Black Velvet Jacket

This jacket was really more about creatively procrastinating than anything else :) I needed to fit the bodice portion of a pattern for a full length fitted dress and so I just worked with short pieces to make it easier. And after I had my new fitted pattern it seemed a waste to not do anything with the fabric I had used for the fitting so I cut it out in velvet and made this short jacket, rather then start on the full length dress :)

As it is a jacket and meant to be taken off, I made sure all my inside seams were hidden which meant a lot of futzing and tight sewing, but I made it work. The decoration idea came from Michaels military collection. I loved the swaged braiding that was common on some military coats of the Victorian era and used that style for my coat. 

The swags are attached on one side and unhook from the other. And I used large velvet covered buttons for the swag ends. The buttons up the front are just larger versions of the woven buttons from the silver dress.

And for a little more detail I added the little knotted braid to the sleeves.

I'm kind of going with a military theme for this years dickens outfits. The full length dress I mentioned above will also have military inspired decoration :)