The Great Vintage Shirt Project - Vogue 7198

That Yoke/Sleeve Piece - Part One

That yoke/sleeve piece is quite interesting (scroll down to yesterday's post to see the line drawing of this piece).  I'm not sure who drafted that, but I do admire the skill to put together such a pattern.  I have a pattern with a similar piece, but it is a dress, so this type of construction is not entirely foreign to me.  Before any seams are sewn, the piece must be prepared properly.

There are three distinct places where the fabric must be clipped so that the pieces will be able to be seamed.  Each of these areas must be reinforced so that they don't shred and that they can withstand actually being worn.  This is extremely important in this type of construction.  I have seen many lovely vintage dresses that have been ruined by shredding or ripping out at these stress points.  Once these sections give way, there really is not much you can do to fix them - there isn't any fabric left to work with.  I suppose you could reinforce it underneath and then applique something over the area, and that would look just fine, if the applique is consistent with the style of dress and further embellishment is done to unify the piece.

Anyway.  There are three ways that I do this:  stitching, organza squares and a little Fray Check.  For each point to be clipped, I stitch about an inch along the stitching line to the point, pivot and then stitch about an inch away from the point.  During this stitching process, I also include a small square of silk organza.  This is a good reason to keep those little scraps - each square is approximately 1" square, so scraps are perfect for this.  Once clipped during actually construction, each point gets a little drop of Fray Check - just in case the fabric wants to shred.

Here is the resulting piece, ready for construction:

Now for the actual construction of this unusual piece. This occurs in two parts, hence this post is Part One.  For the first part, we will be concerned with attaching the piece to the back piece via the shoulder, half sleeve and neck.  First, the shoulder is seamed - clipping the necessary points to make this work in the first photo and the seam to be sewn in the second photo. 

Second, the back half of the sleeve is attached to the back armscye.  This involves clipping the sleeve at the top of the shoulder (first photo below), easing and stitching it in place (second photo below). 

On the outside, the shoulder looks like this - note the funny dark section at the corner is not a bubble; it is still damp from some fray check.  I would never leave a bubble in a seam, as you'd probably know if you've read my blog for a while.

From the back, this looks like a regular set in sleeve.  Each side for the shoulder and sleeve are completed separately before moving on to the collar and back neck.

Third, the back neck and collar are stitched together.  The collar is seamed at center back, then attached to the remaining free back neck. 

The resulting blouse looks like this now:

You can now see how this is coming together, as the back and collar sections are now complete and the front yoke is in place.  The next thing to be done is to make and apply the collar facing before moving on the Part Two of the yoke/sleeve:  attaching it to the front.

Q/A:  I had a few of these from yesterday, so I'm going to answer these in a timely fashion.  First up regarding the new navy sweater, from paisleyapron (love the name, BTW, paisley is one of favorite prints!), "What is that beautiful sweater pattern's name? I'd love to add it to my queue on Ravelry."  The sweater pattern is Old Fashioned Girl;  you can download the pattern (for a small price) from Verena's website.

Brenda wanted to know, "What brand of interfacing do you prefer for your projects and where do you get it? I have been struggling with my interfacing! Thanks!" I would suggest taking a look at Fashion Sewing Supply's interfacings, owned by Pam Earny.  She sells mostly interfacing, and has a great knowledge of her products.  I buy a lot at one time and use it until it runs out, then make another bulk order.  Don't let the prices per yard put you off; most of the interfacings are 45" or 60" wide, which is rare to find at any local retailer.  No, I don't get paid for endorsing her products, it's just that I've used all sorts of interfacing over the years and like hers quite a lot.

Parting Shot:  School.  Today is the first day of school for the children.  My daughter is now in 7th grade and my son is in 4th grade.  They were excited to go back to school - they like school!  Here they are, dressed and ready to go.