The Wedding Suit - Part Eight

Collar is Fixed!

I took another look at the collar this morning and determined that it needed to be removed and replaced.  That's not as easy as it sounds, actually.  The problem with the collar was some strange pulling on the one side and just an overall unprofessional look.  Nothing screams "homemade" more than a bad collar!  I know I can do better than that, so after taking the collar off, I set about make a new one.

The major problem with the collar was that the under collar was not right.  The under collar and upper collar are cut from the same piece with the same grain lines.  If you've sewn any sort of jacket with a collar, you know that this is not a good idea and that the collar rolls nicely if the under collar is on the bias.  For some reason, I'm not sure why, I didn't think much of this when cutting out the suit.  I did glance at it and think that it was strange not to have separate collar pieces since the pattern had different pieces for the front lining, back lining and front interfacing.  So, I went ahead with the collar as drafted.  Mistake!  Always take a careful look at patterns and modify them if needed!

I was pretty sure I knew the problem yesterday, but didn't want to face taking the collar apart late yesterday.  This morning, I drew some bias grain lines on the pattern piece, for the under collar, underlining and interfacing pieces.  

After cutting new collars, underlining and interfacing, I made a new collar.  I also trimmed a bit, 1/8" or so off of the under collar so that when the collar was pressed that edge would roll under nicely.

I made sure it was well pressed and shaped and put it on the jacket.  It looks so much better!  It rolls nicely and is smooth.  Whew. 

Because of the way that I attached both collars at once, I will need to attach the lining to the collar at the neck edge by hand.  That's pretty easy work and will not be seen once the collar is rolled into the proper position.  As you can see from the photo on the dress form above, I've done one half at a time and still need to finish one side. 

 Today I also got the sleeve hems finished.  I had to finish the sleeve lining hems, make buttonholes and attach the buttons.  From the outside:

From the inside:

Tomorrow, I will be able to finish up the lining hem and the remaining buttonholes and buttons to complete the jacket.  I hope to get the knit top cut out, too, but we'll see!

Parting Shot:  Reading.  I found Wellie curled up with my son while was reading this afternoon.  It was too cute not to take a picture of.