Sewing and the Winter Veggie Garden

I see mud in my future. It’s time to turn my sewing to gardening clothes for both cool and warm weather. I’ve collected a few overall patterns but haven’t compared them yet. I save jobs like that for bedtime reading material.

Tops should be plain, long sleeved, but easy to roll or push up, tees and shirts from cotton, microfiber and technical fleece. Even bandanas will be in order to cover the back of my neck and my hair. Everything must be easy to wash and come out of the dryer with no need for ironing.

So how did the garden fare this past winter here in zone 7a?

Here it is in December 22, 2012 covered with the best floating row covers I could imagine: the fleece stash It was light weight and dried quickly when laid across the fencing. Thank You, Stash!

Here it is covered and anchored after a windy, freezing, snowy night January 31, 2013. This was the last time I actually used the fleece row covers

Here it is, March 19, 2013

I learned that unless the temperatures dropped into below 24 or wet heavy snow was in the forecast, I didn’t really need to cover it. It wintered over quite well, as did the weeds. The plants needed no babying after all.

Dutch late cabbages are leafy and the most tasty when sliced up for slaw or sauteed then rolled in philo dough and baked. The heading cabbages taste wonderful too but are better for storage. We haven’t stored any except in the ground.

The Brussels sprouts never grew much before frost and they went rather dormant over the winter but are starting to grow again with the longer days

The carrots and spinach survived covered lightly in hay but uncovered like the cole crops

Happy spinach

Even the dead looking broccoli plants gamely has sent out new shoots

Garlic, hard and soft necked varieties, survived with just a light covering of hay

Elephant garlic is putting on new height

Soon, I’ll be clearing and planting for the summer harvests. I have not tried to start my own seeds this year. I just don’t have the space without having to move trays constantly. I’m probably going to regret this decision but sometimes I am just too lazy to do it all. Know what I mean?

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Tracing Magazine Patterns

While thinking thoughts on a pattern for a wide rounded back

I was reading a post on Threads Magazine dot com by Kenneth King today. It’s a good one about how to correct the armscye for a very wide and high rounded back, a body shape similar to the figure style for which the Burda Faux Peplum jacket would be perfect.

It’s good to know why some things are done in pattern making. I’m not satisfied with, “Oh they drafted that pattern wrong!”, which was my conclusion yesterday. There’s too many shapes under the sun to call my body shape the one all “correct” patterns must fit. Anyway, as I mused I ran into new thoughts.

How to trace magazine patterns without a light box

I realized that I had done something new-to-me when I made my paper pattern for that jacket shown yesterday. You will probably find ways to improve this technique to fit your preferences.

I used to use translucent paper to trace off the patterns, back when I had The Stitchery in its own house and had a glass table. I’d put a light bulb under the table and turn it into a huge light box. Those days are gone, and so is the table.

Now I have to trace on a wooden table with a cutting mat on top. These days many things just “happen” and I can’t say exactly why or where the ideas come from.

I used to use carbon paper under the magazine pattern but keeping everything straight and on grain seemed too difficult this time. So here’s what happened:

I use the front side pattern piece for this example

I like to find the approximate placement of the grain line so it’s easier to line up everything with the straight edge of the cutting mat and measure to make sure the fabric is equidistant and therefore on grain. I try to fold back the pattern sheet to get the grain lined up with the numbers on my tracing paper. This is NOT a necessary step, we’ll prick it in anyway.

Using what I call a Pin Prick tracing wheel (Claire Shaeffer calls it a stiletto wheel, others call it a “needle point” and “spur” wheel) I mark the pattern lines onto the drafting paper underneath

No need for carbon paper.

Then retrace, adding cutting lines. My double wheel requires quite a bit of uneven pressure on it to get a good second line sometimes

The dashed lines are the cutting lines

I use a ruler to draw in the grain line, marked by an arrow. And a magic marker to highlight the seam and cutting lines and pattern markings.

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!

Burda Faux Peplum Jacket – Construction Notes – Magazine 2006/08/128

I am making up a tailored jacket from the August 2006 Burda Magazine. I found the Russian site Osinka.ru has the archives for 8/2006 here I am making pattern number 128

This is the jacket:

I flat-pattern measured and cut a generous size 48 in this Plus Sized pattern. I’ve sewn up the shell and on me it looks exactly like how it looks on the model, with fullness above the waist and the hip skimming flat peplum.

It’s a boxy jacket with one button closing at the waist and rather broad, padded shoulders. Burda calls it a “Faux” peplum, maybe because the peplum does not have much ease. My body shape from the back side does not want or need much of a peplum so this jacket style is attractive to me.

The Burda pattern has no interfacing nor lining instructions or pieces so I zipped along on my prior experience and research in jacket making, fusing in my favorite weft interfacing (Pro-Weft Supreme Medium Weight) on all pieces and adding Fashion Sewing Supply’s old fusible tailors canvas on top of that in the peplum, fronts, across the back shoulders, lapels and collar stand. I look forward to trying out the new 68″ wide version that is pre-steamed

Yes, the owner is a dear friend but I am endorsing her products because they are the best I’ve ever used. And, no, she is not paying me to say sing these high praises

I am also taping the edges and roll line with straight fusible tape but haven’t finished that part as of this writing (you’ll see why if you read all the way down this post).

Armscye canvas applied

I sewed up the under collar dart in the front facing. In my classic sample the dart is on the front, not in the front facing, like it is in the Burda pattern:

Dart sewn in under collar

Should that have been my first clue? Maybe! But I skimmed along, hoping that one day I would be through with all the fusing, my least favorite part of jacket making.

I took apart and used the hand stitched sample jacket I made in 2009 when attending Claire Shaeffer’s Couture Tailoring workshop as a reminder of how things should be done.

Hand Stitched front interior

Hand padded lapel

Roll line is drawn up one half inch for my DD sized front. This stay is also called a “Bridle”

I moved most of the fullness of the roll line to the bust area of the front facing and the fusing went well. Yes, all that fullness eased in just beautifully!

and put in a perfect roll for the lapel!

What? Wait!!! It’s rolling the Wrong Way! So I have to soften the fusing and roll it the other way. Eeesch. Fortunately I am using a premium product and rectification is possible so I steamed and pressed over my store bought roll. I still can’t find my ham. Moving from an 1100 square foot house into a room that’s 10 x12 foot is really tricky! Anyway here’s the two front facings meeting their rectification:

and This is the collar detail:

Do you see that there is no “Gorge Line?” The gorge line is where the collar and lapel meet and are sewn into one unit.

But this detail is missing: the collar is not sewn to the lapel but lies separately. Do you see it???

Yup. That’s a detail I really liked for my plain woven stretch wool fabric and late last night I finally turned to the Burda instructions and found that that collar is sewn into the dart.

Ah ha! Ok, back to the seam ripper. I hope I’ll have a completed jacket to show you in the near future, the good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise.

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