Little steps in the right direction

I did it! Finally!

Last night, I cut the fabric for my jacket. A very nice black wool suiting. I will cut the horsehair interfacing tonight and hopefully make some small start on contruction. I plan to go for pad-stitching this time around.

Shown in this picture is also the last real change I made (other than fixing the drag line in the sleeve). I attached the bottom side of the front piece, to the main bit of the front, leaving the dart only in the bit above the pocket. This is a nifty little trick which you will often encounter in RTW and also in some commercial sewing patterns. For quite a while, I didn't know how it was done and this is the first of my jackets to have this feature.

The point is, there is not enough room for a seam allowance on the horizontal seams. However, that's OK because a bound pocket will be inserted at that spot. So: a pocket which would require cutting into the fabric anyway.

If anyone is interested, I will try to remember to take pictures when I start sewing those darts and pockets.

For now, I don't have a lot of time and I will have to look up some extra information on hand-tailoring (mostly to make up my mind about which is the best way of doing it...) but I am quite eager to get started. Finally back to real sewing, after so many muslins.

P.S.

About the gloves, I didn't forget, but there hasn't been any progress (want to sew jacket...). But at least, I'll try to answer to some of the questions and suggestions given to the glove post:

- Darci, I am also carefully considering the option of making an 'ultimate' pair of gloves by hand. In thin leather. Even though I know hand sewing leather is a PIA. And I think you might be OK using thin leather or suede for a pattern written for faux stretch suede. Real leather has a slight stretch of its own, it's only the fake versions which either do or don't stretch.

- Marina, it's sort of a mini-sew along. It's me, Carolyn, Darci and some ladies following Carolyn's blog. Posting about it isn't very organised but it would be great to have you sew along with us.

I hadn't thought about tracing gloves yet, but you have a point there. It would also enable me to have the thumb gusset I want. And be a load of work...

- Our Heroine, thank you for the link, I haven't looked yet but I will before I proceed with those gloves.

- Carolyn, I didn't forget about seam allowance. We are, however, using different patterns. One would expect Vogue to use the same basic shape for both, but maybe they didn't. In which case I think your pattern should be our sew along recommendation for fit. About the stretch issues for leather, see my answer to Darci. Your gloves don't look stretched tight and the pattern is written for stretchy stuff, so you should be OK with a naturally slightly stretchy material. Marina was mentioning the pre-stretching to avoid bagginess in relation to tracing existing leather gloves (at least, if I understood correctly)

- gwen, my top-tip so far: if you have Carolyn's pattern as well, the fit on that might be better. If not, stay tuned.

Glove-making minus 1

I had a little time left over last evening and decided to get started on a glove muslin. I will use some jersey scraps and don't intend to make a wearable muslin. In fact, I may just make only one glove at this stage.

For the 'finished' gloves from this pattern, I have to options: stretch lace or re-used suede or leather. For the lace, view H, with the ruffle, seems to be the most appropriate, for the leather I would make the longest version of the pattern without decoration.

Like Carolyn, I was first puzzled and then disappointed by the pattern's sizing. In the describtion it says S 18cm, M 21cm and L 23 cm, without telling where to measure...

Like her, I measured whatever seemed to make sense and found both measurements to be the same and put me a size S.

And then I saw the pattern. I wouldn't call that sizing. I am perfectly cap

able of lengthening or shortening a pattern piece myself. And I distinctly remember from the times I've bought gloves that different sizes always ment difference in width of the glove.

This little thing made me rather less confident about this pattern but I decided to go on and cut out the pattern pieces anyway. It's been a very long time since I've used an envelope-pattern and I had forgotten all about how annoying pattern tissue is to work with. I was also surprised to see that Vogue had felt the need to print the pattern no less than five times for eight versions which are hardly any different from each other. I admit there are one and two sideseam versions, but any pattern magazine would have settled for the 'cut here for view X' option. Which would have made the envelope a lot thinner.

Among that and the sizing, it looks like the good folks at Vogue are trying very hard to make this pattern look more professional than it really is.

But I might be speaking too soon...

These are all the pattern pieces laid out for cutting (and how do you like my little work-table tableau?). It is view H with the ruffle and I will try one glove first.

When sewing something like this, it pays of to know your sewing machine and to try out different stitches. The pattern recommends stretch stitch or zigzag for stretch lace and doesn't specify anything in particular for jersey.

However, most sewing machines are not that great at sewing jersey on a tiny seam allowance, certainly not using a stitch which takes a bit of width in and of itself. I knew that on my sewing machine, a short straight stitch will work for most not-too-stretchy jersey fabrics. That is what I'm using here.

I stitched the seam on the thumb-piece and then inserted it into the hand-piece. I followed the instructions and did the very thing Carolyn described in detail yesterday (although I made less effort to be precise about it. I didn't draw lines to stitch on or baste...).

This is where I am now.

I'm not sure how to proceed. It looks quite a bit too big. I'm a bit surprised at how much too big it is. Carolyn's thumb looked fine and I have, based on the pictures on her blog, always thought of her as a slender lady of normal height (that's without reading. she did mention to be tall). Also when I buy gloves, I have size 6.5 to 7 or M. I guess this is just a circumspect way of saying I didn't expect to be this far off.

I'm going to finish this muslin glove according to the instructions and then, I'll try and see where to go from there.

There is one little thing I'd like to adress. Carolyn mentioned the excess material where the thumb meets the hand. I took a look at the gloves I own and found different solutions at that spot.

All my leather gloves have a shaped thumb piece like this. I think it would be nearly impossible to sew the likes of it on a normal sewing machine, but it does the job very well. It provides the thumb with a full range of movement without adding bulk.

I also have these vintage stretch fabric gloves. These are cut very narrow, relying on the stretch of the material to fit one's hands (and these are sized. they are size 6.5). On these, the thumb piece is set into a eliptical hole like it is on the Vogue patterns but it is much smaller.

I hope I gave any useful information here. I have to confess I find myself having little patience with this pattern...

To be continued.

Some random remarks...

I didn't get much further on my jacket pattern this weekend, although I did transfer the changes, made in the last muslin, to the pattern and (I hope) fixed the back. If my fix works, I may even try to do the same on the already completed jackets.

On Saturday, I did next to nothing hoping this would encourage my cold to be over a bit quicker. On Sunday, it seemed my plan had worked. I did the pattern alterations, E. and I cleaned the house and then we went shopping for new glasses. For both of us. I've worn my current glasses for over four years and now, I can't wait to get the new ones. In two weeks time...

So, there was not a lot of time left for sewing.

There are more reasons why my personal sewing time is more limited than it used to be.

1. I'm now teaching. M and I teach a beginner's sewing class at a local highschool. And it's popular. We've got two classes of two full hours each. about 20 students of 12 to 18 years old. To keep them motivated, we allow our students to pick the pattern and fabric they want, as long as it's fairly easy. Which forces us to really stay on top of things because most students are doing different things. We also teach them how to make simple alterations and decorations to customize a given pattern. Some are learning quickly and all are enjoying themselves. And I'm starting to get sufficiently used to teaching to enjoy it as well.

2. I've got another assignment. A friend asked me to make her a jacket. She's a lovely lady with a great figure but her shoulders are too wide for a RTW fit. And she noticed this. How could I say no?

All this doesn't mean I give up on sewing for myself or resign myself to simple projects. Oh no. I just think those newly acquired will all have to hibernate (hmm, that's sleeping through the winter, any clue about how to make up a term meaning to sleep through the summer) in the stash for half a year. It will be the suit, and then on to spring/summer sewing.

And, somewhere in the middle of whatever else I'll be working on, there will be this.

A few months ago Carolyn bought a similar pattern and wrote about it on her blog. I left a comment explaining how I had been given this one, V8311, over a year before and how I felt I needed some extra motivation to actually make it. I suggested a (mini) sew-along. By now, the wheather in her part of the world is cooling down enough to start considering gloves. And, of course, over here I could still do with some thin ones.

So, there will be a sew-along of sorts. Carolyn's pattern is not exactly the same but I expect the basics to be similar. My pattern is for unlined gloves, to be sewn by machine from fabric with some stretch. I have never tried anything like this before and will document the progress step-by-step. Glove-making is a complete first for me as well, so I hope we can all learn as we go along.

If you feel like joining, just say so in the comments!