A Year in the Making. Literally.

This jacket has taken me nearly a year to make.

Not because it takes a year to make a jacket. It doesn't. Life just has a habit of getting in the way.

I've picked it up, put it down, gone back to it, put it down again, and somehow twelve months have passed.

But I'm finally about three-quarters of the way there.

"This one doesn't have a deadline. It's just something I wanted to make."

The main body is almost finished. I've still got a pocket or two to decide on, the bottom to hem and, rather importantly, the sleeves to sew in.

The outer is a grey wool Melton and cashmere. Inside, I've used a lovely teal blue bamboo silk lining that I've had tucked away, waiting for the right thing.

And then there's the Liberty Strawberry Thief Tana Lawn around the collar, another offcut I've had for years.

I've always had a habit of keeping beautiful pieces of cloth because they're simply too good to throw away. Sometimes you just have to wait until the right project comes along.

That's actually one of the things I enjoy most about making. Taking fabrics that weren't necessarily bought to go together, sometimes things I've had for years, and suddenly seeing how they could work.

There's something quite nice about coming back to a project after so long, too.

I'm not quite the same person who started making it, and I don't think the jacket will end up quite as I originally imagined either.

For most of my working life, making has meant deadlines, orders and getting things finished.

This one doesn't have a deadline.

It's just something I wanted to make.

And I'm enjoying seeing where it goes.

Although after a year, I probably ought to finish the sleeves.

— Tyler