bodner062

Exactly two weeks after I bought the fabric for the jacket, it’s finished. Probably a record for me. It was sort of typical story buying the fabric too. I went to a plant/gardening market with a friend, we both had seen a stall where we wanted to buy something for our respective gardens. In the same village, even the same street, where the market was, is also a fabric store. What does a sewing girl do? Of course, visit the fabric store (the friend is a non sewing friend, she remained outside . The shop is one of those very rare shops that don’t accept payment by card, only cash. I confess paying mostly by card, so my cash was limited and I had just enough to buy this fabric. The cash points at the bank were empty too, probably because of the market, so much more people than normally in that village. I ended the day with fabric and not the garden ornament I was planning to buy, as the stall owner also only accepted cash. Well, what’s more important? A picture that a friend sent last wee...

I had high hopes of finishing my jacket before Thursday, so that I could wear it to my sons' presentation on his bachelor thesis. It did not work out that way. But my son did fine and I’m a proud mum. It’s on such days that you realize time flies by so very, very fast. It was not a good day to wear a jacket anyway. Warm and very high humidity after days of exceptional rain. Where am I then with the jacket? The sleeves are inserted and it’s down to sewing the lining.  The picture below shows the interfacing of the sleeves. At the upper part the pattern pieces are interfaced with a light weight fusible, the hem with a heavy weight fusible. I already did this when interfacing the body part, to do all the interfacing in one go. If you look closely you can see that I traced the essential points again (top of sleeve, end of seam) with carbon tracing paper. After stitching I made long straight stitches to gather the top of the sleeve a bit. The sleevecap I made as I did before, using a me...

I can’t show you pictures of the zipper insertion at center front. It was difficult to make clear photos because the zipper is in between two layers of fabric and I stopped making them. Only the result to show: As you will have seen the center front of the jacket was interfaced with an extra strip of interfacing. When installing a zipper this is extra important, when your fabric stretches you will get ripples or a “wavy” zipper. For this jacket the front and back facing was sewn together. The zipper was basted to the front exactly between the marks for it. I had adjusted the pattern to the closest default zipper length available so that I didn’t have to shorten or order a special length. Then the facing and jacket were pinned, right sides together. For the zipper part I used the zipper foot as you’ve seen in the installing of the pockets. For the remaining parts of the seams I used my normal foot. The facing of the side panel hem still has to be attached and for that reason I left ...

The next step is inserting the zipper and the pocket. There are other ways of doing this, but this is what works for me. I did not make pattern pieces for the pocket, I seldom do for jacket pockets and go with pieces of fabric that are large enough and cut them in shape during the process. First step was basting the zipper into the window and stitch at the edges to sew the zipper in. The zipper after stitching and removing the basting threads. How it looks on the inside. For the part of the pocket that is attached to the lower zipper tape (never visible) I chose a cotton fabric that I sewed onto the zipper tape. Pressed downward The fabric that is attached to the top zipper tape is the fashion fabric, it will be visible when opening the zipper. Now I pinned the pocket lines to the two rectangles of fabric Stitched, cut in shape and the edges zigzagged A peek into the pocket. The fabric of the inner pocket is nog on the same grain as the jacket itself. To me th...

The other night I looked at the front panels that were pinned to the dressform and thought something is not quite right with the pocket placement. I had traced a line on a diagonal but when I saw the basting lines I decided I wanted them to be higher center front and lower at the side. Luckily it was not too late to change it. I removed the extra layer of interfacing for the pocket carefully and added a new piece. I’m using a technique that makes a ‘window’ for the zipper. The perfect fabric to use for the window is silk organza, as it’s thin but sturdy and super bonus is that you can see through it. I couldn’t live without a silk organza press cloth any more for that reason. A rectangle sufficiently wide and long is cut and placed on the right side of the fabric. As I want this to look very good (it’s an eyecatcher of this jacket) I baste a lot at this stage. The outer basting stitches are not the stitch lines, just basting lines to keep the organza in place while stitching. I sti...

First and foremost, thank you so much for all the comments indicating that a lot of my readers like to see the details of construction. The teacher in me likes to share and document the process, but if it’s not of interest to anyone I’d better use my time sewing . I have my times in and out of blogging, which I now regard as something natural. In the early years of blogging I used to feel I “had” to post. That feeling has gone, it’s one of the things I do and like doing very much, but there are times it’s just not a priority and I’m fine with that too. Onwards to the jacket. I’ve added extra interfacing at the point where the pockets are to be set in and  added a strip to the neckline and center front. (the seam needs an extra pressing) I know this pattern fits and I’ve added 1cm (3/8 inch) seam allowances. After applying the interfacing I marked a few crucial spots with carbon tracing paper: start/finish of front zipper insertion, waistline and of course the pocket line. The la...

Jackets are the type of garment I love to sew most. By far. I love the whole process of planning, cutting, interfacing and construction. In general it’s a time consuming process, but cut in several stages it’s very manageable. The inspiration for my next jacket was one I saw in a television broadcast. I tried to find a picture but could not find it. It is a jacket with V-neckline, 3/4 length sleeves, a zipper center front and also the pockets will have a zipper. In the category jackets it’s relatively easy (compared to a notched collar for example) The first step was to draft the pattern. I based the pattern on the jacket I made last year and made a quick muslin of the body because I wanted to be sure the V was drafted correctly. With a deeper V-neckline the pattern has to be adjusted to make sure there is no gaping. No need to be worried, the fit is good. I didn’t muslin the sleeves, I know they are ok because they are exactly the same as in the other jacket. Only difference is t...