McCalls 7058 and Grainline Archer: DIY White Linton Tweed Boucle Cropped Jacket and Striped Linen Shirt

McCalls 7058 White Cropped Linton Tweed Boucle Jacket, worn with Striped Linen Grainline Archer shirt.

Hey Friends,

I have mentioned before that I live very close (about 25 minutes drive since moving?) from Linton Tweeds in Carlisle. I don’t actually go there very often (although they do a mean lemon meringue pie :-)), and I have yet to purchase any fabric from a roll. What they do have is pre-cut 1 metre skirt lengths for substantially less than the roll price, often with an offer if you buy 2 at the same time. So in my stash I have a few pieces of Linton Tweed fabric in skirt lengths.

What I have realised is that buying these skirt lengths is, for me, not that useful. I don’t make skirts from them, and for me, I probably need more than a one metre length to cut a decent jacket from. But I had two skirt lengths of this white boucle and determined to make something from it I set off. Here’s a close up of the fabric because it is hard to see the beautiful texture in the photographs (sorry the outdoor shots were taken early one cloudy morning):

McCalls 7058 White Cropped Linton Tweed Boucle Jacket – close up of fabric texture

I needed a pattern that didn’t require too many pieces. Vogue 7975 was out because, with the two piece sleeves I felt I wouldn’t have enough fabric. I also wanted a fairly quick make which didn’t require a lot of fitting. I eventually decided to make a modified version of McCalls 7058 which I made a winter version of earlier this year. Here’s what it looked like last time to refresh your memories:

McCalls 7058 Basket Weave Interlined Wool Winter Coat

Here’s my modified version:

McCalls 7058 White Cropped Linton Tweed Boucle Jacket, worn with Striped Linen Grainline Archer shirt.

Here’s how I approached the sewing and the modifications.

First off, and I don’t recommend this as a general rule for Linton Tweed, I prewashed my fabric. Linton Tweed fabrics are woven using a mixed composition of fibres and if you prewash you do run the risk of ruining your beautiful fabric. But as this fabric didn’t cost me much (less than £15 for both cuts), and I really couldn’t face having a white jacket that wasn’t washable I just went with it, washing it on a gentle cycle with a wool appropriate detergent. It worked out fine. Fabric was unaffected.

Next I block fused my two 1 metre lengths using a light weight weft insertion fusible interfacing. I lined the two selvedge edges up and fused using my press cloth and an iron. Made the fabric much easier to handle as well.

In terms of pattern modifications I:

• removed 4 inches from the View A cutting line for the body
• removed 5 inches from the sleeve length
• removed 1 inch from the centre fronts so there was no overlap

For a full pattern review see my first version.

I wanted a very soft look to the jacket so I kept the tailoring to a minimum. I added a backstay and stabilised the front edges and neckline using twill tape hand stitched in place 0.5 inches from the neck edges and 5/8ths inch from front edges.

McCalls 7058 Linton Tweed Boucle Jacket – back stay

McCalls 7058 Linton Tweed Boucle Jacket – stabilising neck and front edges using twill tape.

I added very light shoulder pads and hand stitched all the hems. Here are some pictures on the (too small) dressform. You can see that even though this is a one piece sleeve the elbow dart gives some nice shaping. The jacket is fully lined with a lightweight viscose twill lining.

McCalls 7058 White Cropped Linton Tweed Boucle Jacket – side view

McCalls 7058 White Cropped Linton Tweed Boucle Jacket – inside lining – front view

McCalls 7058 White Cropped Linton Tweed Boucle Jacket – inside lining back view

On this next side lining view you will see a glimpse of my new custom woven clothing labels which were very kindly made for me by Dutch Label Shop – blog post to follow on those.

McCalls 7058 White Cropped Linton Tweed Boucle Jacket – side view – inside lining

McCalls 7058 White Cropped Linton Tweed Boucle Jacket, worn with Striped Linen Grainline Archer shirt.

McCalls 7058 White Cropped Linton Tweed Boucle Jacket, worn with Striped Linen Grainline Archer shirt.

So this is a very plain and simple jacket but I think it will get lots of wear on the cooler days of our great British summer, especially over dresses. I haven’t added any fastenings or trim to this jacket…I did toy with the idea of adding various trims but I figure I can always go back and add something later if I want. I quite like the simplicity of it. It feels so soft and light on, almost like a cardigan.

A brief mention of the shirt. This is version number 5 of Grainline’s Archer shirt. Made in a striped linen that I bought in India. Hard to photograph but lovely to sew, press and wear (although it being linen you have to deal with the creasing!) My only complaint about the Archer pattern is that I don’t like the 0.5 inch seam allowances because it makes flat fell seaming difficult. But it’s worth doing IMO.

Striped linen Grainline Archer

Have a great weekend and enjoy Father’s Day.

Until soon!

Striped linen Grainline Archer