my last project matches it (I am wondering about undoing parts of it and using a slightly different construction method, even though I hate unpicking).

And then it'd make sense to sew something which co-ordinates with it, like some trousers. I have some striped stretch woven fabric in darkish hues.

Then maybe a soft jersey poloneck (turtleneck) to go under the jacket, something in a cheerful colour to cheer up all that darkness.

After all this the jacket went away again still unfinished. In all those attempts though I had drafted a lining, sewn and then unpicked the collar, added a panel to make the sleeve wider and inserted the sleeves.

Finally a few days ago I pulled the pieces out of the bag, popped them on the dummy and had a think about finishing the jacket.

Having recently finished C's jacket, I was in a fairly jacket like mode, so decided to use my common sense (and acquired knowledge on jackets) to sew the bits up the best I could without looking at the instructions which had caused me problems with the collar.

I gave things a press, assembled the lining and set the lining sleeves in. Then put the collar on, and added the lining. Bagged the lining. Front buttonhole and sewed the buttons on.

This I did over multiple sessions over several days and its finally finished!

Its only taken 15 years!