Blazer WIP

I ran into Kohls a while back to pick up some bed pillows and something perfect caught my eye. The Lauren Conrad jacquard blazer in marshmallow white!!! Doesn't it just sound... yummy? Oh, it's beautiful and textured and has pockets... 

kohls.com

It's just the thing I've had in mind for myself. Prior to the find, I had been pinning all sorts of fresh colored blazers on pinterest. Take these for example:

A cotton Linen Blazer selling for $118 at Loft.com 

The white sateen blazer, $158 at Banana Republic

And, the adorable outfit ensemble featuring a white blazer put together over on tumblr.com

Yea- I love the look. The only problem with the LC jacket I saw in stores was the price tag... At $70 I admit, I totally considered it. $70 isn't so bad... it's more affordable than if I had ordered the jacket from Banana Republic or Loft... but ever since I started sewing I have this mean little I can make that alter ego that pipes up when it should be quiet, "You can sew that for a whole lot cheaper!"

"Yea, maybe," I reason... but, ain't nobody got time for that! I reach out to grab the jacket, but then that voice starts chanting:

$70 dollars... 28 gallons of milk, dinner for the family every night for a week, and diapers- oh gosh, that's a lot of diapers.

Fine. I pull my arm back without having grabbed my marshmallow blazer. Look like somebody gon' make time for that! A few minutes here, a few minutes there over the past week and here is my muslin work in progress jacket:

It's not exactly praiseworthy right now... I didn't even complete it. I just wanted to make sure I could figure out the pattern (which I did after a couple phone calls and several texts to my grandma), that I'd be happy with the sleeve length, and that it'd fit alright. I'll pay a little more attention to detail when I start on the real thing. As you can see, the collar is pretty sloppy. It really did give me trouble. Hopefully, I'll figure it out a little better the second time around... Gotta do something with those raw edges; must've missed a step in the instructions.

So... Easier to have just bought it? Yep.

Is it really going to save me money?

I think so. The pattern I am using, NEWLook 6035, came from walmart and only cost a few bucks. I already had the muslin on hand, but even if I'd had to buy it, muslin is really inexpensive. Guess it depends on the cost of fabric I use in the end. Either way, my inner sewing ego is satisfied. It's been a fun project so far and I think after all the hours put into the blazer, I'll appreciate having it a whole lot more.