Saturday, June 1, 2013

The Pattie Suit - Progress report

I received my fabric in the mail last Friday for the jacket/skirt combination that I was talking about here.

Before I started, I attempted to read through the instructions, which were the biggest load of gobbledygook, so I threw them in the bin and took out my favourite sewing book - The Readers digest complete guide to sewing.
It has an entire section on tailoring a jacket and recommends techniques that make way more sense and the pictures are clearer.

I also decided to name this the Pattie Suit, because it’s shorter than "jacket skirt combination" and because I'm currently reading Pattie Boyd's biography - Wonderful life. So my sewing will be embedded with quotes and stories from Pattie's life.

So far I have finished the body of the jacket and will move on to the collar, and facings next.

This is what's happened so far
Tracing the crazy huge Burdastyle pattern



Trying on the muslin - I always cut my patterns to the biggest size and then just trim them to fit. In this case, I need to bring it in at the bust and waist, but not at the hips.

Left - too big. Right – Just right! 

Welt pockets - I screwed up this one and decided to fix it with a top stitch but the top stitch was too short and now it looks funny but not noticeable from faraway



Closing the welt pockets till the side seams are done. You don't have to do this, but it makes for nice technique practicing



The interfacing is attached but it has made the jacket a little too stiff so I might rip it off... I'm hoping once I've pad stitched the underlining on it will make it softer (fingers crossed!) 



Pinning the underlining to the front piece. The underlining adds warmth and bulk to a jacket with fabric that might not be strong enough to hold its own. I am using plain cotton flannel for the underlining



Adding twill tape to the seams that were cut on the bias. The tape strengthens the fabric and prevents it pulling and becoming saggy. This is pretty important, especially because I’m using cotton sateen. 
Sateen is woven to give a small amount of stretch so I added the tape as I don’t want it to stretch over time and ruin a nicely tailored jacket.


Adding the pockets – I'm pretty sure I've sewn these pockets wrong… they should be turned to the right!

Check out my pretty green ironing board!

The result so far!



What projects are you currently working on?
Have you read Pattie Boyd's book?

Cat xo

4 comments:

  1. Hey Cat!

    I've been reading your blog from the start and I'm loving it! Surprisingly we have the same interests - sewing and 60s!

    I'm especially loving these little updates on the progress of your projects, and you're not afraid to divulge in your little mishaps along the way too :)

    Can't wait to read up on all your future projects, keep up the good work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Nicole for being a silent (and now vocal) follower. I hope im keeping you entertained with my little updates!
      How nice to also find a 60s sewing lover!

      Delete
  2. So good how you threw out the gobbledygook instructions! Made me laugh. Looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh they were terrible and not at all well written! Thanks for checking in!

      Delete

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