Tamarack Jacket in Nani Iro

Or the sweetest surprise ever

With almost two years of existence, this blog has brought me many many new amazing friends, lots of fun opportunities and challenges, while also making me improve my sewing a lot. But I won’t deny it, making new friends is the best part, this community is filled with generous amazing people, and I feel really lucky to be part of it.

A few months ago I posted a photo on IG that showed my dream project. I had been obsessing with the idea of making the Tamarack Jacket in a gorgeous quilted Nani Iro since I saw this post on Grainline Studio. I even had the fabric on my Miss Matatabi cart but I chickened out… The idea of ruining precious fabric like this was scary.

A rainy/sunny crazy weather morning last December I happily headed out for another of our Portuguese sewing blogger/friends encounters, I was super excited to meet the girls again and even more since we were meeting the fantastic Liesl from Oliver + S. Her book Little things to Sew was the first one I got when I started sewing and I’m definitely a fan of her patterns. I can tell you she’s super sweet and it was a pleasure to show her our favorite shops in downtown Lisbon.

Far was I from imagining I was heading for an amazing surprise. I met Rita, Andreia and Marta a bit earlier than the rest of the girls in the group but I was clueless of what was happening. Here was I blabbing about something when for no reason Rita told me to move to another chair (I honestly thought she didn’t want to be next to me hahahah) and grabbed her phone like she was filming me and gave me a package, at the same time Andreia or Marta, passed me a phone and a video was playing. I don’t like much to be in the spotlight so I was feeling a little nervous… It was a super super super incredibly sweet video put together by my friends Celina, Laura and Mie, full of loving kind words. I was speechless. Seriously… I can’t even. I opened the package and there it was the gorgeous quilted Nani Iro from my dream project and Andreia telling me they had got me the pattern for Tamarack too.  A crazy fabulous surprise from these six beautiful kind ladies, and I don’t have words to thank them enough!! ❤ ❤ ❤ These girls have been so generous with me, not only in this particular occasion; they are my sewing buddies and good friends, and I love them all a lot! ❤ ❤ ❤

So here goes, Tamarack Jacket in quilted Nani Iro.

It was my first time using Grainline Studio patterns, and I’m a fan! Clear instructions, perfect pattern pieces, everything like it should to get you the great results. The pattern also includes quilting instructions in case you’re not starting with pre-quilted fabric like I did, and useful bias tape binding instructions. I already had bought the Morris Blazer some time ago and I’m even more excited to try it now.

I confess on having procrastinated cutting this preciousness as long as I could, ahem… I was so scared of ruining the surprise that I didn’t want to start. heheh But eventually I did. This really isn’t a difficult project, sure it has lots of steps, and yes welt pockets are freakin scary to make but the rest is pretty straightforward. I followed all the rules, and apart from the sleeve hem made no changes to the pattern.

I choose a coral bias tape to finish the seams, and I’m really happy with my choice, I have to thank Andreia from Bolo de Pano, one of my go to shops nowadays, for helping me with my choice. From my measurements I made size 6, and I like the fit, the jacket is supposed to be worn over a sweater, and I like the loose fit.

I finished almost all the seams with bias tape, this project deserved it you know, but I confess I skipped doing it on the armholes, you can call it a mix between laziness and not wanting to add bulk to that seam… heheh

I also hand stitched the pockets with some invisible (or so I wish ahem) stitches because I didn’t like to see them hanging. I un-quilted some pieces of fabric to make the pocket bags and the welt pieces, but since I wanted to use the scraps I had from cutting the bigger pattern pieces (yes I tried to save as much fabric as I could hehehe) I ended up having to make some fabric piecing to be able to cut the outer pocket bag pieces. Yeah I’m fabric scrooge hahaha.

I should have used a heavier interfacing on the welts, this one is looking ok, but the other became a bit wavy, as you probably noticed on the first photos. Regarding the sleeve hem, I just finished it with bias tape, but with the intention to fold it inside and sew, hence not exposing the bias as the pattern instructs. I did trim a bit of the batting to make it less bulky. In fact I did it on all the seams before enclosing them with the bias tape.

I’ve been using this jacket a lot, I really really love it, and I’m proud that I didn’t ruin the fabric and totally disappoint my sweet friends. And I’m pretty sure there will be more Tamarack Jackets in my life.

 Well I hope you liked this version of the Tamarack. You can get the pattern here. And quilted Nani Iro fabric here.

Laura, Marta, Celina, Mie, Andreia and Rita you girls are beautiful and I’ll keep you all in my heart forever. You certainly uplifted my spirit and I’m really grateful to have you in my life. Sending a million hugs!

❤ ❤ ❤