Doris Day Redux

I have lusted after a leopard print jacket ever since I say Doris Day in Pillow Talk years and years and years ago. Do you remember the film? Doris plays her usual annoyingly spunky girl-next-door, but with a very sophisticated wardrobe to suite her New York City interior decorator persona. At some point in the film she wears a leopard skin coat (and a hat to match if I'm not mistaken) and I've been smitten ever since. To add fuel to the fire, my Barbie (well not exactly a Barbie -- I had her decidedly less glamorous friend Midge, while my sister Joanne had a bendable Barbie) sported a full length leopard skin coat and, like Doris, she also had a hat to match. I think they were both going too far with the hat (there was something slightly pimpish about them), but the coats were fabulous. I've never had the confidence to acquire and wear my own leopard skin coat but I do believe my latest sewing project has at least a hint of animal print to it.

This is Burda 7497 and I am pleased with the results. Try as I might, I couldn't get my camera to take an effective shot of the back. This is unfortunate since the back is the area that transcends the jacket from the mundane to the interesting. There is a back yoke with a large centre pleat and two smaller pleats radiating out from centre. The pattern called for single welt pockets and I found Burda's instructions to be confusing so went with my tried and true method -- Claire Shaeffer's. I also used bound buttonholes rather than regular. Because of the back pleats you cannot machine bag the lining -- the lining is not attached to the jacket around the hem.

Even though it isn't really an animal print fabric, I think it has that look. The fabric and style are a bit out of my comfort zone (black, and black and then more black and structured) however, I am looking forward to wearing the jacket with my black skinny jeans and flats.