Almost done...

Terrible week for blogging here - many apologies.. However, on the good side, very nearly almost finished Polly... this week was my last class at LCF (got a certificate and EVERYTHING.. ) and as expected everyone was in a real rush to get finished. Thankfully I wasn't in that much of a rush... and had basted the peplum to the top part of the jacket before class, so I just needed to decide on the position of the pockets and stitch it, and then of course there was Putting In The Lining to do. And shoulder pads.

The tutor told me to sew the shoulder pads to the seam allowance, just next to the stitching of the set in sleeve, and aligning the outside edge of the shoulder pad with the edge of the seam allowance. Which I did. On the machine. Not sure if I was supposed to stitch them on by hand?... the shoulders have a little body in them but I used no sleeve heads so they don't have the nice round 'puff' at the top.

Which reminds me - THIS FABRIC IS HORRIFIC. It is really stretchy and frays easily - in hindsight I should have interfaced the whole thing. I put some seam tape on the shoulder seams and also on the underside seam in each sleeve - think it could end up losing its shape after a couple of wears. The shoulders are already wider than they were on the toile.

Anyway. The pattern instructions for finishing the jacket weren't great... there was no facing or interfacing at the hem (despite the fact that in one of the drawings there looked to be some shading indicating interfacing, there was no actual instructions to cut any out or fuse any on) so the tutor suggested I interfact the depth of the hem, which I did. Then I had to catchstitch the hem about 1cm into the hem allowance from the edge. By hand. With a needle and thread. And my fingers. By hand. You may be ascertaining that hand sewing is not my forte... It actually didn't turn out too bad, but I haven't yet finished the bottom hem.

Was actually easier to attach the lining than I thought it was going to be. Once I'd catchstitched the hem, I sewed around the out side edge of the lining from the bottom of one side of the jacket right around the neck and down the other side (see pic left), which left the bottom hem edge and the sleeves left to do. To attach the lining to the sleeves (which have a facing on the inside) I basically put the jacket on as if I was wearing it, which pushed the sleeve lining into the sleeves. I then folded the edges of the lining and the sleeve together at the edges (how it would look when finished) and put a pin in, and then put my hand between the shell and the lining of the jacket at the back and pulled the sleeve back through (does that make any sense?) so I could then put the edges of the lining and the facing together and pin them. Sewing the sleeves is a little tricky as you have to sew all the way around what I guess is the wrist, and move the rest of the jacket around that....

Anyway, so I did that and MIRACULOUSLY, it worked! I will post some more pics when I have finished off the hem. The last thing to do will be to get a buttonhole put in for the closing at the front.... Didn't have time to do either of these things in class but it shouldn't take too long to sew the lining to the hem and I think the buttonhole I might get done professionally somewhere....

Every jacket has a silky lining - but those DAMN RAW EDGES...

During the last week I cut out the lining for my jacket - happily the pattern came with pieces for lining - and I've been putting it together the past couple of evenings. The fabric (which I think the bloke in the shop said was Rayon) is much nicer to sew with than the acetate stuff I've used in the past, and it's also possible easier to tell the right side from the wrong side. And it's soooo nice and silky! It's a sort of taupe / chocolately colour and I think will look really nice against the fashion fabric. I am also thinking about attempting some piping (another thing on the long list of things I've never tried before) on the jacket facing - I've seen it on some coats and jackets I have and I think it looks awesome. I recently ordered Cecelia Podolak's 'Easy guide to sewing jackets' which (though pretty complicated!) has instructions on how to do it. I think I will try this in class though, I sense MUCH could go wrong if I am left completely to my own devices...

In class this week I sewed most of my lining together - just the left sleeve and peplum to do. Apologies for the terrible pics - has been stuffed in my back on the way back from class and needs a good iron... The fabric is fine to work with, but boy does it fray... I pinked the finished edges to try and shut down the fray-a-rama, which seems to have worked a bit. I pressed the seams of the lining open, and I guess it will of course all be hidden on the inside anyway, but is there something else I should be doing to these raw edges? Our teacher said not to overlock any of the edges of the lining pieces because they will all be hidden (apparently this is the approach in the industry) but I hate knowing all those raw edges will be in there... also on the curves (armholes, neckline etc) the edges have to be clipped and I guess that would make a mess of any overlocked edges anyway... I guess before I sew the lining in I will be trimming the seam allowances down anyway?

ADVICE?!

The thing that I really wanted to do in class this week was have our teacher show me her method of attaching the collar. She only managed to show me the first part (sewing up the back edge of the collar), and then the next step (attaching of the under collar and the upper collar to the bodice at the back) we will do next week.

So this week I need to (i) finish sewing the lining, and (ii) sew the peplum and pocket flaps to the shell. In class then I can set in the sleeves (with sleeve heads and shoulder pads - mental note to self: must purchase non-Dynasty type shoulder pads), attach the collar and then maybe also put in the lining...! I have only two classes left... OH GOD THE PRESSURE!

Lovely Lisa

So yesterday I managed to finish Lisa - I had a total nightmare with the zipper... I bought a plastic invisible zipper foot and put the zipper in but I think I must have sewed too close to the teeth because the zip got stuck fast and I had to unpick all the stitching, take it out (the zipper was broken after that), buy a new zipper and start again... that was a nightmare. The second attempt was better but still not perfect.

Also because the finished size of the bodice according to the pattern was too big for me, I had to adjust it at the sides and centre back of the bodice to make it smaller (I made it up in Vogue size 10 which as it turns out was about two sizes too big) - by that point I had already stitched on the grossgrain ribbon decoration so the adjustment meant the ribbon didn't quite meet at the sides and back. A bit annoying but not too bad.

Always a bit mystified as to the best hem finish - I usually do a double folded hem (which is what I did here) but need to experiment with other finishes. Same for seams - takes ages to finish seams... think that will be what prompts me to get an overlocker...

And I shall call her.... Lisa

Long time no post... I have been away on hols (hooray) but am back now and raring to sew... (geddit??). Jackie was a hit at the wedding - though annoyingly I soon found out that my strap adjustment was a little over-zealous... and the bodice wasn't as close fitting as it should have been at the back - forcing soldier-like posture to keep it all flat. Some pics to follow when I find some nice ones (could be some time)...

So today I wandered down to Goldhawk Road to buy some fabric for some of the millions of dress patterns I appear to have bought but been too nervous to try.... It's the first time I've been down there - happily it is only about 20 mins for me on the tube. There were some gorgeous Swiss voiles in one of the shops for £25 p/m, I was going to buy some but didn't have a good pattern in mind and am not yet feeling confident enough to draft my own.. but I managed to find a lovely maxi dress pattern which would be perfect for some of the bordered fabrics. Very Cavalli... I did managed to get some lovely blue cotton with a sort of woven stripe, and another blue cotton with a fine purple satin-y stripe. I thought it would make a lovely dress, but then realised loads of the patterns I have say 'not suitable for obvious stripes'. Goddammit. Also got a heavy woven cotton in lavender and a sort of aqua / turqoise colour. And some lovely wooly boucle type stuff of which I have grand plans to make a Chanel-style suit for the winter... Though given I have made about four things in total so far - none of them involving sleeves in any format - that may be a bit ambitious... Anyway onto the current project.

In a massive pattern splurge in Peter Jones on Sloane Square, I found Vogue pattern V8232 which I thought was a really nice simple design that I could make up in loads of different colours / fabrics. And it was in the 'Very Easy Vogue' section. Hurrah! I am going to make it up in the plain blue cotton (and think I will line it) and then maybe do some funky decoration-type-thang with grosgrain ribbon... And I shall call her 'Lisa'.

So far I have cut out the fabric - am about to start on the lining. I am sooooooo slow....

Spotty Marie skirt

I made this from the free pattern on Burdastyle and hemmed it to a more flattering length. It was actually a bit tricky to get the hem right as the original pattern has facings for the hem which is a sort of tulip shape. I cut and hemmed it shorter so it didn't have the balloon / tulip shape. I also lined it with the help of Connie Long's book 'Easy Guide to Sewing Linings' - basically the quick-lining technique. Lining really makes it a lot nicer to wear, and the whole skirt feels a lot more substantial. I did managed to prick my finger on a pin and bleed on the lining a bit which was slightly annoying. I am now deliberating whether to use this skirt shape for Jackie. The shape will probably be a bit fuller made from silk, but that might be quite nice... Hmmm. I will also need to move the zipper to the back, as the Jackie bodice opens at the back but that will probably make it neater to finish.

Jackie part II

So I have just finished the bodice! I lined and stitched it all on machine - no hand sewing whatsoever - thanks to this awesome tutorial I found on BurdaStyle which shows you how to do this cool inside-outsidey magic seam thingy. In the end I found it easier to follow than the one on Threads I referred to in my previous post.. not sure if they even do the same thing, but I will be using this method a lot going forward.

I did use the Threads quick-lining technique to start with - it basically involves cutting your lining from the garment pattern pieces and sewing the facings to the linings and thereafter treating it as one unit. Here is a pic of the lining with the facing pinned to it. I have never sewn lining fabric before - slippery little sucker...

The inside-outsidey magic seam thingy I used for sewing everything together. The picture to the left was taken after I'd sewn the neck and armholes and before I'd sewn the side seams. I have left the back open as once I have made up the skirt bit (hopefully that will be a lot less fiddly and time-consuming) and joined the skirt to the bodice there will be a zipper there. Hopefully I've left enough of a seam allowance. The lining technique is awesome and for this project has worked well - I'm really chuffed with the results of my first attempt at lining something! I think when I sewed everything together I should have trimmed the seam allowances down at the armholes as there is a little bit of bulk there... but I gave it a good iron and it seems fine. I've been amazed at how easy the silk dupion has been to iron. Which makes up for the fact that it FRAYS ALL OVER THE GODDAMN PLACE. Ugh.

I'm really glad how the straps turned out - I hate hand sewing (it's always slipstitch isn't it?!) and the pattern for Jackie calls for hand sewing at the shoulders. Yawnarama. But the inside-outsidey magic seam thingy lets you sew the whole lot on the machine then turn it the right way and press it. It looks much neater and more professional than my hand sewing, that's for sure...

I didn't do anything with the seams on the inside - just pinked the edges - maybe I should have used some seam binding or something? I did that for the seam joining the silk bits of the upper and lower bodice and it looked very neat but you can't see it as it's hidden by the lining. Hopefully it will be ok, I can't see me wearing this dress every day! Though if I can finish the skirt bit I'd like to wear the dress for my cousin's wedding at the end of May... but first I have to figure out how to make the skirt...

Jackie

So I am part way through my lovely oyster silk version of the 50s delight below. Actually, I think I need to name it - how about Jackie? I decided that I didn't want a button fastening at the front but instead a zipper at the back, and though I haven't got as far as the skirt bit yet I am thinking of having a more tulip-style skirt instead of the full skirt the pattern uses; the silk dupion is quite voluminous and I don't want it to end up looking like some sort of 80s wedding dress… But for now I am just making up the bodice.

When I made the practice version, the gathered seam under the bust did not lie quite under my bust but instead sort of across it (a factor of my freakishly long upper body as opposed to the size of my bust, sadly) so I needed to make an adjustment for this in the silk version. What I ended up doing was extending the length of the upper bits of the back and front pattern that make the straps. So far it seems to have worked but I haven't sewn everything together yet. To remove the button closure facing stuff from the front of the bodice, I just folded the front bodice pieces back to the 'centre front' line and cut them on the fold. Again, seems to have worked so far but I haven't really fitted it properly yet. Is really hard to do with pins sticking everywhere… perhaps I should buy one of those Lady Valet dress forms… For the back, in order to leave enough fabric for sewing in the zipper, I added an extra 2cm to the centre back seam allowance.

Anyway, the cotton version of Jackie was a cream colour for the bodice, and it was quite translucent and you could see the folded darts a bit. So I wanted to line this version - also to make it nicer to wear. As I have only ever made two other things before - both of those being massively simple - and the dress pattern does not have instructions or patterns for lining, I am having to figure it out by trial and error. After a bit of searching I found an awesome tutorial on Threads which shows a great quick-lining technique . If this is the quick version, don't know that I'll ever get around to the 'slow' method…! I have sewn the facings to the lining pieces (which are just cut out from the same pattern as the bodice pieces) and now am about to sew the lining/facing unit to the front fabric… it is all pinned and ready, hopefully will get around to doing that tonight. Am a bit nervous about turning it the right way in (which involves pulling the back sections through the shoulders - sounds confusing to me) and pressing it but watch this space….