Gratuitous Coat Post

I've been toiling away on my abbey coat, and am nearing the end. Hopefully, I will finish it this coming week but in the meantime wanted to share some shots of the inside. 

Padstitching the collar

I added pockets on the princess seam!
Also you can see the bound buttonholes here

Set in sleeve using a bias strip

Lining

Sunback lining

So close to done!
Off to go sew some more 

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Starlet Suit Jacket: the home stretch

I'm so close to finishing my Starlet Suit Jacket. I took a little break from hemming the lining, to show the progress in pictures.

Set in sleeve method
I still had to ease in my sleeve to make it fit

Using my sleeve roll to steam the facing seams

collar facing



Silk organza to make the buttonholes on the facing

Cutting the holes is so scary!

silk organza gets turned to the wrong side

weft fused to the hem

inside of the coat after it is hemmed

now it really looks like a jacket!

Lining body is in, now to hem it and put in the sleeves

OK, back to work for me. I'm getting really excited and can't wait to wear it!

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Starlet Suit Jacket Update: Tailoring

Happy Friday! I've been hard at work on my Starlet Suit Jacket. I'm already on chapter 8 out of 13. I've taken lots of pictures on my progress, so many of you were curious about the craftsy course. Here is what I have done so far.

I learned a new way to make bound buttonholes, so much easier and comes out much better than the old way I was doing them.

They look like bow tie pasta from the back

Padstitching and twill tape on the lapel, steamed and drying over a hand towel

Padstitching

What a difference the padstitching and steaming makes, the lapel make a nice curve now.

The undercollar with padstitching

ready for steam on the ham

The padstitching works and the collar will curl around the neck

Welt pocket! Another new skill for me. It was a bit confusing at first, but the second one came together easily

Shoulder seams and sides together, looks like a jacket now

I love the nipped-in waist

back stay out of muslin

Inside of the welt pocket

 Yesterday I started working on the sleeves, the dart looks great. I am having a problem with the easing. I have used this method before on my houndstooth coat, but it just wasn't working, it was eased far too little. I have to go back and pin, pin, pin to ease it. Sometimes it's best to walk away when I get frustrated. That's it for now, maybe if I'm lucky I can have it done for St. Patty's Day.

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Houndstooth Coat Progress

I've been a very busy girl. The outside of my coat (vogue 8548) is done. I've been following all the tailoring techniques from the famous book Tailoring: the Classic Guide to Sewing the Perfect Jacket, (which apparently has a new edition out, but looks the same). Here are some of the techniques I used:

See! The inside is not as pretty as the outside.



Added hymo to the bodice portions, bound buttonholes and staytaped the neck edge.



Catchstitch the seam allowance down

Set in sleeve using a bias strip of lambswool (which worked out great)

Back Stay out of hymo, and twill tape on back seam

I also added pockets, and interfaced the rest of the coat with weft, because the fabric had such a loose weave. I've also run out of lining fabric while cutting my last piece out, the sleeve! Now I have to find something else to use. The fabric I had was a blue china silk that I ordered form Mood online, but when it came i was not happy with the quality. I have to find something that will match the pockets, because I am not ripping all that out. I've run just a bit short on the lining and the outer on this coat, so if anyone is also making it, make sure to get extra!

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Balloons for Blocking!

I did a lot of bust shaping for the beatnik sweater , 4-5 inches of it. It looked like a giant flap when working with it, a giant nippley flap. I had to do something to fix it while blocking. I wet the pieces in my bathtub, with a little Soak, pinned the sleeves and back to towels. For the front I inflated balloons to size, using my bra as a measurement and then put the balloons under the sweater and pinned the front like the rest. Laying on the floor it looks a little like J-Woww but it worked out well.

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