The Tremont Jacket is a surprisingly delightful sew! The Tremont Jacket Sewing Pattern Review was the January Pattern of the Month at my local fabric store. I like to support my LFS through not only purchases, but visibility – sharing their posts and sewing their recommendations. Plus they select interesting patterns and have great fabrics (mostly natural fabric, with a few blends.) Their description of why you should sew this as follows:
“It feels like a bathrobe but looks like you made an effort! This is the sort of perfect ‘which way are we headed, I have no idea!’ piece to round out your pandemic wardrobe. Are we heading for another shutdown or are we meeting friends for dinner? Are we binge watching ancient seasons of Project Runway or are we supposed to be in the conference room using the word ‘pivot’ too many times? Who the hell knows! But you’ll be ready for anything.”
–Seams Sewing and Mercantile’s intro to the Tremont Jacket
I wouldn’t probably have picked up this pattern to sew except for the POTM, because it’s more of an ‘arty’ asymmetrical jacket and I feel my style is a little too classic for that. And I loved our LFS’s description of how this jacket fits into a post-or mid-pandemic wardrobe. But I really liked seeing it on both the shop owner and the shop staff (in two different variations.) Our LFS owner has a punk rock style vibe. She paired the Tremont in black jacquard with a concert tee and jeans. One of the shop staff cropped hers, sewn in a quilted gray cotton, and wore it with cropped trousers and a graphic tee. Both took this rather arty jacket with a meh sketch on the pattern envelope and made it come to life in a modern way.
I chose a purple mini houndstooth wool from stash. I had 3 yards, it’s nearly 60″ wide and it was given to me by someone destashing. I use wool for casual jackets, capes, wraps and the like. Outerwear. I’ve long since given up dress pants, dressy skirts and, gasp, pantsuits, LOL. Yeah, I know there are some in the fashion world that want us – are telling us – women want to get rid of their joggers or high rise jeans, but they are lying to you to get you to buy new stuff. Don’t fall for that! I’m still team soft pants and I’ll bet you are too. I wore pantsuits like crazy in the 90s and 0ughts, I think I’m good with that era of my life.
Construction of the Tremont Jacket:
I liked but struggled with one key aspect of construction – those mitered corners! Despite getting help from the LFS – the drawings on the pattern instructions are almost useless; they don’t really depict what you’ll be actually sewing – I still struggled with it. So I ended up folding, pressing, unfolding, trimming, re-folding and THEN slip stitching the miters in place. They look nicer than when I tried to actually miter them and a slipstitch is nearly invisible. So don’t fret, just make them look like they’re mitered (pressing, folding, trimming, refolding) and then slip stitch them in place.
Otherwise the jacket is a very simple sew – the neckline is a boxed shawl collar – follow the sewing directions and you’ll get a great result. The sleeves are flat, not set in, and went in beautifully in the wool. The folded up deep cuffs are fun and satisfying to wear. The button and buttonhole is an opportunity for fun, and no tears were shed on constructing it on my 25-year old basic computerized Viking. Still does decent buttonholes with almost one step (or at least guided step). I chose a gray button – I had three other choices but decided that bold black and white button really deserved an ecru/cream Tremont jacket, maybe in linen for spring. Or maybe winter white wool for fall and winter. The cool thing about buttons is if you find a better one, they take two minutes to swap out. The fun labels are from Katie and the Machine, but my LFS stocks these and more, since KATM is from Australia.
Because I chose wool, I’ll be wearing this with any number of turtlenecks – from smooth cotton lycra, to bamboo rayon to cashmere – because the neckline rides high in the back, and, well, it’s wooly fabric. I also have two high necked v-neck tees – the Presto Popover by Naughty Bobbin Patterns and the V-Neck Top by Christine Jonson. A higher back neck will fit nicely against this wool.
Bonus things I love about the Tremont Jacket
It’s unlined! I finished the seam edges with zigzag stitching. There’s nothing like a good old fashioned zigzag. Yes I could have serged, but I do not have purple serger thread so I did not. Unlined jackets work year round (well, except wool, that’s for fall, winter and early spring.)
No interfacing! Yay! Why is it I hate interfacing? I hate the cutting and applying of it. Not the shape or form it gives. I don’t know why this is but it’s me.
Fabrics:
The envelope recommends, linen, wool, corduroy – a mid weight fabric. My LFS had some lovely cotton jaquards and even a triple gauze that looked quilted. The key thing is not too heavy. The wool I chose was a medium weight wool. I have several lengths of corduroy in stash and plan to make at least one more for winter/spring and then move on to linen for spring and early summer.
You should sew this jacket
But note, it does not have pockets of any kind. Maybe a sideseam pocket? Maybe some arty applied patch pocket? I haven’t figured out how to include a pocket yet, but I will.
If you’re looking for a satisfying sew, an easy casual jacket that can go 4 seasons with a change of fabric (and you know how I love to make things 3 or more times over here at SewParadise) try the Tremont Jacket. Go to your LFS (or order online from mine) and find the perfect fabric for it. You’ll look like you made an effort, without really making too much of an effort!