MCalls 8121 Motto Jacket

I hate when a pattern calls for hand sewing.  So much so that I will legit stop working on the project and send it to WIP’s hell.  You know the place where you put your WIPs with no intent of ever finishing them.  LOL.  Well, last week I decided to resurrect all my WIPS from WIP’s hell.  First up was this jacket I made using McCalls 8121.  This jacket occupied my mind for months before I even purchased the pattern because it is FIYAH. The pattern isn’t available on Simplicity.com but you can get a copy from JoAnns. Here’s the link McCalls 8121. 

The pattern presented a few challenges for me.  One, I have never sewed an exposed zipper.  The technique I learned to install zippers when I first started sewing results in the zipper being covered by the fabric.  So I had to learn that technique.  Two, it has welt pockets.  If you are unfamiliar with welt pockets, here is a description and instructions for executing them from Mood. The cliff notes version is that they are hidden pockets with a small slit opening.  Thus, you have to cut the fabric and pull the pocket through the hole in the fabric.  Needless to say, my intermediate beginner sewist’s ass was shook.  I mean what if I messed up my fabric by cutting a weird hole in it.  It was super hard to secure this fabric from Joann’s.  I had to go to a store about an hour away to get it.  After awhile I was just like “YOLO” and got to it.  For my first time I have to admit it was pretty pretty good.  

Then as if the exposed zipper and welt pockets were not enough, the jacket was fully lined, another thing I had no experience sewing.  Now, could I have skipped this step? Probably. However, I could hear my mother’s voice in my head complaining about the quality of the work clothes I bought from Mandee’s for my first job because the pants, jacket and skirt – that all came together for one price – were not lined.  Thus, I knew it was important that this jacket be lined.  And honestly, installing the lining wasn’t that bad until it came to the sleeves.  The instructions to install the lining for the sleeves required hand sewing, specifically slip stitching.  For the first sleeve, my intermediated beginner sewist ass decided that the instructions were just making this part unnecessary difficult so I would bypass that part and just machine sew it…. Yeah about that.  With the machine sewing, I noticed that the first sleeve does not lay right and has a runched look. which did not look like the picture on the pattern.  This is when I decided to place the jacket in WIP’s hell.  And so here we are.  

I started the hand sewing on the other sleeve as I want to see whether it makes a difference but yeah if I could find a great alternative that would be preferred.  

Do you have any tips or tricks to get around hand sewing on a project? If not, what is the least painful way to  get it done.  

Fabric: Cairo Diamonds Denim from Joann’s

Lining Fabric: Sunline Anti Static Linings from Joann’s