A New Jacket -Patrones #271, Model #42

Introduction

Thank you all for the recent comments on my latest vintage shirt and the Reflections quilt!  You confirmed what I thought about the print losing the details on the shirt.  After some thought, I've decided to make that one again in a solid in December. Glad you liked the simple little quilt - if Wellie approved it couldn't be too bad, but then again, cats like just about any sort of fabric, don't they?

My son needs a new jacket or blazer for school.  He doesn't really like sweaters as they're too hot for him, but he needs something for the classroom when it is cold outside.  His garment of choice is a jacket or sport coat or blazer - depends on what you call it.   I made him one two years ago and he's worn it a lot and now outgrown it; it is shown below without the red hood. 

When presented with a stack of pattern magazines, he went right back to the original.  Thankfully, it was graded to a size 10, so that decision was easy.  When asked what color he wanted, he said he wanted the exact same jacket, just larger, no hood this time.  At least he's easy to please!

I pulled out the magazine, traced off the pattern and then went looking for fabric. Fortunately, I found just enough fine-waled black corduroy (just like the old blazer) to cut out one more jacket.  After a little searching, I even found the leftovers of the fake suede I used for the elbow patches.  I'll need to get lining, shoulder pads and buttons, but those aren't that expensive.

The last jacket I made, I did not interface the entire body.  This time, I will.  The jacket always looked fine, as it was intended for casual and everyday wear, but once in a while he'd wear it to church and never quite looked nice enough.  Maybe with a little more body to the fabric, the whole thing will look better.  To that end, I'm using a very lightweight interfacing, Pro-Sheer (from Fashion Sewing Supply; link on right) in black. 

So far, I've got it mostly cut out.  The pattern didn't have the undercollar cut on the bias, but I know that's not a mistake I want to make again, especially when I know better.  Once I get all the fusing done, I'll be on my way to working on constructing the body!

Parting Shot:  Not Safe.  I laid this fabric out on the floor nice and flat the other day to see if there was enough for a project and to get an idea of pattern layout.  It is hard to see those things if the fabric is on the table.  I left the room for a little bit and came back to the photo below.  I should have known, and I'll give you only two guesses as to the two of three cats who would have done such a thing.

3 Studios Art Quilt Challenge 2010 - Reflection

The theme word for the past two months was "reflection".  I sort of knew what I wanted to do, from the beginning, but I also knew that I'd be traveling quite a bit between July and August and so decided to wait until the end of August to make the quilt.

I decided to use a photo for this quilt that I had taken while on a hike this summer.  This one was taken from the summit of  Mt. Garfield, and shows the entire Franconia Range from left to right:  Mts. Flume, Liberty, Haystack, Lincoln and Lafayette.  The reason I chose this particular photo was because I had hiked the entire ridge that day and it was interesting to look back and reflect on the journey I had taken up Mt. Flume, all the way across to Mt. Lafayette and then over to Mt. Garfield.  This was very much about reflecting where I had been and where I was headed.  I also liked the reflection of the sky in the little puddle on the rock.

I kept this quilt very simple, only framing the printed fabric (using Bubble Jet Set) with a few pieces of coordinating fabric. Only one of the three fabric selections is commercially dyed;  the blue along the top was something I dyed, and the black is from a piece dyed by Vicki Welsh (who also sells her unique hand dyed fabrics in her Etsy shop). 

Thread selection was pretty easy - I didn't need too many colors in this quilt:

I chose to give the quilt texture via trapunto, layering more batting layers under the rocks of Mt. Garfield in the foreground and less batting under Franconia ridge and only a single layer under the sky.  It is hard to get a good photo of the texture and dimension created, but here it is:

To finish the piece, I added just a bit of thicker sparkly thread around the photo itself:

The piece is bound to the back, leaving the edges clean and simple. I liked the green back, because it reminded me of the color of the forested portion of the mountains in the summer.

Parting Shot:  Nap?!?  Really?  I can't put anything down without a cat wanting to lay down on it.  I didn't have the unfinished quilt on the ledge for more than 5 minutes when Wellie decided to claim it. 

The Great Vintage Shirt Project - Vogue 7198

Sleeve Cuffs, Hem and Zipper

The blouse only needs a few things to finish it:  sleeve cuffs, hem and zipper.  Both weren't too hard, they just needed to be done!

I decided to finish the sleeve cuffs first.  There is a separate piece for the sleeve cuffs for this pattern, rather than having the cuff included in the sleeve draft.  I attached it by folding it in half wrong sides together, then stitching the cuff to the sleeve rights sides together.

After trimming and pressing the seam toward the sleeve, I turned up the cuff.  To help it stay turned up properly, I did some stitch in the ditch at the underarm seam.  This is not noticeable at all, and will certainly help me when I press the blouse after washing it. 

The pattern indicated that the hem should be done before putting in the zipper.  I think this is a good choice.  Hemming it after zipper application could be a problem trying to get the hem done nicely around the zipper teeth.  The hem isn't anything exciting, just a plain, double-turned 1/4" topstitched hem. 

For the zipper, I decided to use a regular zipper rather than an invisible zipper.  Invisible zippers are my zipper of choice, but once in a while it is good to do other sorts of zipper applications just to keep in practice.  The pattern actually gave instructions for a lapped application zipper.  I found this interesting because when it comes to the zipper, many vintage patterns tell you to use the instructions that came with the zipper.  So that's actually what I did, I just followed the instructions in the zipper package and everything turned out nicely. 

The blouse is now done - I might wear it tomorrow to church, not sure yet!

I'm not exactly sure what I think of this one - I really like the style, but maybe not the fabric so  much now that it is done?  I'll have to wear it once and see what I think.  I might make another one, but I think it needs a little fit tweaking before it would be perfect.  It still is a bit wide through the rib cage right under the bust, but before you get to the waist.  The hips could be just a tiny bit wider, too.  I am considering making this one again - maybe in December in red for the holidays.  We'll see!

Parting Shot:  Ride.  As part of her birthday present, my daughter and I went on a trail ride today.  She had never ridden a horse and it has been years since I've been on one.  She really enjoyed it!  Sorry for the blurry photo - I took the photo with my cell phone and was riding the horse behind her.

The Great Vintage Shirt Project - Vogue 7198

That Sleeve/Yoke Piece - Part Two

Now that the collar is all finished, we can return to finishing the construction of the sleeve/yoke piece.  There are only two steps to this and then the side seam, at which point we will have something that looks more like a blouse.

First the yoke is attached to the lower front. This involved reinforcing the "v" on the lower front, clipping the yoke and the lower front at the appropriate places and stitching each side.

Second, the remaining portion of the front sleeve needed to be attached to the front.  This was easy as it was done the same way as the back sleeve, but without the easing since it was such a small section.

Lastly, the side seams were sewn.  Both the sleeve and side seams are sewn as one long seam from hem to hem, with an opening in the left side seam for a zipper. 

At this point, we now have something that really does look like a blouse:

It still needs sleeve cuffs, a zipper and a hem, but I think that will be done tomorrow!

Parting Shot:  One Down.  I finished one sock for my daughter today.  Now I just need to make the other one!  I've never used this yarn before, so we'll see how they look after a washing.  The yarn is Stroll by Knitpicks, in the color Aloha Multi. 

The Great Vintage Shirt Project - Vogue 7198

Collar Facing and Yoke Finishing

The next step in making this blouse is to finish the collar and yoke, which must be done before the front is attached.  To that end, I've made the collar facing.  It is stitched at center back, has the little neck darts and the edges along the interior seams turned under.

This unit is stitched right sides together with the collar, trimmed and turned right side out.  Once done, the turned under edges at the shoulders and back neck are hand stitched to the blouse to keep the inside neat.

I then needed to find some buttons, make the buttonholes and sew the buttons on.  I looked through my vintage collection and tried various buttons - both black and white. With a white button, all you'd see is that white button and not the whole blouse.  Not exactly what I wanted, so the black buttons were the right choice. 

So here's the blouse thus far:

Next up:  the sleeve/yoke piece, Part Two. 

Parting Shot:  Happy.  Every since we came home last weekend, Wellie has been very happy to see us.  He's usually a very independent sort of cat, and doesn't sit with you, but does his own thing around the house.  He's been sitting with us and purring.  He must have missed us just a little bit. 

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.

The Great Vintage Shirt Project - Vogue 7198

Darts

Almost every vintage pattern I've worked with has dart shaping to some degree or other, and this shirt is no different.  Whether the pattern was either a shirt or dress, it had multiple sets of darts to shape the bodice to the body, mostly for the bust and waist.

This shirt has double darts on each side in the front, but no side bust darts, and has two pair of darts in the back.  One pair shapes the waist and the other pair shapes the shoulder.  Then is another pair on the yoke that shapes the neckline.  All of the bust/waist shaping darts are marked from a point with two parallel lines that you bring together and stitch to form the dart - this is the way we normally make a dart. 

The two pair that shape the back shoulder and the neckline are marked differently.  There is only a single line of dots.

The instructions tell you to, "crease on small o line and stitch 1/4" from crease at top small o, tapering to nothing at lower end", thus marking your own dart.

I marked my darts before stitching them:

Now these darts are small, but they do provide that extra bit of shaping, especially the neck dart.  As a side note, I have seen that neck dart before, but in a coat that I've made - it helps to shape the collar around the curve of the neck on either side.  Here is the shaping with the collar lifted up from the outside, you can see that the lines of "pearls" do not match up horizontally across the picture due to the dart:

On the inside, here is the same little dart:

Next:  Working with that really unusual yoke/sleeve piece.

Parting Shot:  Socks.  Yes, more socks.  These are for my daughter. When I ordered the yarn for my sweater, I let her pick out something she liked for a pair of socks.  Now that the sweater is done, I've had time to start the socks.  I'm at the point now where I'm just knitting the foot of the sock between the heel and toe shaping.