Around middle of August I'm ready start putting pieces together.
Front and Buttonholes
Used Pro-Sheer Couture iron-on interfacing, trimming away all the seam allowances first. Extra pieces are added to stabilize the buttonholes and buttons.
I've learned my lesson from past experience and this time will make the buttonholes now before the more of the front is assembled. Hand buttonholes are definitely not my forte. I've come up with this method:
- First make a machine buttonhole using the "Heirloom Buttonhole" on my sewing machine. After the buttonhole is cut open I follow the steps in the video to use tiny little nail scissors to trim away any frayed bits and then use white glue, applied sparingly with a toothpick, to set the edges. Claire recommends white glue over Fray Check, which tends to dry a little stiffer.
- Then go over it with a doubled strand of silk sewing thread, treated with beeswax. The result is a pretty decent hand buttonhole that isn't too bulky or bumpy.
Stay tape is sewn along each front, just inside where it will fold
The jacket side front and front are sewn together on both the outer fabric and the lining. Quilting lines are pinned then hand basted, then quilted using walking foot and stitch length set to 3.0. (The walking foot isn't absolutely required, but helps.)
Back
There are small darts sewn into the lining to give a little shaping at the waist. But there are no darts on the outer fabric. This means that there's a little looseness on the outside around the darts. I'm going to shrink that looseness down with the steam iron, which is technique in the video. The benefit to this design is especially noticed if the fabric has a pattern, so the back pattern won't be disturbed at all but there's still a little shape.
Next I sew the quilting lines on the back.
Then sew the side seams to the back, on both the outer fabric and lining. There is no quilting on the side.
Change of Plans!
The fabric is feeling too lightweight, so decided to partially take it apart and add Pro-Sheer Elegance Couture interfacing to the back, front and sides. This took a few days, or maybe a week. Also added their Light interfacing to the collar. Much better and worth the wait.
And I'm not happy with the trim as it's sort of fading into the tweed of the fabric, so ordered 5/8" black Petersham grosgrain ribbon to go under the ribbon with rosettes.
Collar
It's now September 12, the new ribbon is here, and I'm making the collar. The collar is cut in a rectangle and shaped with steam, which is great if you the fabric has a pattern so the pattern. The first trim, the black grosgrain ribbon, is hand sewn on first, then the second trim, the narrow black with white rosettes hand sewn over that. The collar is then sewn on by hand. Lots of basting and hand sewing with this.
The pattern instructions call for adding the trim to the jacket body first, but I'm jumping around a little in the steps.
Here the collar is sewn on and the trim just pinned down the jacket front to see how it looks. Love it!
Pockets
The pockets are entirely done by hand. The pockets are not interfaced and are meant to be soft and droop a little with wear.
First fold and baste the edges, then hand sew the two ribbons in place. Then fold the top end over, and pin and baste the lining. Hand stitch the lining to the pocket and hand stitch the folded edges at top. Then baste the pocket onto the jacket and hand sew in place.
The pattern instructions say to sew the pockets earlier, before the lining is quilted, which is easier. But I I like to wait until I can try the jacket on and see where I want the pockets. Hand sewing them on later just requires taking care to move the lining out of the way, and to reach inside between quilting lines.
Front and Hem Trim
I tried on one more time and made a little adjustment to the side seam, and now it's time to sew the trim around the front and bottom edges.
First I trimmed the edges, added interfacing along the bottom hem, and basted all around.
Then I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to decide how to have the trim make the curve from collar to lapel. Looking at how others have made this jacket, some versions have the trim stop at the bottom of the collar, then a gap, then pick up again at the lapel. I decided to have the trim continue uninterrupted. That involved removing part of the collar and collar trim and sewing it back on.
I sewed the black Petersham ribbon all round. First I ran a little basting stitch on the ribbon, around the inside of each curve, and then used steam iron to gently get it to curve and lie in place. Then hand sew the ribbon. Then I went back and hand sewed the rosette ribbon in place.
I can finally see what the finished product is going to look like!
It's now September 21 and the body trim is done. Here's the front with the trim finished.
At this point the lining is still hanging loose and the collar isn't lined yet.
Lining
September 22 and now we're coming to the fun part, where I can finish the lining of the body. This is where it's really looking and feeling like a jacket. I tried on one more time and made a little adjustment to the side seams.
First I worked on the collar lining. Pressed the collar/jacket seams up, toward the collar, except right at the front where the collar and jacket join. Hand sewed the lining to the collar using fell stitches.
The section of lining on each side, between Side Front and Side pieces, is still loose. Bring one side flat, and then fold the other side over it, and baste. Then hand sew closed, being careful not to catch the body in the stitches.
The lining is finished - note that I used the silk lining edge-to-edge, which is a slight departure from the pattern instructions.
Still to do: Make and attach the sleeves, sew a little row of pickstitches all around the collar, front and hem, and along the sleeve hem, sew on the chain weight at the hem, and attach the buttons.
Sleeves
The design features three-piece sleeves which naturally curve with the arm. The buttons are toward the front so the trim and buttons are very visible when the jacket is worn.
The sleeve front and sleeve back are sewn to the undersleeve. The top seam between sleeve front and back is loose at this point. The lining is pinned over the outer fabric, then the quilting lines basted and sewn as in the jacket body.
After quilting lines are sewn, I sewed the seam joining sleeve front and back, only on the outer fabric. The lining fabric is lightly basted into place, but won't be sewn closed until the sleeve is joined to the jacket body.
I next basted the hemline of the seam, then hand sewed the lining to the outer jacket fabric.
Sew two rows of basting along the upper sleeve, between the two pattern dots. One row goes slightly inside the seam line, and one slightly outside the seam line.
Now it's time to sew the buttonholes, which is much easier to do before the sleeves are sewn onto the jacket. In this case the buttonholes are sewn through both the outer fabric and lining (unlike the double buttonholes on the jacket front).
- Note using style A:27, 20mm buttonhole, width at 4.5
- Also note I'm doing the lining and the buttonholes first, and then adding the trim. I think I can get a neater finish on the trim this way. It's also easier to do the buttonholes before the trim is on.
Then the trim is sewn to the sleeve.
10/20/2024 Here's one finished sleeve with trim, buttonholes and buttons. The lining will be sewn closed after the sleeve is joined to the jacket.
I followed the pattern instructions to attach the sleeve (had to take in a little along the top of the shoulder). The seam allowance is trimmed along the underarm but not along the top. The extra bulk at the top helps to fill out the sleeve. Here the sleeve is attached and I can now sew the lining closed.
Sleeves
Baste alone jacket arm where I want the sleeve to attach,
Baste along sleeve where I want it to attach.
Body - baste lining closed
Sew sleeve onto body
Sew sleeve lining closed
Sew sleeve lining to jacket body
Repeat for other sleeve
Attach buttons to other sleeve
Pick stitches on both sleeves
Body
Make faux buttonhole on lining side
Sew on buttons
Pick stitches along hem and front
Attach chain
