Tailored Jacket with Shaped Princess Seams
A fitted, lined women's jacket without a collar, shaped by princess seams from the armholes on the front and back. Single-breasted with four buttons, rounded front corners, two framed welt pockets with flaps and two-piece set-in sleeves.
When To Wear
- As a suit jacket for the office, with a matching skirt or trousers.
- Over a dress or a round-neck top in autumn and spring.
Key Design Features
Silhouette: Fitted, with princess seams on the front (centre front and side front) and on the back (centre back and side back), and a centre back seam.
Length: Hip length, with rounded corners at the lower front edges.
Neckline: Collarless, a wide scooped neckline finished with front facings and a back neckline facing.
Sleeves: Two-piece (upper and lower sleeve); the cap is eased with gathering stitches and shrunk with the iron before setting in; interfaced hem allowance.
Closure: Single-breasted, four buttons with buttonholes on the right front.
Pockets: Framed welt pockets with two pocket facings and a flap, on the lower fronts at the princess seams; flaps backed with lining fabric and edgestitched.
Back: Centre back seam and princess seams.
Finishing: Front edges topstitched; shoulder pads.
Lining: Full lining; the front lining is one piece with darts in place of the princess seams, the back lining has a 1 cm ease pleat at the centre back and an ease fold at the hem.
Level Of Difficulty
Advanced. Framed welt pockets with flaps worked at the princess seams, shrinking the sleeve cap, a full bagged lining and, in plaid, matching the checks at the seams.
Fabric Recommendations
Wool. Plaid wool also works if the checks are matched at the seams when cutting.
Additional Supplies
- Lining fabric (lining, pocket bags, flap underside)
- Fusible interfacing (front facings, back neckline facing, pocket flaps, back and sleeve hem allowances, a 4 cm strip at the pocket markings)
- 4 buttons
- Shoulder pads
Cutter's Must
- From main fabric (wool):
- 1. Pocket Flap - 2 pieces
- 2. Center Back - 2 pieces
- 3. Side Back - 2 pieces
- 4. Side Front - 2 pieces
- 5. Back Neckline Facing - 1 piece
- 6. Pocket Facing - 4 pieces
- 7. Center Front - 2 pieces
- 8. Center Front Facing - 2 pieces
- 9. Upper Sleeve - 2 pieces
- 10. Lower Sleeve - 2 pieces
From lining fabric: Join the Center Front and Side Front into one piece, replacing the princess seams with darts, and cut the front lining minus the width of the center front facings. Cut the bottom of the sleeves with only a seam allowance. Cut the Center Back minus the width of the back neckline facing, with the center on the fold. The grain line runs parallel to the fabric fold, resulting in an ease pleat approximately 1 cm deep. Cut the Side Back without changes.
- 11. Upper Pocket Bag - 2 pieces
- 12. Lower Pocket Bag - 2 pieces
- 13. Pocket Flap - 2 pieces
- From fusible interfacing: reinforce the center front facings, back neckline facing and pocket flaps. Additionally, press interfacing to the hem allowances of the back pieces.
Note: If you are sewing a plaid jacket, pin the pieces to the fabric, aligning the plaid at the seams.
Sewing Instructions
- Reinforce the center front facings, the main-fabric pocket flaps and the back neckline facing with fusible interfacing (heat-activated interfacing is pressed to the wrong side of the piece with a hot iron).
- On the fronts, stitch the center front to the side front and press the princess seams open; trim the seam allowances along the pocket openings. Baste the pocket openings closed with cross stitches, precisely aligning the edges of the openings.
- Stitch the side seams of the jacket.
- On the fronts, make framed welt pockets with two pocket facings and flaps: stitch one main-fabric pocket flap and one lining pocket flap right sides together along the sides and lower edge, turn and edgestitch. On the wrong side of the front, press a strip of interfacing approximately 4 cm wide over the pocket marking. Place two pocket facings on the front, right sides together, pin along the pocket opening marking and stitch, making sure the long raw edges of the pocket facings align with the center line of the pocket marking. Cut the front between the stitching lines, cutting diagonally towards the ends of the stitching. Be careful not to cut the pocket facings! Press the cut edges away from the opening. Turn the pocket facings through the opening to the wrong side to form a neat frame and baste, with the folded edges meeting in the middle of the opening. Stitch in the ditch of the attachment seams. Turn the small triangles at the ends of the opening to the wrong side and stitch them to the pocket facings exactly from the end of the upper stitching to the end of the lower stitching. Insert the open edges of the flaps between the pocket facings and stitch them in the ditch of the upper facing seam. From the inside, stitch the upper pocket bag to the flap seam allowances and the lower pocket bag to the seam allowances of the lower pocket facing. Trim the pocket bags even and stitch them together.
- Stitch the center back seam. Stitch the side backs to the center backs and press the princess seams open.
- Stitch the shoulder seams.
- Stitch the shoulder seams of the center front facings and back neckline facing. Place the facings on the fronts right sides together and pin along the front edges and neckline; stitch the side edge of each center front facing to the hem allowance of the back, then stitch the front edges and neckline. Turn to the right side, roll and straighten the front edges and baste. Topstitch the front edges.
- Two-piece sleeve: reinforce the sleeve hem allowance with fusible interfacing. Stitch the upper sleeve and lower sleeve together along both seams; press the seam allowances open and turn the sleeve right side out. Press the sleeve hem allowance to the inside.
- Setting in the sleeve: gather the sleeve cap with small running stitches between the marks and pull up the thread until it matches the corresponding length of the armhole. Dampen the fabric and shrink out the gathers with the tip of a hot iron. Pin the sleeve into the armhole, matching the notches, and stitch from the sleeve side. Attach the shoulder pads.
- Lining: fold the ease pleat and secure it below the neckline and a few centimeters above the hemline. Stitch the darts on the lining pieces. Sew the lining pieces together in the same way as the jacket, leaving an opening of about 20 cm in the elbow seam of one sleeve. Place the lining in the jacket right sides together, matching the center back and shoulder seams. Stitch the lining to the facings and neckline. Form an ease fold at the hem and stitch the lining to the hem edge. Turn the jacket right side out through the opening in the sleeve lining, then stitch the opening closed. Make buttonholes on the right front as marked and sew on the buttons.
