Speed the likes of which has never been seen before in my sewing room

Last night I managed to escape from work awesomely early and so when I got home I was desperate to start a new project. Ripping off the 'Dream' dress seemed like too difficult a place to start, and so I thought I'd crack on with the lovely Vogue 8511 (which A Sewn Wardrobe has just finished) – a dress with sleeves. Dresses with sleeves are so glam at the moment. I haven't quite decided which fabric to make it in… maybe some of the lovely Loro Piana wool I got recently, which would be nice for work? But in any event I thought I'd make a toile of it first. All this London College of Fashion stuff has really gone to my head! The main reason I wanted to make a toile was because I wasn't certain which size to cut… I think probably a ten would be right but the measurements on the envelope put me at a pattern size 14 (I am a UK dress size 8 or 10)… so I cut out a 12 and we'll see how well it fits.

First I cut out the pattern, and then dug out some cheap cotton I had bought months ago for this sort of thing and started pinning and cutting out the fabric. To be fair the pattern is a very simple one and there aren't many pieces (I think there are seven?) but I WAS SO QUICK! I'm not sure if I'm just getting a little faster at doing things because I've had a little more practice, but in three hours I had cut out the pattern, cut out the fabric, and sewn the front and back bodice sections together. Some of you reading this are probably thinking "that took her three hours?!", but it has been known for cutting out the pattern alone to take me longer than that… Tonight I am hoping to get the toile finished and then I can assess what I need to change (I am hoping nothing, other than maybe cut it out in a smaller size!) and maybe even cut out the fabric… whoa there, don't want to get too carried away.

Polly II

This week in class I managed to do no sewing. My homework for this week had been to cut out my fabric, lining and interfacing of my jacket of which I only achieved the former. I did purchase the lining (more on that in a separate post) and some matching thread but didn't get round to cutting it out (read "couldn't be bothered by the time 9pm on Friday night came around") - I figured I'd need to do my outer shell first in any event. I took some interfacing along to class as I wasn't sure what to use and our teacher gave me some better stuff to use (which was dark grey as opposed to the white I had, which is better for my fabric). So I spent the class shortening the sleeves (who'd have thought - those 'lengthen or shorten here' markings have an actual purpose), making sure I transferred some markings (still some left to do on the dreaded collar), cutting out the interfacing it and fusing it using this awesome machine where you feed it in at one end (no pins) and it spits it out at the other end off a little conveyor belt. It's brilliant! I think it did shrink my fabric a little but should be fine (eek). In the picture on the right you can see Maud modelling the bodice section with the front facings on the inside, all interfaced and ready to go. When I first started I was worried that the weave on the fabric I'm using was actually quite loose and the jacket would be quite flimsy when it was finished. But two layers of the fabric (at the front) plus the interfacing plus the lining is going to equal one pretty cosy jacket!

As ever, I am doing a lot of the easier construction at home before next week (the bodice sections, the sleeves, maybe the peplum, and the pockets) and I will leave the tricky bits (setting in the sleeves, attaching the collar) to the class when I can get some expert help. But when I was doing the pocket flaps I noticed some scrap offcuts of fabric, and how nice the selvedge was (picture left). I thought it might be nice to use this as trim on the pocket flaps, so I cut it into even strips and sewed it on to the right side of the outer pocket flap before sewing the flaps together and turning them the right way out. I might even make some patch pockets to go on the front of the jacket - I think the flaps look a little lonely by themselves.

I've never made patch (or any other kind of) pocket before - I'll need to find a good online tutorial or how-to, and have a look in some of my sewing books. Any suggestions of good places to learn this??

The second sleeve

The second sleeve for my jacket (I haven't named this one yet - I'm thinking Polly.. Polly the Practice!) I did at home. As I had more time, I thought I'd give the gathering technique a bash. SO I first sewed two lines of gathering stitches (see right) around the cap of the sleeve. Then I pinned the sleeve into the armhole matching the notches at the top and bottom. I gathered the threads in two halves, on each side of the top pin. One side was fine, but the other side was really stiff (maybe the two rows of gathering stitches were a little close together at some point) which made it hard to spread out the ease equally and in the right places. Once I'd gathered the threads enough to fit the sleeve to the armhole, I pinned it all together, ready for sewing.

I actually found it really hard to sew this, going around in a circle not being able to see... I wasn't a massive fan of the gathering stitch method... I found it really hard to sew the gathering without getting little folds in the seam. I think I should have sewn the two rows of gathering stitches further apart and then sewn it properly between the two lines of gathering - something our teacher did in sewing class which worked really well...

Once I'd clipped the curves and turned it the right way out, given it an iron and hemmed the peplum, it looked pretty cool! And it does fit really quite well. You can see the little tucks resulting from the dodgy gathering on the left sleeve (right as you look from the front) and also where I managed to cock up sewing on the pocket flaps... woops. I think I might put little patch pockets on the front - I always think those fake flaps look a little weird on their own. The pointy shape of the pocket flaps is echoed in the cuff of the sleeves though you can't see the cuffs very well in the pictures. As I say, I reckon they'd look much better as three quarter length sleeves...

So because I've been so slow in class, I have a LOT of homework this week. I have to cut out the pattern (other than the sleeves which I will adjust and cut in class with the benefit of our lovely teacher's expertise) in the outer fabric and the lining, and I also need to get some interlining I think (our teacher said this - I assume she means interlining as opposed to interfacing?!)... next work looks as if it could be horrific at work so this could be pretty tough!

Sleevarama

Yet another horrific journey to Curtain Road yesterday (why is it that the tube is always massively dysfunctional at the weekends??) Another cab ride from Kings Cross due to no northern line trains... anyway I digress.

This week in class I spent my time getting the stage where I was ready to - wait for it - set in a sleeve. My first ever set in sleeve. The experience was not all I'd hoped for. I spent a good half hour battling with a recalcitrant sewing machine and sewing the same seam on the sleeve about five times, then putting in the facings (I wanted a practice run at that before doing it For Real) and then I realised I hadn't sewed the side seams, or put the peplum on (GAGH)... So about about twenty minutes before the end of class I was finally at the stage of putting in the sleeve. I had managed to miss a previous demonstration by our lovely teacher, and was feeling pressured to get the sleeve in so our teacher could then help me adjust the fit if necessary, so I just went for it. The pattern instructions suggested adjusting the ease with two rows of gathering stitches, but I didn't have time for that so I just had to ease it in by hand. To be honest, I was reasonably happy with the way it turned out - see the pic at the top right, after I'd put on the right sleeve only. I tried to put most of the ease in round the cap at the top. After all that, it turns out that other than moving the bust dart down 3cm, it doesn't need any adjustments! I though perhaps maybe the sleeves were too loose but I think I am going to make the sleeves shorter anyway, 3/4 length. And there will be a bit more bulk to the whole thing once it has bulkier fashion fabric (think I am going to make it in a tweedy-type fabric I bought at Goldhawk Road in the summer - see pic left), lining and interlining. And shoulder pads - our teacher said she will show me how to put in some sleeve cap things which give a nice roll to the fabric.

Today I put in the other sleeve and hemmed the peplum - I will tell you more about that in a separate post.

Set in sleeve challenge completed!