What I learned last week: I really love tailoring. Never thought that I would! I like fast, simple, quick, easy, instantly-gratifying projects with not a lot of fitting, and it’s not often that I work on something for more than a week. I think that’s part of the reason why I put off making this jacket for over a year – Chris bought me this pattern for Christmas 2012 and I bought the fabric shortly thereafter, but looking at all the steps and hand-sewing, I just didn’t want to devote the time to it that I knew I needed to.
But I can really, honestly say that I’m enjoying the entire process so far. Even cutting out the fabric I didn’t mind as much as I usually do (my hands said otherwise)! It took about two nights to cut out everything since I needed to cut out the wool, the lining, the underlining, and the interfacing, plus fuse the interfacing and sew the underling to the wool. Whew! That definitely would have been too much in one night for me to accomplish.
I’ve been reading a lot about the proper way to press while sewing, because after all, pressing IS sewing – The Pressinatrix has some great tips on tools and pressing techniques for sewing with all types of fabrics. Since I’m doing soft tailoring on this jacket, I’ve found that I’m spending just as much time at my ironing board that I am at my sewing machine. My trusty little Black ‘N Decker iron is holding up just fine, and I’m so glad I asked for pressing tools last year for my birthday, they’re really making the difference.
Enough chatter, onto the photos!
Shhhh, excuse my dirty mirror!
I love how this is turning out. I hand-basted everything yesterday afternoon while re-watching season 3 of Game of Thrones – it was a rainy, miserable day and was the perfect excuse to be a bump on the couch. But a productive bump!
I still need to press the edges of the collar and jacket fronts, but I was amazed at how the basting really made everything look so nice. And I figured if I need to hand-baste with silk thread, it might as well be a fun, contrasting color!
The collar is looking good. I was worried about how it would turn out: I fused the interfacing to the collar piece instead of the undercollar. Whoops!! When I went back to Joann Fabrics, they were all sold out of fusible weft interfacing. The solution was to use my leftover interfacing to creatively fuse together a big enough piece to cover the undercollar – problem solved! The collar may be a little stiffer and more structured than it’s supposed to be, since the entire collar is now interfaced, but I’m ok with how it’s behaving. And it seems to be rolling under ok as well.
So far, I’ve worked on this jacket for five days – I’m right on track! Now, to hunt down the perfect buttons…
Do you enjoy tailoring? Any good book recommendations on the topic?
I'm working on a cape, and Tailoring: The Classic Guide to Sewing the Perfect Jacket is my BFF. Great photos – I'm referring to it for almost every step so far.
Great, I'll check that out, thank you!
This is really looking good! I don't really do much tailoring, so I can't speak to that, but this looks great!
I hope mine looks just as nice as the red one you made!!
Which Jo-Ann's do you go to? I work at the one in Natick.
And have you seen the Groupons for Fabric Place Basement? They offer them a few times a year.
I'm excited to see how your jacket turns out!
This looks so awesome! I really commend you for hand-basting, I don't know if I have that kind of patience. And as a lazy sewist I find your new-found tailoring love inspiring! I really hope that there's a tailor buried deep inside this lazy exterior. I can't wait to see the finished product!
Why thank you! I really wasn't convinced about the hand-basting initially, thinking that I could easily roll the seams under when pressing, but it makes a world of difference holding everything in place. I'm a convert! It took about an episode and a half of Game of Thrones to finish all of the basting. You should give tailoring a try, you may be just as surprised as I was!
Well done for tackling the tailoring – it's clear by your photos you're doing really well! I've done very little tailoring – have just recently returned to dressmaking after a couple of decades (eeep!) away from it. I think just take it a step at a time. Good luck on your button hunt!
Thank you for saying that – since this is the first time, I wasn't sure how my progress was coming along! I'm really enjoying it so far and made my first welt pockets last night.
even though i love a quick knit tee or dress, i find that with tailoring projects it's easier to slow down as well. if you really want some serious hard core tailoring, check out the Thread Theory blog (men's pattern company). they just put up a whole series that was very thorough! love the fabric colors you've chosen, this should be a very nice jacket!
Awesome, thanks for the suggestion!! I just ordered some books off of Amazon last night, and definitely will add Thread Theory to my Bloglovin' feed.
You are such a fashionista now that your nail polish matches your awesome basting thread! Love it!