tailoring – THE COMPULSIVE SEAMSTRESS

Coats for Christmas

coat 5 — Longline jacket Burdastyle 101 May 2017

Sometimes you have to have early Christmas presents. Those are the sort whose usefulness will be reduced if you have to wait for Christmas Day to receive them. Definitely the case with coats!

Daughter No 1 spotted the long line blazer in the May 2017 issue of Burdastyle and immediately put it on her list of things for me to sew. We just needed the right fabric – same old story. So the project languished with all the others I desperately want to get on with, but am held back on. The arrival of Autumn heralded a change round of fabric boxes, summer stuff into the back reaches of the cupboard, winter weights rediscovered. And in that box was a 2.5m length of grey wool with a darker windowpane woven through it. I’d bought it from Croft Mill Fabrics 2-3 years ago and never got round to turning it into the “perfect jacket”.

coat 8.jpeg

But it could be the “perfect coat”. The blazer in the May Burda was made with crepe, soft and draping. But this was no heavyweight coating fabric – I thought we could gamble. As luck would have it, Daughter No 1 rather likes grey and gave her seal of approval to it’s use for her coat immediately. I also had a lovely dark blue satin lining in the stash (bought for the grey wool) that proved enough for the coat.

coat 2.jpeg

A few adjustments were necessary, she didn’t like the slits in the side seams of the original coat pattern, so these were omitted, and she wanted less volume in the back. I took the centre back seam in a total of 3cm at the waist, and 1cm on each side of the back panel where it joined the side panel. This gives more shape to the coat, and eliminates the need for a belt, or half-belt as in the original design. I made small adjustments to the seams where the inseam pockets were to be inserted to that they’d be more invisible and have less bulk at the seam.

Collage tay coat

I pinned the checks of the windowpane together in a 20cm grid to ensure nothing moved around and to make sure the pattern would be easier to line up afterwards. I drew lines on the pattern pieces to make sure I was laying everything out exactly and that the patterns would match. It took some time, but was definitely worth it in the end. I chose the speed tailoring route rather than traditional, time was of the essense here, and while I know you get a fabulous look with traditional tailoring, I think you can get just as good a finish if you use speed tailoring correctly.

coat 9.jpeg

All in all, it took 5 days from starting to cut until the coat was finshed. I took my time, no rushing, and I’m dead chuffed with the result. My second coat was to be a very different one, but there was a little change of plan after the first one was seen…

coat 10.jpeg

Originally Daughter No 2 was looking at a more slouchy fit coat, dropped shoulders, slight cocoon shape. I’d already got the wool, 3m of the most beautifuly soft lambswool from Fabworks Online. And the colour? Most appropriately named “Autumn Maple”. It’s gorgeous!! On a flying visit home from Uni, she spotted the grey coat hanging in a wardrobe, tried it on and fell in love. Thank heavens it didn’t quite fit her properly or I’d have been looking to make another for Daughter No1!!

Collage am coat

So I needed to trace the bigger size of the first coat, lengthen the sleeve by 4cm and make the same alterations in the back, and to the pockets, as I’d made first time around. This fabric is a coating fabric, so I made the upper collar a little bigger that the first one to accommodate the turn of cloth, as well as the revers and remaining centre front. (Tip, when making coats and jackets, always make the upper pieces bigger, never trim the under pieces smaller).

coat 1

Again, taking 5 days and working carefully with my interfacings, organza cloth and clapper, I think I managed to turn out a lovely looking coat! I love the lining fabric which she chose from Fancy Silk Store. The gold spots pick up on the orange of the coat and just shine. I chose a dark bronze snap for the closure and attached it with nice neat buttonhole stitch. I was tempted to use a brown or dark thread for this, but the orange makes it look like a star, and that I like.

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I love a good hidden in-seam pocket. #burdastyle #coat #inseampocket

A post shared by Anne W (@compulsive_seamstress) on Nov 28, 2017 at 8:15am PST

coat 6.jpeg

Both girls love their new coats, and the different fabrics and colours are enough that they don’t look like they’re wearing the same thing when they’re together. At least, I hope not!! They look amazing, and warm and cosy, which is the most important job of a coat.

coat 4.jpeg

Now there’s still the matter of a certain coat for Mr W… It might have to wait for next year. There are plans afoot for trousers, more sweaters and some self drafted goodies for Daughter No1’s boyfriend. If they get going before I have a “suitable” lining for the famous coat, they will be done first! 🙂

Coat Progress – Sewing Menswear

I’ve been promising Mr W something handmade for years. It’s usually met with a look of doubt, those shifty eyes that say “yeah, right!” The first thing I thought I’d make was some shirts, found lovely ex-Paul Smith fabric at some of the sewing shows. Then he got fussy – “make sure the stripes follow exactly, make sure they join at the cuffs and collar, make sure it doesn’t look homemade…. Well, that last one did it!! HOMEMADE!?!?!?!

Needless to say, that lovely Paul Smith shirting found its way to making shirts and blouses for myself and the girls instead and he got nothing! But for a while now I’ve wanted to make him a nice coat, something smart but comfy. He’s massively allergic to spending money on himself, so wouldn’t ever think of dropping £100 or more on a single item of clothing that only gets worn in one season a year.

Patternmaking for Menswear by Injoo Kim and Myoungok Kim

I originally thought I’d make a peacoat, but after trying out the Thread Theory Goldstream, we realised the shape didn’t suit him. So I resorted to drafting one. I have a couple of menswear drafting books, but the only one that had a good enough looking block and resulting patterns was this one, Patternmaking for Menswear – Classic to Contemporary by Injoo Kim and Myoungok Kim. I bought it about 2-3 years ago from Foyles at their Charing Cross Store. (amazon link) We’d had a day in London, finishing at the book store while we waited for our train home and ended up with quite a pile of lovely books!

Anyway, I’ve looked through it loads of times, but never found the time (or inclination) to use it, until now! Having made exclusively for females, this book helped to make sure I was measuring all the right places with good photos of where to measure for a man. The only thing I had a problem with – and it was a major problem, was the unit of measure. As it’s a US book, it’s all in inches!! I tried to work that way, but got myself completely muddled. My ruler might have inches on it, but trying to find 6.3225 inches on my ruler just wasn’t happening!!! So I threw out that draft, which looked so wrong it wasn’t funny, and converted everything to metric. I have a chart in my notebook now with all the little bits of inches converted into nice and tidy millimetres.

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First attempt at drafting a men's torso block in inches doesn't look very promising…. #howdotheydoit #metricalltheway #confused #patterncutting

A post shared by Anne W (@compulsive_seamstress) on Oct 11, 2017 at 4:02am PDT

So, depending on what works easier for you, you might like to convert everything before you start, or maybe you know where to find 6.335 inches on a ruler that shows only 1/8. The draft, once the measurements were converted, looked much better! You start with a torso block – I chose the slim fit as we wanted a more fitted garment. Then that block is converted to a slim fit coat block. You do the same if you’re wanting a jacket, start with the torso block and convert to a jacket block. The sleeve blocks are drawn for the correct block.

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And when you say, screw it & convert the whole lot to millimetres, it suddenly works!! 🙌. I can't be doing with eighths of inches, give me metric! #nowforthecoatblock #metricalltheway #patterncutting

A post shared by Anne W (@compulsive_seamstress) on Oct 11, 2017 at 5:11am PDT

The original block had a pretty good fit, the sleeves were too long (not sure how I measured that much!) and they needed a bit more room in the bicep area, but otherwise all was good! The only thing that threw me a little was when you’re told to extend or move a line out 1/4 to 1/2 an inch, or 1/2 to 3/4. Doesn’t sound like much, but converted to millimetres that’s 3-6mm or 12-19! That’s a lot of mms! So I opted for safety and chose the middle.

Drafting the style lines and making the working pattern was next. We chose the Chesterfield style as the base for this coat, drafting the main body of the coat was straightforward and the instructions pretty clear. When you get to the lapels, collar and facings though, you start jumping around the book. The collar and lapels are in the jacket section of the book, facings in the shirt section and pockets are back in the coats! I have a fair few bits of paper sticking out the top of the book to keep my places!

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Now to get him to choose "design features" . . #Coat #sewingmenswear #designchoices #isew #handmadewardrobe #sewingforafusspot

A post shared by Anne W (@compulsive_seamstress) on Nov 10, 2017 at 1:55am PST

The first working pattern toile went together really well, I was pleased to note all the pieces went back together properly and all the notches lined up well. Pretty chuffed with the two piece sleeve too, the head is nice and smooth. “Client issues” were as follows:

Coat too long!
Sleeves still too long (how??)
Break point just a bit too low
Collar fall a little too short
lapels just too narrow

So these are my adjustments:

Shortened the coat by 32cm so now it’s just above mid-thigh
Moved the back vent up so it works properly with the new length.
Shortened the sleeve by 3cm, 1.5 above the elbow line and 1.5 below.
Lifted the break point by 3cm.
Redrafted the lapels 7.5mm wider and the collar 1cm deeper in the fall.

I made these adjustments to the pattern on Saturday and toiled again, adding the pockets, yesterday. I was lucky enough that Mr W came home before I went to bed and so I was able to get him to try it on again and check. It all works! I got the thumbs up!! The fit is great, he thinks it may be too long still, but any shorter and it’ll be a jacket…. A coat needs to at least keep your bum warm!!

My next task is to draft the facings and lining pieces. He wants two internal pockets and I know they’ll need to be reinforced, judging by what he does to his jacket pockets. I want to find him a jazzy, different sort of lining and he’s asked for extra trims on the inside. So I might dig out my silk box and make reams of bias strips to sandwich into the seam between the facings and lining.

We had a devil of a time finding a suitable fabric that didn’t break my bank, I had thought this fabric from Fabric Godmother would be different enough, but he turned up his nose at the sample. Evidently it’s “too different”. Eventually in desperation I got some Melton samples from Fabworks and made him agree that the Classic Onyx Melton would do just fine for his first handmade coat. If the inside is interesting enough.. (insert eye-roll here)

Top, Onyx Melton from Fabworks, bottom, Navy Melton from the same, and left, blue and black wool from Fabric Godmother

That’s only part of my coat making adventure that was supposed to take place in September. If you follow on Instagram, you’ll have see I’ve already finished one coat, and as soon as the person for whom it was made comes to put it on, I’ll to show it all off! There’s another in progress, only at toile stage at the moment, but hopefully I’ll be able to move it forward this weekend after a fitting. That’s everyone else’s coats, I haven’t even started on mine!

Sneek peek of Burda coat 101 05/2017 in grey windowpane wool for Daughter No 1

Anyone else making coats this month??

Plans for a Christmas Surprise

Hellooo everyone! I have found something I cannot use a commercial pattern for, so am back to a bit of pattern cutting, even though it is not something modern. I found this image on Pinterest originally, which then lead me to the New York Public Library Digital Gallery. They have, quite literally, millions of images of the most amazing fashion sketches!

This jacket is beautiful! The wide revers, short front waist & scoop tails at the back are just begging to be made up! I have sort-of decided to get this made up for Daughter No2 for Christmas. I will have to see how I manage the fittings so she doesn’t realise what I’m up to, but I really would like to give it a go. I have a black & grey wool check that would work well, especially if I use a good, rich contrast colour for the lining. Bound buttonholes on this garment will be a must, I think!

So I’d best be off then, still have three unfinished projects on my sewing table from vintage commercial patterns in my other venture….

Miracle

A double Christmas present, the fabric was a gift a few years ago!

Well now, would you look at this. I have actually made two of the items I had planned to do lately.. This from someone who doesn’t plan! I finished this jacket on Tuesday, but the weather was not playing ball for photos. With a breather in the clouds and rain today, Daughter No1 & I decided some fresh air and photos was in order. I still had cards to deliver too!

Delivering Christmas cards in my new jacket!

This is the pattern I made back in November – last year! I had been toying with the darted sleeve head idea and ran up a toile, but realised with the extended shoulders that the rever and collar were going to need adjustment. No problem, but I couldn’t make up my mind on the fabric. I eventually used the original collar and rever and made a different sleeve, which resulted in this jacket.

I finally chose a fabric to use for the darted sleeve version, a duck-egg blue fine wale corduroy from Ditto Fabrics that a friend had given me for a Christmas present. But I had no lining or buttons so it languished in the cupboard for a while. More than a while, actually! If you check out the other jacket photos you will see the difference in the collar and revers. I actually prefer the width of these ones, I think the previous revers were too narrow for that jacket too!

A walk in the park, loving my big shoulders!

I did lengthen the front of this jacket, something I noticed after wearing the other one was that it could have done with being about 2-3cm longer in the front. I also added welt pockets. I realised at the first fitting that the jacket was looking a little plain and boring, so I quickly got cracking with the welts! Note to self – decide on pockets before making up fronts and attaching to backs… The pocket bags use some left-over silk from my Pattern Magic blouse. I know you’re supposed to use some of the shell fabric so the lining fabric isn’t seen, but this is way too pretty to hide!

Dotty silk from the Pattern Magic blouse

The extended sleeves have some fusible wadding sew into the sleeve head seam to add support, and I moved the shoulder pads over slightly too, nothing worse than a collapsing sleeve head! The lining was a bargain from the Fancy Silk store in Birmingham, Jaeger cupro for just £3.99/m! Buttons are metal from Fred Winter’s in Stratford. I would have prefered to have a matching set, but so few places sell the same styles in different sizes. So I have horses on my sleeve vents and pretty ones down the front.

Silver horsey buttons, appropriate for living in the country.

I love this jacket. I love the colour, love the fit and love, love, love the sleeves! What is it with me and sleeves? :s Anyhow, I now need to move onto the herringbone twill for Daughter No1’s biker-ish jacket from the Burda mag, but I will be pattern cutting it to her measurements. Maybe I will wait a couple of days first, something tells me there is an important date approaching sometime next week. ;p

So, Happy Christmas to everyone, I hope you all get loads of what you’ve asked for (fabric & some new books in my case…). Enjoy spending time with your families and friends. 😀

In action, the “Rise Above This” Jacket

Ok, as promised, here are some photos. I realise the one I used in the previous post didn’t show the fabulous sleeves!! Oh no!

So that’s that project done, and the next one is on the drawing table now, a grey jersey dress.

Rise Above This

Ok, so the 2 for 1 jacket finally has a name! Sometimes you just need some space and good music to get the ball really rolling. And I have to confess to having a most bizzar collection of tunes. The one that got my steam up was Seether’s, Rise Above This. Does anyone else listen to music while they sew? I cannot work when it’s quiet. So here is the rest of the jacket. I must also confess that I sort of lost track of taking photos as I got more and more into the making up process! Oops! I will be better next time, promise!

I had left of the last time at the shoulder stage, ready for the collar. The under collar is cut on the bias in two pieces, and is slightly smaller than the top collar. If you have a pattern that uses the same pattern piece for both, trace it off and put a seamline down the centre back of the under-collar and change the grainline to bias. Add between 2.5 and 5mm on the outside edges of the upper-collar to allow for turn of cloth. Do not be tempted to just make the under-collar smaller. I interfaced the under collar with weft insertion on the bias, then sewed the two together at the centre back. To ensure a good stand, I use a fusible canvas on the under collar. This is cut without seam allowance, on the bias. The upper collar gets a lighter interfacing, I used the fine sheer, but if you find your collar is not keeping shape, you could reinforce with some fusible canvas.

I clip the neck edge of the jacket at approx. 1.5cm intervals to the stay stitch line and then pin the collar on from the centre out – from the jacket side, not the collar side. the clipping helps to open out the curve and allows for easing. When you sew the under-collar on, start and stop exactly on the podmark for the collar attachment on the neckline. Next pin the upper collar to the under collar, taking care to line up the outside edges. Because you have cut the upper larger than the lower you will have to ease the extra in. Pin parallel to your edge, instead of perpendicular as this will help to avoid catching tucks. Then snip the neckline edge of the facing and sew the upper collar to the facing. There will be a teeny tiny gap at the junction of the collars and the revers. This you hand hand-stitch closed. Layer your collar and neckline seams and press them open over a ham.

Upper and under-collars in place, seams trimmed and pressed open

Now we come to the part where I got carried away with the making and forgot to take pictures! With the collar done you can sew up the side seams of the jacket and do the sleeves. The sleeve heads should be interfaced with a crescent shape, 10cm deep at the centre. You can’t see all of this so clearly on my sleeves because I inserted a contrast pleat panel.

And that was my run of photos!! I will take some of the next jacket I do, from the sleeve stage onwards, promise!! Basically from here on the sleeve seams need to be joined, and the gathering stitch on the head. Now for jackets you can follow the normal 2 rows of gathering stitch, or try something different. I do one line of gathering, 2cm from the edge of the fabric. I ease the fullness along this line, making sure there is no actual gathering, no tucking or puckering. What I am after is for the sleeve head to form the sort of shape it will have when in the armhole. When the shape is right, I pin it into the armhole from the sleeve side. Once the sleeve is in, I use an interfaced bias cut strip, about 5cm wide of jacket fabric and fold in half lengthways. Then this is sew into the sleeve head to support the cap.

I was going to try to continue without pictures, but I don’t think it is working!!

Here is the finished garment!

It was a rather windy day to take photos, I kept getting hair in my eyes, or my mouth! there are more pictures on Burdastyle, until I pop more on this blog, but they will be in their own post.

And I promise to take a better photographic record the next time! 😀

2 for 1 jacket update

While I was “away” making curtains and doing alterations and making nice things for other people, this project was burning a hole in the back of my mind! Now the new year is here, the kids are back at school and making for others has quietened down a bit, I can finally get cracking again. I decided to track the progress of this jacket, to show the internal workings of speed tailoring a jacket.

First things first, if you have a wool or wool blend fabric, you need to prepare it. During the making the fabric will be subject to a lot of heat and steam, and it will inevitably shrink. There are different ways of going about this. Usually I cut a 10x10cm piece, zigzag or overlock the edges and pop into a basin of warm water. If the water doesn’t get absorbed, there is a coating on the fabric, and it will need to be dry cleaned. If water is absorbed, pop it in the washing machine on a cool, woolens or handwash cycle. Then check it, has it shrunk? Has the finish/feel of the fabric changed? Has the colour run? If the answer is yes to any of these, dry clean only! For preparation you will need to steam this fabric. If not, you can wash it. Now some fabrics can be shoved in the machine, and others need a different approach. (Most of the wool I buy gets the machine wash.)

I have a cashmere that is definitely not going in the machine. I dampened down 2 double flat sheets (you could use old duvet covers) and sandwiched the wool between them. I rolled the whole lot up like a Swiss Roll and left for the damp to get through the wool. Then opened it up and draped over a balustrade/handrail. If you have to use the washline, first cover the wire with a towel, and if possible, drape over two lines, not just one. Leave to dry, then dry iron to remove creases. Iron on the wrong side, and check for any imperfections. Mark these so you can avoid the area when laying out the pattern pieces.

It really is worth taking time when preparing wool for a jacket. The fabric is rarely cheap, and considering the amount of time you will take to put the item together, it will be pretty soul-destroying to have it go wrong.

Your next job is the interfacing. I use a speed tailoring jacket pack that I get from Gill Arnold. On this particular wool I have used her Weft insertion on the jacket shell and the fine sheer fusible on the facings. I have also used some iron on canvas, and some non-iron canvas. I interfaced the “T-zone” and all the hem edges with the weft insertion. This covers all the areas of the jacket that are put under strain or will be sat on and crinkled! Then I made up the fronts and back.

The next step was to apply a fusible cotton tape to the front seam, this prevents stretching on the front seam. It is applied about 5mm in from the fabric edge and if you have a curve at the bottom, you will need to snip into it to take the corner. Once that was done, I made the canvas chest pieces. This is done to plump out the hollow in the chest that women have just below the shoulder. You will need the non-iron canvas and some weft insertion for this part, and each pattern needs a different shape chest piece.

The pieces are cut on the bias. The weft insertion interfacing is a different size to the canvas. It is 1cm larger on the armhole side, and 2.5cm larger on the neckline side. Fuse the canvas to the weft insertion, taking care not to attach the overlapping interfacing to anything. Trim the top corners, cut a box 1×2.5cm and 2.5×2.5cm. Place the chest piece on the jacket front with the armhole side on the edge of the fabric and fuse the overlapping interfacing to the jacket on both sides.

Chest piece in place — Chest piece fused in place

Next fuse cotton tape to the breakline of the rever. This helps the rever to fall in the right place, and to stay there! There is no need for padstitching the create the fall. Now staystitch the neckline on the facings, jacket front and back.

Once that is done, pin on the facing. The facing is between 2.5mm and 5mm bigger/wider than the front on the rever up to the breakpoint only. This is to accommodate the turn of cloth. You don’t want to see the seamline or any of the fabric from the front rever peaking out. The fabric needs to be manipulated carefully so you don’t get any puckering, pinch the excess at the corner and pin the “blister”.

Sew the front facing on from the podmark for the collar join to the hem. Snip the seam allowance at an angle at the breakpoint and layer the seams. Trim both of the seam allowances down by 5mm. Then trim the seam allowance of the front facing by a further 5mm. The rever needs to be trimmed too, but trim the front by a further 5mm, and not the facing. Press the seams open and then flat. Ensure you roll the fabric when steaming so there is no seamline showing.

layered seams — Seam layering on front and facing front

Now for the shoulder seams. Pin the canvas away from the shoulder line and pin the fronts to the back. Stitch and press open over a sleeve roll. Remove the pins from the canvas and let it extend past the seamline onto the back. Turn the right way round and put your hand under the shoulder seam. Pin along the seamline, going through all the jacket layers as well as the canvas. Turn to the inside and pin the back seam allowance to the canvas. remove the pins from the outside and then stitch the canvas to the seam allowance, close to the shoulder seam line.

Canvas pinned back, shoulder seam sewn and pressed open

Canvas extended over back seam allowance and pinned from right side

Canvas stitched to seam allowance, close to original seamline

So that’s the body of the jacket, ready for the collar and then the sleeves. Happy sewing until next time!

Friday – busy day!

Wow, I can honestly say I am gobsmacked! This little blog of mine has been ticking along with a handful of visitors, when suddenly the tracking spiked!! Thank you so much to BurdaStyle for making me featured member of the week! Another big thank you to those who have added my blog to their subscriptions lists, and those who left me comments.

So back to work! I have re-drafted some of my personal blocks. After making the jacket this last month and having way too many adjustments to make, I gave in. So yesterday I drew a new Jacket Block, Coat Block, Close Fitting and Easy Fitting Bodice Block. They will all be used this season! I still need to toile and fit them, and draft their respective sleeves, but in the mean time I thought I’d share what I intend to do with them!

I have a lovely purple georgette that has been begging for something pretty and floaty. I am going to use the Easy Fitting Bodice Block to make a loose-fitting top with a dropped shoulder and ruffles along the neckline. Isn’t that top cute? And purple will make a change to my usual grey, black or blue! The georgette is not silk, unfortunately, but I loved the colour when I saw it on Ditto Fabric‘s website, so I had to have it!

Next, the Close Fitting Bodice Block will be converted into a One-Piece Dress Block and then I will adapt the bodice and sleeve to form a Kimono Block. I have FINALLY decided what that green and turquoise silk is going to be!

Silk & sketch — Silk Graphic Kimono Dress

The Coat Block is going to be a hip length Pea Coat in the most beautiful pale, ice-blue cashmere that I bought at Fred Winter back in January on their winter sale! I already knew I wanted something different, so I also got some Liberty silk for the lining and some Dupion to make piped details!

And the Tailored Jacket Block?? Something simple. A cropped jacket with 3/4 length sleeves, possibly cut on the bias to take advantage of the burgundy/maroon flecks in the grey wool I got last week at Fred Winter. I was really good, only getting 1.7m instead of going for the remains of what was on the roll, 2.5m! I am sure I would have used it somewhere, but if I had got 2.5m I just know I would still be procrastinating this time next year! I am going to use the last three buttons from my antique shop purchase, the others are on the Spotty Jacket.

jacket sketch & fabric — Grey wool and Jacket sketch

So that’s that!! Busy me! Have a fabulous sunny weekend (if you are in the UK) I will be making winter goodies! 😀

Spot That Jacket

Ok, apologies need to be made…. I have neglected my blog. It’s not that I wasn’t doing anything else, I just didn’t have much to write about until I had finished this project. I know I had posted that fabulous green and turquoise silk, and I will still make it up. Although it may not be along the lines of the dress posted! While indecision plauged me though, I had something lined up!

I had bought this spotty cotton and silk grossgrain from my favourite fabric shop, aaaages ago. I won’t even try to calculate how long I have had it! Anyway, I had seen a jacket in a shop, about 2 years ago (!) that I liked the neckline of, and I quickly sketched it. This was the basis of the jacket I have just made. Sorry this is a bit blurred!

jacket sketch — Jacket with Peter Pan Collar - Sketch

I wanted something that would fit snugly in the back, and also provide some sort of indication of shape at the waist (a bit of a cheat, as there really is none!). I made the basic tailored jacket block and had husband draw on the panel lines, with me checking in the mirror! Then I cut the block up and transferred the lines onto the paper pattern. I closed the darts and voila! The front is plain, just two panels with welt pockets. There wasn’t much point in doing anything fancy as it would detract from the collar.

jacket toile - back — Jacket toile - back

jacket toile - front — Jacket toile - front

The toile was cool, the shape worked really well and I love the curves on the back. Although, thinking about it, you can’t really see the section seams that well amongst all the spots! Oh well. Another thing to think of is the collar. When I toiled the jacket I only did one layer, and it seemed ok, but….. In the finished garment the narrow ends near the centre front seem flat. I am going to have to tighten up the neck edge of the collar pattern to encourage a bit of a rise there. But it is no train smash, perfectly wearable! lol.

Jacket panel pieces — Jacket Panel Pieces

So, the structure – I used fusible interfacing from Gill Arnold. I used the weft insertion on the “t-zone”, the hem edges and the upper cuff and collar. The facing, under collar and cuff were interfaced with the fine sheer polyester. This is to reduce bulk while still ensuring support. I made a pattern for a chest piece and cut the canvas on the bias. I didn’t use any canvas in the collar, perhaps once I fix the pattern and make another I may use a bit on the lower edges, just to make sure the shape is held properly. Cotton tape was fused down the front opening edges to make ensure a sharp fold. The shoulder pads are a felted tailor’s set, also from Gill.

And this is the finished product. Daughter no 1 thinks it’s really cool to take photos at an angle, so no need to adjust your sitting position while viewing the pics!

I seem to have spots on the brain, as I am making a blouse now, a black and white spotty silk chiffon!