Jalie 2679

My girls are outdoor jacket and jeans girls during winter, but finding jackets they like is becoming harder (and more expensive).  I knew they would love Jalie 2679, but finding the right fabric was going to be tricky. A lot of the jackets in Mountain Designs and Kathmandu are made from soft shell fabric which I could not find anywhere in Australia (please let me know if there is anywhere I can get it!).

Thanks to Google I discovered a place to buy yardage of all sorts of polartec fabric. Rocky Woods also seems to have some interesting fabric. The only problem with these two places is the cost of postage from the US. Then I found soft shell fabrics at UK Fabrics Online. I think I ordered 4m of soft shell fabric and some mesh for the pocket lining and the postage was only 7 1/2 pounds. 

I chose fabric that was blue on one side and black on the other so I chose some black and some blue to be on the outside. I managed to cut all the pieces from 1m of fabric. It was't hard to sew, but you can't press it and it doesn't stay flat so all the seams need to be topstitched. I traced a size O to fit an 11 yr old. There is plenty of room to wear it over a fleecy jumper. I think the arms are too big, but Milly likes them like this.

The only really tricky part of the pattern were the pocket zips, but Jalie patterns have great illustrations and after putting in two I think I've got the hang of it. 

I used mesh I bought from the same place for the pocket lining.

I am really impressed with this pattern, it was really nice to sew and I am so happy to have made a water and wind repellant jacket for a fraction of what it would cost to buy one. 

The other three all want one so I'll definitely be making more and I might have to make one for myself.