Built by Wendy Bolero Jacket

Remember the red lace dress I made to wear to a friend’s wedding?  Well, given that the wedding was taking place in October, I realised I was going to need some sort of shrug or jacket type thing to keep the chill off.  I don’t often buy RTW clothing any more, but my first port of call was to look online and perhaps buy something.

Being a SAHM mum is great, but it does mean a distinct lack of funds for any luxuries other than gin (which is pretty much a necessity), so when I saw how much these sorts of garments were selling for I was quite outraged.  The cheapest option I could find was a jersey shrug cardigan for £15, and the prices just went up and up!  I couldn’t afford it, never mind justify it, so my thoughts turned to making my own.  How hard could it be?!

I searched for a free pattern online but didn’t find what I wanted, and then I remembered Scruffy Badger’s bolero jacket, using the Built by Wendy Coats and Jackets book.  I had a discount voucher and free postage coupon for The Works, so I ordered the book and got it delivered for £3.79.  Bargain!

I didn’t think I had anything suitable in my stash, so I went to Boyes to see what they had to offer.  I was hoping for some nice plush plain black fur, but the only fur they had was £20 per metre and was grey, so I found myself drawn towards the spangly dance fabrics.  I bought a metre of black sequin dot fabric and a metre of plain black jersey for the lining, all under £10, and came home to set about preparing the pattern.

Oh. God.  I made it , and it was hideous.  I can’t bring myself to show you a photo, it’s so awful.

I was rather disappointed, I must say, having bought the book and the fabric and not having anything to show for it.  I resigned myself to having to buy something RTW after all.  I left it a few days before looking again online, and when I did, I got really annoyed again by the stupid prices.  I remembered some black linen I had leftover from my Burda Ruby Shorts, and wondered if it would be enough to try again with the bolero.  It was enough, and I managed to cobble together enough scraps of black cotton for the lining.  I redrafted the neckline of the pattern to give a bit more coverage and a slightly different shape, and got to work.  If this didn’t work, I would definitely have to stump up for RTW.  Eek!

Built by Wendy Bolero Jacket

Thankfully, it worked!  It might be quite a boring make but it was just perfect with my outfit.

Wedding outfit

I made the sleeves short so that I could wear these awesome gloves!

Bolero jacket

I’m so glad I gave it another go.  I now have the bolero jacket and the pattern that I could reuse to make other versions in the future! Sewing win!