I’ve been wanting to tackle sewing a blazer for almost a year. I’m a total blazer fanatic, and I have at least six black jackets, three of which are tuxedo style (one in velvet with silk lapels, yummm). So no, I won’t be sewing a black jacket. But what about white? I was in a total black and white mood this year.

And I loved this look from Stella McCartney’s spring show last year. It was for sale for a gaping $1500 or so on net-a-porter.com.

The look above left was one of her runway styles and I like the refined simplicity of the whole thing. Silk over lace would normally be an evening thing, but somehow I want to make evening stuff work in my everyday. I do kid myself about what kind of lifestyle I actually live. I’m overdressed in my imagination if not in reality.

But if I want to wear this at all in the spring or fall, I better get cracking. It’s already in the 90s here. It’s March. That means, in Austin-speak, six more months of tank tops and flip flops.

Thank goodness Sherry of Pattern Scissors Cloth is hosting a jacket tailoring sew-along in April. I thought I swore off sew-alongs after the Lady Grey, but I need some encouragement to really do this thing.

I’ve already gathered up the supplies. Last fall I looked for a similar jacket pattern as the Stella jacket, and after much hemming and hawing I decided to sew a Marfy pattern. It is a slightly smoking-jacket style with similar details–long lapels, one button closure, flap welt pockets, slim shape. I’ve never sewn Marfy before, but I’m wary of mainstream patterns simply because of their often oversized fit and horrible sleeve shaping. In general, Marfy’s patterns are a bit too rich-woman-conservative for me, but a jacket is a jacket. And how fun is it to have a pattern mailed from Italy? I’d love to hear if anyone else has attempted a Marfy and how their fit compares.

The Stella jacket was described as “raw silk”, but on close inspection it looked nothing like the very nubby and casual-looking fabric that often sells as raw silk. I had some samples of an Italian silk dupioni that was quite refined and unlike the usual dupioni, which is also very nubby. You can see close-ups here of the differences (Italian on left, regular on right):

{fabric pics via nyfashioncenterfabrics.com}

Both nyfashioncenterfabrics.com and fabrics.net sells the Italian dupioni and it is very beautiful–but sigh, does not come cheaply.