It feels like expensive couture, and looks like it too. With modern details and precision stitching, it’s the jacket you’ll reach for every time. Suitable for many fabrics, this design is a year-round option that completes any outfit, from casual to office to evening. It’s your Go-To Jacket—a little bit of everyday couture.
The late Cynthia Guffey was famous for her classic, fitted jackets and her exacting sewing standards. However, more casual lifestyles encourage garments that are less structured and easier to fit. In response, Cynthia explored jackets with a looser fit—but still with plenty of details that speak of quality and sophistication. The jackets featured in this course echo the best in ready-to-wear, with elements such as a unique, double-layer collar; a striking yoke and sleeve design; practical yet streamlined pockets; and the option for a zipper closure.
Think about the best of your favorite designer… jackets made in a soft boiled wool or silk gabardine … although denim works well, too, for an elevated alternative to a jeans or chore jacket. With the included patterns, you can emulate these looks yourself. The single-size pattern has a finished bust measurement of 49 inches, and the fitting process for length and circumference is simple: one vertical and one horizontal fitting line for each design’s sizing. Bust-cup size adjustments for B, C, D and E cup are built into the pattern, too.
In this in-depth course, Cynthia shares the special features and construction techniques for two jackets (one shorter, with an open front, and a longer version with a zipper). They are fully lined, and designed to be comfortable and look good on a range of figure types. You can wear it open, partially closed, or fully zipped, and it will attractively accommodate any style of top beneath it.
This comprehensive tutorial leads you through every step of creating both jacket versions. Each chapter offers not only instructions for this jacket, but an unparalleled assortment of sewing techniques that will surely improve all your garment projects. With Cynthia’s detailed guidance these jackets are within reach of intermediate-level sewists and above. If you’re an ambitious beginner who has sewn a garment with a collar and sleeves, you can successfully tackle these patterns, too.
The course includes a nearly one-hour class as a bonus: Cynthia’s “Seven Core Sewing Skills.” From finding the fabric’s grain to seam accuracy, clipping and pressing, and perfectly matching seam intersections, Cynthia’s techniques give you the confidence to sew any garment and get professional results.
All Start Anytime courses, are self-paced, and you can begin the moment you register, viewing the course anytime that is convenient for you. Many students watch it through one time first, and then go back to work alongside the instructor with their own project activities.
Meet the Instructor
The late Cynthia Guffey designed and constructed women's clothing for many years. What started as a custom workroom in Baton Rouge, LA, creating garments for high profile women and events, was transformed into a pattern business 25 years ago. From training workroom staff in couture techniques, her sewing methods also made the transition into a system of the most effective, practical and simple fitting and construction techniques, highly valued by the thousands of enthusiasts she shared them with at Original Sewing & Quilt Expo and in her lectures and workshops across the U.S.
Her fitting approach is derived from a mathematical background coupled with her constant search for the simple and the obvious. And although her precision sewing techniques are not short-cuts, she saves you time by helping you get it right the first time. Moreover, at each step in the process she shares how what you are doing affects subsequent steps, and “what you’re going for” in the result. Thus, confidence and satisfaction bloom for her students.
Cynthia’s design philosophy involves creating lines that multiply opportunities to fit and enhance a figure type, and using the grain of the fabric to enhance the look and feel of all garments.
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