Little French Jacket Progress Report 2

When I left you at the end of Progress Report 1, I had quilted the lining to all the jacket pieces, tied squillions of loose threads and was ready to sew the jacket together. The pieces are first basted together with a machine stitch, so fitting adjustments can be made. In my case, the adjustments were necessary to match the stripes in the fabric, which were just not lining up after sewing. It helped a lot to use lots of pins (above) and to sew slowly with the walking foot in place. You can also see that the lining has been pinned into a little parcel to keep it well away from the seam stitching.

The seam allowances are still kept very large at this stage to allow for fitting and fraying of the fabric.

This is the outside of the jacket with my labels still in place to make sure I sewed the pieces in the correct order! The fronts are not yet sewn on in the picture above. Once they were basted in place, I sewed the peplum pieces together and attached the peplum to the jacket bodice as one piece. The shoulder seams were then pinned together to check for fit.

A rare glimpse into the chaos that is my beloved sewing room. Please don't look too closely at the mess, most of which is cropped out of the photo!

Next up was the sleeves, which had not even been cut out at this stage. The muslin sleeves were pinned in place on the jacket and lines were marked (pencil lines just visible below) where the stripes of the fabric met the sleeve. Obviously not all stripes can be matched due to the shape of the sleeve. It is up to the sewer to decide which ones to match, usually those on the upper sleeve are chosen. I chose to match the main pink stripe on the upper sleeve, front and back, as this was the most obvious.

The muslin was then placed on the boucle fabric and the stripes matched up with the pencil lines before cutting. The other sleeve piece(s) were then matched to the first to keep those stripes as perfect as possible. Then it was back to hand stitching the sleeve outline on the boucle and quilting lining to all the sleeve pieces before matching the stripes (below) and basting the sleeve together.

Then it was time to pin the sleeves in place and try on the jacket! This was awkward as it felt so fragile and still had raw edges, huge seam allowances and the lining pinned away from seams. Still, it was an exciting moment after all the work.

Bear in mind that the inside was very bulky so the jacket does look a bit strange in these pictures. However, from what I could tell, the fit was pretty good, so it was on to the next stage - coming soon!

Please refer to my First French Jacket post for information and links to the fantastic sewalong I am following to make this jacket.

Vintage sewing - Butterick 5208

You may remember me mentioning a haul of vintage patterns and a dressform that I excitedly got my hands on a few months ago. I have looked through the patterns many times and now, inspired by the vintage sewing contest, I've made one!

I chose this Butterick 'Misses' one-piece dress' pattern. I can't find a date on it but, comparing it to the other patterns I bought from the same lady, I estimate it to be from somewhere in the 1960s, the 70s at the latest. That's round about my vintage actually - perfect!

The pattern was a size 14 and had been cut out very neatly by its previous owner. Although I'm usually a size 10, the bust measurement was right for me so I went with the size as it was. This is my first time making a vintage pattern, but I'm guessing that the sizes have changed over the last 40 years or so!

I loved the lines and in-seam pockets of this dress pattern and, actually, it isn't a million miles from some modern patterns I've seen. However, I did want an up-to-date look, so I decided to leave off the collar and to use a knit fabric for the side panels. My main fabric was a gold linen-like fabric that I'd bought as a remnant in Textile Traders.

I drafted an all-in-one facing for the front and back neckline and armholes, according to this very helpful tutorial. This gives a nice finish on the inside when the zip falls open.

I topstitched all the seams and added a little diamonte charm to the zip pull.

The back has vertical shoulder darts, which give nice shaping and fit. The bust darts needed moving downwards and the side, knit fabric panels were taken in for a better fit. I didn't have enough gold fabric to make the dress any longer, so I added an interfaced panel of the knit fabric around the hem.

 Otherwise the fit was pretty well spot on!

 I must say that I'm well chuffed with my first vintage pattern. It took some minor tweaking to get it right, but I don't think it looks too out of place as we move into 2014.

It's so merry and bright, I might just wear it on Christmas day.

Polka dots and ribbons - Jamie jeans and Burdastyle top 05/2013#101

A new outfit!

I recently had my arm twisted by Bronwyn to venture into a spot of online fabric shopping from the US. Well, to be honest, it didn't take too much arm twisting before I was gleefully adding items to my shopping basket at Gorgeous Fabrics. It was all very exciting when the parcel arrived and we oohed and ahhed over each others' purchases.

One of my choices was this grey polka dot stretch suiting fabric, which I bought on sale, but seems to be back at normal price now. I bought it with the Jamie jeans by Named clothing in mind and, I was so in love with it when it arrived, I put my little French jacket to one side and got cracking on the jeans.

I made only two small adjustments to the pattern based on my first pair of Jamie jeans and that was to add approximately 2cm to the lower leg of the jeans so it wasn't quite so tight fitting on the calf and to add approximately 12cm to the length.  Also, this time round I referred extensively to the excellent set of photos by Jennifer R, particularly those concerning the fly insertion. Seriously, Jennifer R deserves a medal for her work explaining this process, which I really struggled with last time. This time, it was perfect! The zip is slightly down in this pic, but trust me.

I do like the detailing on these jeans.

And the fit is brilliant.

I'm loving this fabric too with its flocked polka dots.

I was very excited to put these on at the first opportunity, but when I got dressed I tried on and flung off several tops in different directions before realising that I had nothing to wear with them. Minor panic!

After a quick hunt through my stash, I found this ribbony, grassy border print remnant from Textile Traders. I decided to make the embroidered top #101 from Burdastyle 05/3013. There wasn't quite enough fabric for the top so I added some blue to the sides, which actually seems to improve the balance and make it look less like a nightie. Win!

The pattern consists of two pieces, front and back, with some straps and a dash of bias binding. I chose to make the straps from the same fabric as the top and just made a tube, which I then embroidered with little beads. The top is gathered front and back. The instructions say to gather the front to 10cm, which is far too narrow, so be aware of this if you make one. There was supposed to be a little keyhole opening at the front, but I left that out.

It was difficult to get the finish really neat on the top, but still I'm pleased with it. I love the fabric and the style is very cool and comfortable.

So happy with my new outfit and my first foray into online fabric shopping. Also huge thanks to my sister for taking the photos and directing my poses. It was so nice not to take selfies for a change.

Little French Jacket progress report 1

Many of you have probably heard the buzz about the little French jacket (LFJ) sewalong with Thewallinna and A Challenging Sew. I have admired these jackets over the years as they popped up on various blogs along with 70+ hour estimates of the time taken to make each one. 'Ha!' I scoffed. 'Surely it doesn't take anything like that amount of time'. So when I saw the sewalong I signed up pronto. I had bought a Patrones magazine (Patrones Extra Dos Piezas, No. 24) earlier this year containing several drool-worthy LFJ patterns. I eventually chose this one. It has a matching skirt, which I may also make in the time left over from the 70 hours!  

It's just as well I'm doing the sewalong as all the instructions are in Spanish, which I don't speak, although I am compiling a handy list of Spanish sewing terms. I've stuck it up above my sewing machine to study at my leisure! First step was a muslin. I traced the pattern in size 42 (note: the sizing is different to Burda, in which I am 38) and used carbon paper and a tracing wheel to transfer the markings, stitching lines, grainlines etc. to my muslin. Would you believe I actually had some old sheets of carbon paper from my typewriter days? Well, if you knew me you probably would believe it! Everyone else is using newfangled sewing tracing paper in large sheets of fabulous colours. Pah! Here is an early fitting of my muslin before I made a few additional tweaks. I didn't sew the back collar piece on the muslin. Bit of a sneaky time saver there!

The fit at the front was not too bad.

The back needed a bit more length and flare in the peplum and some fitting in the lower back. Once that was done, I drew all the new stitching lines with red and blue marker pens and unpicked all the seams (below right). Next, I had to cut all the seam allowances off using the red and blue guide lines (below left).

Ok, don't get excited, but we're about to unfold the actual jacket fabric! I'm using a pink boucle with stripes that I have decided to place horizontally. When I went to take this photo I noticed that the stripes were completely wobbly. I fixed that up quick smart before anyone noticed. Here I have all my upper (non-peplum) pieces that are carefully placed so that hopefully the stripes will line up on the finished jacket. I did the same again with the peplum pieces. The sleeves will be cut after basting the jacket together to better match the stripes. The pieces are placed far apart to make room for huge seam allowances, which enable fitting adjustments later and allow for fraying of the fabric.

I feel like my boys on a long car trip. Are we there yet? No, we are not!

Once the pieces were roughly cut (above), each one needed to have the outline of each pattern piece hand sewn in running stitch in a contrasting coloured thread (visible below). The shoulder seams then had to be strengthened by cutting a piece of organza to fit the shoulder to the lower armscye and then these boucle pieces were used (still with the muslin pinned in place) to cut the lining for every pattern piece, being careful to match grainlines. Deep breath. Then came the quilting. After some trial and error, I decided to quilt in straight lines parallel to the stripes in the fabric. This is done by machine (thank gawd), but has to be an inch in from all sides and 2 inches in from the hem. I used my handy inch gadget thing to measure as I went. The quilting lines were 2-3cm apart and, I'm pleased to say, are invisible in this example (to the right of the inch gadget).

Here we are with the quilting done (not yet ironed) shown from the back and the front, ready to have the threads pulled between the boucle and lining and hand knotted. Yes, every blinking thread. Yes, it took hours. The organza stabiliser is also visible here, as are my sticky labels identifying each piece.

Hooray, we're finally ready to sew something together.

Oh, and just quietly, to the diehard readers who made it this far, that 70+ hours....I think it's an underestimate!

Update: For Part 2 of the Jacket construction, please click here.

Jamie jeans - Named patterns

I came across Named Patterns a few weeks ago and was immediately enamoured with their Jamie jeans. I have been on a long quest to find the perfect jeans pattern. I've made several pairs of Jalie jeans and a couple of pairs of modified Jalies. The Jamies looked great in the pictures, but would they deliver in real life? Would the substitution of the 'l' for an 'm' produce substantial improvement in style, fit and general fabulousness?

I looked for reviews. There were none...until suddenly Novita appeared on my screen modelling a pair. Click, click and I'd bought the pattern within minutes!

I bought size 38-40 (10-12) based on their size chart. My waist measurement was closer to 40 and my hips were 38, so I graded accordingly between sizes from waist to hip. Other changes: nil. I made them from a sturdy denim with some, but not loads of, stretch.

So did they fit?

Did they ever!

I love the detailing on these jeans - the front, top-stitched seams, the two-part back pockets, the inside out denim piece on the front pocket opening. The overall shape of these is very on trend and flattering.

The pattern took an hour or so to arrive in my inbox, while I hopped from foot to foot and alternated between refreshing my email and checking the time zones between Finland and Perth. Suddenly there it was and I wasted no time printing it (only 12 pages), taping it together (easy) and tracing it (yes, you have to trace as the pieces overlap, but I didn't mind as I was experimenting with the size between waist and hip as previously mentioned). Quick note on the printing - the pattern suggested using A4 paper, which is standard in Australia, but the very bottom of each page was missing on my printout. I'm not sure why this was as the print size was accurate, but was easy enough to piece together anyway, so not a big deal.

Then I made them. In one (very long) day!

The instructions are clear, but there are no pictures. With careful reading and concentration, I was fine, but I have made jeans several times before. Newbies may struggle with some parts. I followed the instructions completely, but next time I will change the order of assembly. The pattern has you cut the fly of one front piece slightly narrower than the other side. My advice - DON'T. The zip was then inserted after the front and back pieces were sewn together and it just didn't work well for me at all. In the end, I unpicked the zip and sewed on a scrap of fabric to make the front fly pieces even again. I was slightly less of a happy camper at this point. Then I followed my favourite ever tutorial for fly insertion as best I could with the jeans assembled. Things were not perfect, especially with the tacked-on piece (luckily you can only see this when the zip is undone), but passable. Happy camperness was restored.

There is very little else I'd do differently next time (and there will be a next time, probably several). I will probably play around with the leg seams slightly, making the thighs a bit tighter and the calves a bit looser, just a little bit. A stretchier denim would probably produce a better fit.

So, nitpicking aside, is this the perfect jeans pattern? Well, I think these jeans are pretty damn close to perfect, especially for the first draft, so to speak. The fit, the detail and the style are all winners in my book. These have become my 'go to' jeans to be worn in preference to all others.

Sorry Jalie, I've got a new fav jeans pattern.

Jacket: Burdastyle Blouson Jacket 04/2013 #123. To be blogged soon.
Boots: Refashioned by moi.