BWOF jacket

How nice to read your comments on the fabric I showed. When I use it, it will be for a top, as I only have 1.5 meter (less than 2 yards). There were some ideas I didn’t think of myself, so it was a good idea to post a picture. Thank you for the inspiration.
Looking back in my posts I found that it’s been almost a month since I last posted about the jacket I’m making. The consequence of working on two major projects at once, getting sidetracked and time issues. I’ve sewn the lining and apart from sewing on the buttons and inserting the lining, the jacket is finished. Next post will show finished pictures.
I realized that I’ve never shown the muslin in detail, and want to do that now, to complete the total picture and for my own reference later.

Well, I hope the pictures will be visible when I publish this post. I see new options in my Picasa webalbum, but only one picture is showing in my draft in Live Writer. Never had this problem before.
The muslin was made in the way that is described by Susan Khalje in the latest Threads issue. I got the instruction through Robin, who did a class with Kenneth King and Susan Khalje last year and invited me to the fitting session with Kenneth King. The second picture shows the line KK drafted on the center back. His line indicates where the center back should have been, there is more space necessary on my left side. As I wrote earlier, it was wonderful to see him working on the pattern. Super fast too.
On the inside of the jacket I interfaced the front, made a shoulder and back stay. Difficult to photograph when the jacket is almost finished.
 

What was I thinking

Shannon from the blog Mushywear posted a picture of a fabric that she bought and now feels like “what was I thinking”. She wrote too “How about a challenge?  Pull it out and share what you come up with.  I'd love to see it!”.

I’m taking up the challenge. Here’s a picture of a knit print that I bought this spring and since it arrived (bought it online) thought “what was I thinking?” I might use it and see how it is on a pair of black pants, but still think it’s not my style. And anyhow, what pattern would you use for such a fabric?

Notched collar

Nothing to show you at the moment, but following a link in a comment on Lindsay T’s blog I found the tutorial for the notched collar I used a few times now on the SewStylish blog. My experience is that this method makes constructing a notched collar relatively easy, with great results.

There were a few comments asking for the fabric of my Hotpatterns tops. I don’t know the exact content. I bought it at the market cheap (3 euro/meter) and it was the only bolt with this soft, drapy quality. I washed it, put it in the dryer (which I seldom do) and it remained very soft. Hope to find the same quality for myself soon.

Teddie (from the Netherlands) asked where to buy Hotpatterns patterns: the answer is to buy them online, the only sources I know are the Hotpatterns site itself and Sewingpatters.com.

Hotpatterns – 3 graces top

I got sidetracked, and finished the cowl neck and foldover version of the Hotpatterns 3 graces top which I started on Sunday. I traced a size 10 as I thought the pattern would run large. No such luck, I should have gone by  my bust measurement on the envelope and used a size 12. The pictures of the (unhemmed) top are of my daughter (though she is a size 8). She likes the tops as well, doesn't mind them to be a bit loose fitting so they will be worn.

Full review is here on Pattern Review. I like these tops very much, and will certainly make them for myself too. They are not very time consuming, just a few hours for both tops.

I thought the cap of the sleeve a bit high with a bit too much ease for a knit top. Here a comparison with a Jalie sleeve (2449).

 

And something I don’t understand in the pattern. It’s the shoulder seam. the paper pattern parts are pinned together, notches matched and then this strange line came about.  I haven’t seen this mentioned in reviews, so probably I’m missing something. Just don’t know what. Instructions are not helpful here either.

As I concluded my review on PR: though I had some minor issues with this pattern, I certainly like it and will make it again in a size that suits me better.

After jacket and coat

Thank you so much for all the lovely comments on my coat. I thought it was special, and you certainly confirmed that feeling. I’ll show you the coat on me when it’s ready. Might take a week or two,still haven’t got lining.

The jacket has had more progress in the last days, and will take about one evening to finish. Somewhere this week I hope.

Time to think of the next projects. In summer I thought I would make a few “capsule” plans, 4 or 5 garments that would go together. For the moment I’ve given up on the idea of a real plan, and will sew what comes to my mind and what I fancy at a particular moment.

This will be my next projects:

Hotpatterns 3 graces shirt. I confess I already did some work on these yesterday. More on my experiences with this pattern later.

This blouse from the September Burda magazine attracted my attention from the start and after seeing  lovely versions on PR, this is high on my to sew list.

And I’ve bought myself some new lingerie fabrics at Kantje boord. For the first set they even had applique lace for the shoulderstraps. How special. After a recent cleaning out of my lingerie drawer, I need to make a few new sets. Nice in between projects.

Getting somewhere

A first picture of my coat. It’s not finished as you can see, but you’ll get the impression how it will be.

I don’t have lining yet, I have seen a lining in red with some black in it, but it was in a shop not close to where I live. I’ll shop for lining soon, and in the meanwhile I can further finish this with the facings, hemming, shoulder pads and sleevehead…. Enough to do, and there are already countless hours in this coat. And there’s still the jacket to finish. How I long to sew something that will be ready within two hours (think my next project will be a knit top).

SaskiaB: I went to the HEMA and their ‘zoomband’ was sold out here (never knew they sell it). For the remaining seams I used a double sided adhesive tape (vliesofix), but it was less easy to work with than the double layer of fusible interfacing. But your thoughts (also Marie-Christine) were very much appreciated.  As are all comments!

Flattening a seam

The fabric for my coat is a heavy wool, after pressing the seams open, they don’t stay flat. I thought of handstitching them down, when another solution came to my mind. On the Threads dvd Sewing techniques Louise Cutting shows a method to hem a garment with two layers of fusible interfacing. This week I was reminded to this technique by my friend Valerie, who showed me the skirt she made in real life. She used this technique for the hem. I interpreted it for use in the seams of my coat.

This picture shows the  pressed seams not staying flat. I used white because I was out of black fusible interfacing, it will not show in my fabric, so it didn’t matter.

Two layers of interfacing, fusible side on the outside, stitched with long lines of straight stitches (only for convenience, you could do it one at a time)

Cut strips of the interfacing, close to the stitching line, and as wide as the seam or a little less.

Put a strip under the seam allowance, with the stitched line on the outside.

Press the seam allowance.

After pressing, the seam remains flat.

Tip: I have mainly straight seams on my coat and used the interfacing straight of grain. If you have curved seams, make strips of fusible interfacing from a piece of interfacing that is cut on the bias. Then you will be able to follow the curve better.

As said, you could use the same technique to hem a garment.

And answers to questions: the fabric of the piping is a kind of black velvet, the only fabric in the right kind of black that was not too thick. In the meantime I’ve made another example with a narrower buttonhole. And I’ll be playing with fabric straight of grain and on the bias. The tabs will be on the bias, while the sleeves are straight of grain for example.

Matching plaids?

I know I’m a very matchy-matchy type and that’s not everyones preference. Perfectly alright with me, but this jacket in October Knip Mode hurts my eyes. Couldn’t they at least have tried to match the left and right front?

Despite the aweful fabric placement, I like the style of the jacket and there are more patterns I like.

Jacket and coat

I didn’t do as much as I thought I would today. It was a glorious late summer day and I spent the morning in the garden, that needed some pruning and cleaning after weeks of rain and storm. The afternoon was spent with a great walk through the woods with old friends. In short: a perfect day.

This is the jacket in its current state. I made the collar, sewed the facings together but that’s it for this weekend. But ít’s definitely getting shape.

Now that I’m really using the dressform, it has a few things that are different from the real me: its hips are wider (could be caused by the little weight I lost), the waist is a little too high and the neck circumference too large (difficult to make paper tape fitting very close to someones neck). It means that it’s not the perfect tool I hoped it would be. Did you see the professional dressform Robin is having made? With all the different stages and measuring in between that will be perfect. I will make do with mine, but I loved to see how hers is coming along.

A detail of the pocket.

And of one of the bound buttonholes. Needs a little pressing at the top, it has a little crease, though if pressing doesn’t help, this crease won’t be seen when the jacket is closed.

In yesterdays post I wrote about the wintercoat I’m making. It’s from the Knip mode September issue. I’m making view B with the tabs on the sleeves of view A.

First muslin (sorry, no pictures) in size 40 had perfect fit, IF it would have been a jacket, but absolutely too small for a coat where I want to wear a jacket underneath. So I upgraded to a size 44, which was much better.

I experimented with piping, (I do know how to make sewing time consuming) , here on the tabs for the sleeves. As you can see the top one is better than the one on the bottom. The back is in a thin, solid black fabric. In this way the tab is not too thick. The first picture is best showing the color, the second one is too yellow. The opening for the buttonhole still has to be made in the back of the tab. Think I like the piping and will use it.

RTW detail

Last weekend I did some shopping with DD, the main objective was to find something for me and I was lucky this time. I even found a pair of rtw black pants that fit! Really special that, as normally when rtw pants fit in the hips, the waist is way too wide. Only the length was too long. Easy to alter, but still has to be done.

As I love special necklines, I couldn’t resist this cardigan from the summer collection that was on sale. It’s from a very soft jersey and feels very comfortable. The neckline detail is easy to copy, which I plan to do sometime.

The cardigan has a 5.5 cm wide band (like this Jalie pattern 2566, but wider)

 

The front and the band are finished (serged) separately after which the band is attached, leaving small parts open. The tie that is pulled through the openings is as wide as the the band. The tie is longer than the band, as it’s wrapped around.

I think this give a nice detail to the cardigan. In this one a little band is attached (the silver one), just to give it an extra touch.  Thought some of you might like to see such a detail.

I also tried another cardigan, which was nice but too expensive for what it was. It reminded me of Jalie 2919, a pattern I made in a print that I wasn’t happy about.

Think of this cardigan in a solid jersey, the band/shawl collar made in the same color, but of a more sheer fabric (not jersey). I don’t remember the brand and couldn’t find a picture that came close. It gave a really extra touch to the cardigan and I’m already thinking of two fabrics I have to combine in that way.

In the meantime I’m working on two projects: the jacket from my last posts and a winter coat. I’m only having small slots of sewing time, so progress is not too fast. I do hope to finish the jacket at the end of the week.