I was shopping online for fabric one day and saw this fabric:

It wasn’t what I was looking for at the time, but I felt that I had to have it, so I bought 3 yards of it, thinking to myself that it would make a nice pair of shorts.

But then, I started to look at some of my older patterns, and decided that the jacket in this pattern would be perfect:

This is a pattern I originally purchased back in the 80s (there was no copyright date on the pattern, but I found it here on the Wiki.)  I had used the pattern (yes, I still wear the same size – woo hoo!),  the front facing was missing, but all the rest of the pieces were still there.  I easily made the facing using the layout drawing for guidance. I am not sure what happened to the outfit I made, but I did find the finished bandeau top (though, that no longer fits, my body has changed a bit since then.)  I suspect that I never finished the garments and at some point trashed them.

I cut the pattern out without any alterations, I was looking for fast and easy.  I had enough fabric for the long sleeve shirt version of the jacket.

I messed up and first of all used an interfacing that was a bit too stiff for it to flow like the picture and second I cut two right side pieces.  I did not have a wide enough piece to make the full left interfacing, so I cobbled one together.  It worked well and is not noticeable at all.

Though the interfacing was a bit heavy, I do like the end result.  The question is whether or not to add a button to the front.  So far I have left it as is.

I made this in one day (after I had cut it out on another day).  I did it that quickly mainly because I could tell that I was faltering.  I was seeing that a part might be a bit difficult to sew or I wasn’t quite understanding the instructions, so I was going to tackle it another day. That might be why I, maybe, never finished it the first go round. So I cracked the whip and made myself continue. I am really glad I did.  I like the way it came out and I’m glad I finished it!

I am amazed at the fit since I made it ‘right out of the box’, as it were. No muslin, no alterations.  The sleeves are a real nice length.  Again, I am happy with this!  Now I have big plans, maybe two sewn items a month??  I have one almost finished for the month of June.