In out last post, we detailed drafting out an Eton jacket pattern utilizing a pattern drafting system developed by Charles Hecklinger in The Keystone Jacket and Dress Cutter. As we previously mentioned, while Hecklinger provides fairly comprehensive details, you really have to parse some of his instructions because they ambiguous on first reading. Also, for the collar, I had to “fill in the blanks” with basic pattern drafting knowledge that’s not readily apparent in the book- this isn’t a complete cookbook for tailoring by any means but pre-supposes a lot of knowledge on specific details. You have been warned! 🙂

In drafting the pattern, some details such as the width of the lapels and the collar style are left to the designer. Below are the pattern pieces:

And here’s the pieces for the toille:

So now onto the next steps….

First we form the jacket body. I was pretty pleased except for this darts. Following Hecklinger’s formula created darts that were simply too big.

After a test-fit, we modified the darts and added the collar and got this:

Not the most impressive result but it must be noted that I only used a single layer in the toille and forgot to account for the 1/2 inch seam allowance that would be lost when attached to the lining. We must emphasize that it’s a rough draft at this stage. However, we were more impressed with the back although the collar is riding up above the roll line (easily solved with a pressing).

After another test fit- the basic shell body was pronounced “good” so onto drafting the sleeves, once again following Hecklinger’s formula:

And then to a toille and attached to the rest of the toille:

Sleeve attachment is done pretty much by eye although a good general rule to start with is to line up bottom sleeve 1 inch forward of the side seam.

We used Hecklinger’s “plain sleeve” draft formula so there’s not a lot of excess in the shoulder head but just enough. Style-wise, this could work for either early or late 1890s. In the background, our fashion consultant Fiona is expressing her disapproval- not “Corgi” enough! 🙂

After more test-fitting, it was found that the sleeve cuff was too small so that was enlarged on the pattern piece (we didn’t bother constructing a new sleeve). Overall, the toille has been a success and everything has lined up nicely with the drafted pattern pieces. However, we’re not happy with the collar so that’s going to need some more work…

(To be continued…)