Tessuti have a number of patterns specifically designed to be used with boiled wool.  They utilise overlapped seams and leave edges raw.  This makes them quite quick to sew, but the construction technique takes a little bit of getting used to.  Once you’re in the groove they’re actually quite straightforward.

This time around I sewed the Verona jacket. Tessuti describe it as follows: The cropped & boxy Verona Jacket features extended shoulders, peaked hemline at front, collar, front shoulder darts and two-piece bracelet length sleeve. This jacket can be worn open or secured at the neck with a decorative pin. A quick and easy sew and perfect layering piece for the autumn/winter months. As seams are overlapped, and edges and hems are left raw, the Verona Jacket is best made up in boiled felted wools or wool/blends.

I chose to sew size Medium, which is one size smaller than the Large that my measurements suggest.

More time is spent at the table pinning the pieces together than at the machine doing the sewing. It helps to have a large flat surface at the right height for you to lay things out. There’s no overlocker needed to make this jacket; all construction is with a straight stitch on the sewing machine.

The boiled wool came from Super Cheap Fabrics. Dusty pink has really been appealing to me lately! They don’t seem to have this colour in stock at the moment, but I have also seen gorgeous boiled wools at The Cloth Shop and Darn Cheap Fabrics. Note that boiled wool comes in a variety of fibre blends – some are 100% wool, others have polyester or viscose mixed in.

In these photos I am wearing my Verona jacket over an Aldi merino long-sleeved tee (no, I don’t sew everything that I wear) and a newly made pair of Style Arc Misty jeans. This really is my go-to pull-on jeans style pattern. I simplify it nowadays by eliminating the front ‘pockets’ completely, and I add a wide waistband with elastic enclosed inside it rather than the exposed elastic waistband treatment in the pattern. This pair is sewn in textured charcoal coloured bengaline from Super Cheap Fabrics.

Writing this blog post is making me want to sew another raw edge wool garment! My Sydney jacket is still going strong, but my Berlin jacket is now in a friend’s wardrobe, purely because the colour was too intense for me. I have some wool/cashmere earmarked for the Tessuti Oslo coat at the moment, but it’s a traditional lined coat. Before I get back to jackets and coats I have some outstanding projects to finish – and I’m heading off to a sewing retreat this weekend, so let’s see what gets made!