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!