Overalls for Her Jalie 972 and Jeans Rivet Setting Tute Improvement

This pattern has cutting lines for 32 different sizes for each pattern piece. That’s a lot of lines! This time I laid a sheet of tracing paper on top of the fabric, laid the pattern piece on top of the tracing paper and used a solid tracing wheel to mark the lines directly onto the wrong side of the fabric. My measurements fell between the largest “regular” size and the plus sized. I cut the regular size and can wear regular pants, leggings, and a sweater under them anyway.

There are some problems with this pattern or maybe with the pattern cuter but the cut fabric matched up with each pattern piece. So here’s what to watch out for:

Straps are not the correct angle to lie flat in the back when worn. Even the instruction drawing shows them crossing over each other. I didn’t discover the problem until I had done all the double top stitching and was not going to pick all those stitches to make the correction.

I took a tuck and then put a rivet in each corner. I also had to narrow the straps (yes I did unpick two rows of top stitching for that) and cut off 8 inches of length.

Pocket piece is not wide enough to allow proper installation of button band. This is a crucial 5/8″ of fabric but I managed to squeeze through the construction by triple step stitching the edges and turning just once.

Add at least 5/8″ to the outer edge of the pocket and pocket facing. It will save a bunch of time in construction.

The next time saver is a big one and so simple and logical I can’t believe I didn’t find this in any of the two How-To-Use Jean Rivets tutorials published by Fehrtrade or TaylorTailor Oddly enough both of these tutorials were published on the same day May 15, 2011. I found that interesting. Wonder what was going on there?

But here’s the deal:

Rivets nails should be trimmed down after inserting into hole

if the thickness of the fabric doesn’t require the full length of the nail. Sooooo simple. It allows you to see how much you need to trim and since the nail hasn’t been crimped and it sharp point removed it slips right through the pre-made hole.

See that ragged edge?

It catches on on the fabric threads and takes forever to get pushed through

Even with the pointed head left in tack threads can be split and cause a few troubles

but the point takes much less time to insert. I got my rivets years ago from the nice man at Castbullet. I see that TaylorTailor also sells them and in more colors

As I was working with this fabric I’ve had for years and had always planned to use for overalls, I was wondering why I’d put this gorgeous twill aside for work pants. The answer came as I was applying the rivets to the side tool pocket

and found this

It is clearly abraded and marked and must have been there when I received the fabric. I zigzagged over the edges and applied a patch.

Another odd thing about this pattern is that there are no reinforcement suggested for the location of the buttons or buttonholes. I put them in without adding anything since I wasn’t going to do the ripping needed to add in a backing material.

The pattern has you “tack” over all the stress points but I only used them on the faux fly area

and used the rivets where there would be real stress.

I am glad this pair is done. I compared the pattern pieces with the other two patterns I have in the stash and they are similar in shape. I hope the instructions are better. We’ll see.

Gratuitous Dog Bomb

Finished Anorak -Onion 1045-

You may note that the hem does not contain elastic as I planned to do per the pattern suggestions. It is serged, turned and top stitched. I figured I’m round enough from the back view without elastic to emphasize it

I have finally figured out Flikr and WordPress.com. I changed my WordPress password a number of weeks ago and apparently just now Flikr has figured that out. It wanted my attention!

As an admin and member of The Sewing Divas on WordPress.com I’ve seen thousands of spam attacks attached to the photos uploaded into the WordPress.com media library. I am now deleting all my Stitchery photos from that library, I don’t want that happening here in my little blog! Sorry for all the computer whining, I have spent too many years fixing computer stuff on the job to put up with it on something I do for fun!

Anorak Onion 1045 Pattern

The anorak is shaping up.  It’s not finished yet but this is the first try on.

How to line the hood has taken days to ponder since I am not buying new fabrics and only shop the stash.  And I had to think about the faux fur trim issue.

I wanted something very silky to protect my wildly curly hair from being dragged by the hood fabric but could only find solid colored charmeuse in the stash.  Then I checked the linings held in a black plastic bag and found this well aged  silk, just waiting

I had 3 different types of faux fur to use to edge the hood.   It’s pretty on the Onion version though, and is the proper thing to do on an anorak.    But decided I didn’t want to be bothered with feathery fur at the edges of my vision while I am working.

Then placing the pattern became the next thing to ponder

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.  It’s pretty but not too fashionista for the garden environment

I used this pattern because  it has a large pocket covered by a flap that will keep necessaries from falling out when you bend over.   This was the deciding factor, folks, I’ve been thinking about pocket security for a couple of years now.  I just hope the pocket is not so deep that reaching things becomes a problem

Cell phone, seed packets, notepad, pencil, tape measure and ruler, should all be safe from falling out.

I have yet to set in the sleeves (decreasing the upper chest width in the process) and inserting elastic to sleeve and bottom hems.  I don’t want pull cords danging, these are work clothes and should not attract my attention away from what I’m doing.  I have enough problems being distracted by the birds flitting around without my clothes adding complications

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I hope I finish this up today, that my time will not be spent trying to figure out computer problems!

Onion 1045 line drawing

Burda Magazine 2006/08 #128 Faux Peplum Jacket

The jacket is finished and the pants are in-process.

I am trying to decide how much more energy I really want to put into this fabric. It is a stretch wool, plain weave, slightly brushed on the side I put to the public, but lacking the weight and body of a true gabardine. Below you’ll see lots of different colors but it’s actually gray with a slight greenish caste to it. I do need a better camera, don’t you think?

Here’s the jacket last night after a fresh pressing and before topstitching: Right Sleeve

Here’s the same sleeve today after wearing for an hour:

And here’s the Left sleeve, freshly pressed:

and after an hour’s wearing:

This pattern is a plus-sized pattern. I cut to fit my bust waist and hip measurements. I did not suspect the extreme width of the shoulders and didn’t even try to measure myself through the back and shoulders. I should have!

And I could have, had I brought this little gem into The Stitchery! Check this out: Cochenille.com here in US is marketing the Hurth Measuring Tool designed by Ursula Hurth, owner of Home Atelier in Germany. In early February Mz Hurth’s website also listed the Tool on her “Zubehör” page but I don’t see it there now. Perhaps my European readers might contact the Home Atelier to see if she intends to offer it again. There’s a handy dandy PDF at Cochenille that shows how it is used here: RulerHowTo

The pattern instructs that the peplum is lined in self fabric with no call for interfacing or lining. I didn’t follow the pattern instructions since they really didn’t apply to the garment I was building.

I lined the whole body with fleece-backed satin for warmth and a pleat for wearability mid back and the sleeves are lined with bemburg.

The sleeves were 17″ wide at the underarm and the back and shoulders so extremely broad that I decided to try to correct the armscye and sleeves after the bodice had been constructed. That’s new territory for me. I thought that making 2 piece sleeves out of the 1 piece pattern would also help the fit.

I dove into these murky waters with the Threads Magazine vol. 38, article Drafting a Two-piece Jacket Sleeve From a One-piece Pattern, by Margaret Komives, published in the Dec 1991-Jan 1992 issue on page 38. Many bloggers over the past decade have recreated her instructions on their blogs and you can find them by using a search engine so I’ll not recreate it here. (I think only one blogger actually credited Mz Komives with the technique.)

After carefully following the instructions I created a muslin for the sleeve out of a polyester knit pin stripe fabric from a Michael’s Fabrics bundle (the stripes are handy for checking the grain lines) and inserted the basted muslin it into the armscye. It seemed to fit just fine but the whole unit was still too large and the under arm was cut too deeply. I found myself forced to take in the back at the side seams on the jacket shell and lining, which created even more extra ease in the sleeve pattern.

I reshaped the bodice armscye to reflect my more narrow shoulders and back which resulted in removing up to an inch of bodice armscye as I cut away the upper front and back. And now I found that I could insert the sleeve, just barely. I further deepened the curvature of the front sleeve but then was at a loss as to how to proceed with narrowing the back of the sleeve.

I see on my pattern pieces that I toyed with the idea of removing more sleeve width through the upper and under sleeves pieces but then changed my mind, fearful that I would be unable to raise my arms after all this cutting and snipping. I didn’t want to chop-chop myself into a worse situation than I already faced!

So I inserted the sleeve using a loosely woven wool bias strip to gather the sleeve cap. I inserted a sleeve head. the whole sleeve itself was already interlined with Pro-Weft Supreme so I didn’t add another piece of interfacing. Perhaps I should have? Anyway, shoulder pads inserted, I machine bagged the sleeve lining into the lining bodice, leaving open 10″ on the front sleeve lining of each sleeve so I could turn the garment enough to machine stitch. Topstitched, pressed, sewed button and wore.

Do you see how the collar stands away from the neck? There should have been a better result since I had cut the under collar a full 1/8″ smaller on all outside edges and used armo to create the collar stand inside this one piece collar. It rolled nicely before insertion into the neckline.

Or perhaps my neck is somehow not thick enough? Hardly!!!

I do think this pattern was drafted for a much larger person and poorly graded down to size 48 in Burda sizing. I can think of no other explanation for the oddness of the upper body drafting. I didn’t alter the waist and hips at all, just the shoulders and armscye.

Ah well, much as I would have preferred a more fine piece of tailoring, I like this jacket. I love the look of the collar turned up with a scarf wrapped around like in the second picture above. It’s a warm and utilitarian jacket and I’m really really glad it is finally finished!

Vogue 8757 Jacket or Topper? Construction Thoughts

This garment might be more properly called a “topper” rather than a “jacket”. This drape-front topper is lined to the edge through the bodice and has unlined knit sleeves. It has front and back princess shaping with lovely shaped back center sections. The sleeves are meant to be tight so that the silhouette is slimmed by a glimpse of “daylight” between the arms and the wearer’s sides. The sizing only goes up to a 16 so that should tell you that this is drafted for a slender body. This outfit, while slimming, does not make you six foot tall and 135 pounds, to that I can personally attest!

But this style can drive a traditional tailor to madness! Here’s why:

Lined to the edge:

That means there is no true hem. There is no extra weight in the lower edge to weigh the jacket down over the hips and derriere. This type of edge finish can cause the hem to curl outward when it’s stitched and top stitched as you can see here

and in my jacket the lining bags a little which further adds to the outward bulge

All this means is that you might be tugging at the hemline to pull the jacket into place.

Lining and Facing:

The front of the jacket is self faced and is interfaced with Pro Weft Supreme fusible in Medium weight as is the collar. It was perfect for use with the cashmere herringbone I chose for those sections. The rest of the jacket is not interfaced. I should have recognized that the cashmere herringbone would drape differently than the tweed and should have interfaced at least the back sections as well.

Here’s how I prepared the edges of the front panels:

I laid the garment on a flat surface and using my fingertips, rolled the top layer of the wood until the exact seamline became the fold

Where the wool was reluctant I push-pulled the layers into compliance

Then STEAM, do not press

and pinch in the exact edge

I used my store bought seam roll on the wool side to press the edge. I wasn’t ready to press in a solid seam until the wool had been shaped together. Top stitching might produce puckers if any of the wool has stretched during this process

The wool to wool roll and pressure forces the moisture into the fabric and holds it there. I let the shaped wool rest and dry on the board before moving to the next section

I paid particular attention to making the corners squared, not pointy

I love how wool is shaped like dough, not strictly engineered like cotton

The sides and back edges are lined to the edge and require a bit different treatment. The edge must be pressed in with a millimeter of the wool rolled to the inside. I detest a lining that shows on the edges of garments

At the end of the construction all the edges are top stitched.

Some jacket making info will help with this project. The instructions do not have you reinforce the pockets or the point of join to the body and that must be done

The pocket bags seam allowance must be trimmed closely, at least to .25″, or they will be caught up in the topstitching at the bottom edge.

I read in the recent Threads Magazine about using organza to prevent show through when pressing by folding over a rectangle of silk organza into a seam and tried it here. It worked great

The instructions do not mention reinforcing the shoulder seams nor do they mention that the armcscye must be bound to prevent shredding of the lining as the garment is pulled on and off

Serging the edges might work too, but I wanted the firmer support to shape the shoulder and support the sleeve. There is no room or mention of shoulder padding or sleeve heads.

Finally, the ball section of the snaps are placed along the edge of one side of the front as far away from the edge as if they were buttons (right side if you’re a girl) but the fit and drape of the front is adjusted to your liking by the diagonal placement of socket section of the snaps. For me that means a less than perfectly straight diagonal. Eeeee, nails on chalk board!!! but I’m finally going with the flow

A final discussion of this topper comes directly from the fabric I used and their individual properties:

The sleeves are the same medium weight double knit used for the pants even though my camera work shows them at different colors. Gray pants are shown below. The side panels are the wool tweed and the center panels and collar are herringbone cashmere. The cashmere does not have the body that the tweed has and wrinkles against it I love wearing cashmere around my face but I think this topper would have worked better with another plain weave instead of herringbone

As you might see photographing the colors of these fabrics is difficult! It changes all the time depending on the lighting

The true colors are somewhere in between the photos above and below. In fact the blue that shows so clearly in these photos is only barely seen by the eye in real life.

The common denominator is an “olive caste” to each different fabric. I was shooting for a jacket that could be worn with as many different colors in pant as possible: brown, gray and maybe even blue.

I am adjusting to this graceful topper and not trying to make it into a tailored jacket. I put a jersey turtleneck under it and it was quite comfortable, esp with the knit sleeves.

The fabrics for this pattern are listed: lightweight woolens, synthetic suede and double-sided fleece. The model photographed for the pattern envelope is wearing synthetic suede. I personally wanted to try fleece but I think top stitching would be a pain. Might just try it anyway

Vogue 8757 Jacket

This is just a quick view of the Vogue 8757 jacket. I’ll post more tomorrow. We ran out of light for the evening making photography difficult. This first photo show the truest colors of the jacket and pants

Jacket front close-up, (color & exposure tweaked)

Jacket Back (also tweaked)

I have a few things to say about the construction of this jacket so I’ll see you all tomorrow

Vogue 8757 Wool Doubleknit Pant

Jan 21, at the same time that I cut my gray Wool Double Knit Pants from my custom pattern, I also cut a olive brown double knit that is a bit lighter in weight. Now that I’ve struggled through the fitting of the first pair, it is apparent that a slim-legged pant is not the right pattern for knits without lycra and to attempt it in a lighter weight would be ridiculous. Both fabrics are luscious and from GorgeousFabrics.com but I only got 3 yards each so I couldn’t re-cut a new style.

Enter Vogue 8757, via a great pattern sale and the US mail

I laid the pattern pieces carefully over the cut pieces, matching the grain lines, and found that the front piece needed 2″ more inches the full length of the pant and the back only needed about 1.5″ and that was just at the waist. I spliced in an extra strip on the side seams that the front needed and decided to take a chance on reducing the 3 darts in the back of the pant and steal more from from the 5/8″ seams.

I love this pattern! It’s easy to sew in the double knit wool, has great instructions and a lovely, comfortable cut. I haven’t hemmed them yet, do you think the length is about right?

It’s true: the back did need a bit of extra width, every lump and bump shows horrifically with this lighter weight fabric. So, you all are spared yet another “Why would she post THAT shot” picture this go-round.

I’ll be starting on the pattern’s jacket and a cropped shirt to go with these pants this weekend. Did I mention that I love these pants??!!! Wish I could wear higher heels with them but that’s not possible any more for me.

Shirred Turtleneck CJ #226

Finished this last night, cut the same sizes, 14 on top and 16 through the hips, as the gray non-stretch 2×2 rib I showed you last weekend. I shortened the sleeves one inch this time around.

The fabric makes all the difference in the world in this pattern. This time I used a Malden Mills 2 way athletic stretch fabric and it is much tighter than I usually wear my clothes. I’ll have to get used to the feel of it. I think this fast and easy top will look good under a jacket or coat.

Raglan Turtleneck: CJ #226 Travel Trio 3

I bought a 2 x 2 ribbed jersey rayon blend (no lycra) last year from Gorgeous Fabrics and sewed it up today. Christine Jonson’s Travel Trio 3 raglan tee with the turtleneck rather than the neck band was exactly what I was looking for.

I cut size 14 to the waist and a size 16 through the hips. I added 1″ to the length of the body of the sweater and didn’t shorten the sleeves. I used a 1″ hem on both raw edges, finishing with the 3 thread coverstitch.

We’re still trying to figure out the camera settings. Sigh. Pardon, please?

Love the neckline!

The back. Quite comfy, I hope the fabric doesn’t stretch too much more. I’ve had it on for a dog walk and the hour it took to get these funky photos.

Annnnd…the front. This will be a staple in the winter wardrobe. Done. Serged together and coverstitched: fast and easy.

Jalie 2319 – This Is Not My Vest

That’s right, I’m wearing someone else’s clothes. It’s made by me, of an unlined Malden Mills fleeced back sweater knit.

OK, it’s not really all that exciting, it’s for my husband to wear at work this winter. He broke the zipper on the one I made for him two years ago and put in his order for a repair or replacement.

Here’s the original. I’m warning you it’s an ugly truth: the man wears his vest when he’s gluing, silk-screening, painting, sanding, finishing and wood machining. I’m pretty pleased with how well the fabric performed under all that hard work.

He likes having no extra bulk but a warm body so we left off the sleeves. This wasn’t news: I had made a vest in 2004 using the same fabric in a heather green and reviewed it at Pattern Review.

The old cambric blue color was a much better match to the sawdust than this new black will be. I predict a disaster but all the blue stash has been pressed into service as floating row covers for this winter’s garden. He should have placed his order earlier, right? But he looks good in black.

We added more taper to the hip than his first vest, and cut 1.25″ off the width of the shoulders, tapering around the armscye to .625″ under the arm. I had raised the underarm point but ended up cutting that off after fitting. He loves his new vest.

A bit of construction details:

The zipper is stitched in at .25″ from the teeth, turned and then stitched at the edge of the tape to hold it down. The added lower band was stitched on, hand tacked and then rather than turn under the lower raw edge I used 2 rows of triple stitch coverstitch to seal the raw edge and hold everything in place. Inside stitching

Outside stitching

This added on band is neat. We shortened it this year to tighten it up around the hip and eased in the back. I added .5″ to the depth of the band but I need to add maybe another .5″ to the depth of it (depending on the length of the zipper to be used) so I wouldn’t have to slightly stretch the front body. But I got the job done and the collar meets up rather nicely, if I may say so myself.

(Photo settings lightened for detail)

I serged the side seams and shoulder seams and zigzagged them down toward the back. I used the serger to cut off the excess fabric and finish the raw edge around the armscye

and used the triple coverstitch to tack all that down at about .625″ from the turned edge.

The collar on the first vest had a tendency to flip up so I cut the under collar .25″ smaller on the outside and front edges. With this thick fabric I could have taken even more off the edge.

Jalie 2319 is no longer offered on the Jalie website but I believe Pattern Review might still have some available