Hi Guys!

As promised here is part two of my Minoru Jackets, the original Minoru that I made two winters ago! For this version of the jacket I used a brown speckled, wool coating, and interlined it with a cheep fleece for extra toasty-ness before using a red cotton print (with feathers!) as the regular lining. I haven't worn this jacket since last winter since the weather hasn't been cold enough, but just popping it on for this photo shoot reminded me of how comfy, cozy, and 'lived in' this jacket feels....which probably explains the semi-smug smile on my face in the above photo...I'm literally thinking "that's right guys, I'm going to be warm and comfy this winter like you don't even know!"

Since most of the modifications on my second Minoru were based upon this original the two jackets look very similar (sizing, length, raising of the waistband, addition of welt pockets ,and 3 part-hood are all the same). You'll notice though that I've included a wider zipper placket on the outside that covers the zipper in this version. I did this to dress up the jacket a bit and to ensure no windy drafts make it through the zipper. Since I find having to snap together regular snaps on a jacket kind of annoying I used invisible magnet snaps instead. These worked out really well, and they mean I can zip up my jacket and set the 'flap' in place in a matter of seconds! zip, snap, snap and done!

I created the zipper cover 'flap thingy' by taking the zipper placket pattern piece, doubling it's width and cutting two of these double wide plackets from the wool coating. Before sewing these two plackets together I added one half of the snap by fusing a small piece of interfacing to the coating before stitching the snap to what would be the inside of the placket. I then sewed up the placket, turned it right side out and sandwiched it between the left original zipper placket and the left coat front. To prevent the stitching from the other size of the snap from being visible on the coat itself when the 'flap' was not in place I sewed them to the inside of the jacket lining. I did this after I had sew in the lining but before I had added the elastic waist band and hemmed the jacket. This also allowed me to line up the snaps with the zipper zipped up, making placement a lot easier. I love how this 'flap' looks on the jacket, but I wish I had used 5 snaps instead of 4, adding an additional one at the waist would prevent some of the gaping that happens there.

My other favorite modification on this version is this grommet I've added to the left pocket, "what's that for??" I hear you all asking....by putting a grommet through the lining and the left pocket I've created a convenient headphone cord access point, meaning I can thread the headphone jack through the grommet to my iphone in my pocket. If you look at the photo two photos above you'll see a tiny red flap contrasting against my sweater, this is an additional hanging loop that I folded in half and sewed between the lining and the inner zipper placket. I thread my headphones through this and then into the grommet to secure my headphones INSIDE of my jacket. Headphone cord holders on RTW jackets, or even jackets with built in headphones, are pretty popular and it makes sense! Having the headphone cord secure on the inside of your jacket prevents the cord from flapping about in the wind, or getting caught on things (being short means headphone cords easily get caught on door handles and ripped out of your ears....). Best of all, when you arrive at your destination and unplug your phone your headphones are attached to your jacket, making it less likely that you'll drop and lose them.

I actually intended to include this modification on my other Minoru, the loop to thread the cord through is already sew in if you look closely at my previous post. The only reason I haven't put the grommet in is because every time the #flufflyblondemonster has hammered in grommets or snaps in one of my projects, the concierge for our building shows up at our door to give us a warning that "all construction must be approved by the strata". We've hung pictures and shelves, and assembled furniture in our apartment and never have had a complaint.....but hammering in a grommet must mean we're doing major, unapproved renovations. Go figure!

And now for the bad news....the WTZ (What The Zip?). At the end of the last winter this happened to my beloved wool Minoru :( the zipper has decided to not function anymore....I haven't had this happen to me before and I'm still hoping I can somehow fix the zipper without having to rip it out and put in a new one but I'm not sure how to fix it really. When this disaster struck it was at the end of a bad day, it was 'the straw that broke the camel's back'. The #fluffyblonemonster came home that day to much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and cries of "why???? why me??? WTZ????"

But wait! There's more!

Apparently I must have done something bad to a really important jacket zipper in a previous life because......

....The zipper on my blue Minoru has decided to pull a WTZ by unraveling and separating from the seam! I've sewn zippers in tops and in dresses, both regular and invisible, and never had a zipper behave like this before! You can see in the above photo that I've tried to repair the zipper using a combination of fabric glue and bias tape...not the prettiest of fixes but at the least the zipper felt secure...or so I thought until it decided to separate in another section.....I think I may have accidentally cut the zipper tape when I was grading the seam and now the tape is disintegrating? But I also topstitched through the placket and the zipper tape which should have secured the zipper tape, no? WTZ?? Any of you guys had problems like this? Let me know in the comments, hopefully together we can break this jacket zipper curse soon because *dramatically* winter is coming....(and I get chilly with out a jacket :( )