Upgrading Vogue 8640

First, Happy Easter! This picture was taken Easter morning, 1988. We had gone to the sunrise service at church, and since we were up early, and dressed up, we took a trek into DC for some photos by the blooming cherry blossoms. Easter must have been early-ish that year.

OK, back to 8640. If you're a beginner, or even an advanced beginner, and you've bought this pattern thinking, "wow! I can make a pencil skirt and lined jacket, and Vogue says it's Very Easy!" You would be right! This pattern lives up to its name. I'm afraid if you make the jacket "as is" in the pattern instructions, you might be a little disappointed with the results. I haven't made the skirt yet, so my upgrading is just for the jacket.

Upgrade #1: you do need to choose fabric that has a little body, or the jacket will be floppy. My fabric is a cotton/linen blend, and while it has some body, I chose to interface 98% of it. The pattern itself calls for no interfacing. I block fused the whole shebang except for the color. I used pro-tailor deluxe fusible interfacing from Fashion Sewing Supply for the body, and before I cut out the pieces, I simply fused the interfacing to the fabric. For the collar, I used pro-weft fusible interfacing, which is more lightweight, and I only interfaced from the center back to the large circle on the pattern piece. Basically, where the collar ends and the ties begin. I also used pro-weft on the me-drafted facings.

There are only 22 steps in the sewing of the jacket, so even with my changes it goes quickly.

Upgrade #2: bound buttonholes. Step #22 indicates you apply snaps. Snaps seemed kind of low rent to me, so I opted for buttons. You could do regular buttonholes, and then that would stay at step #22. If you go for bound buttonholes, they're done first, on the upper front piece (piece 2). I sewed the buttons on, and finished the back of the buttonholes around pattern step #9, when I was doing the lining.

Upgrade #3: topstitching. You can see in the above pic that I topstitched about 1/4" above the seamline between the upper and lower pieces. I also topstitched down the center back. I'm contemplating doing it down the center front edges, and maybe around the hemline and the sleeve hem, but I can add that anytime. I used a silk finish embroidery thread that is slightly darker than the oatmeal-y background color. It's subtle, and shows up better in person than in the pictures.

Upgrade #4: Add front facings and a real hem to the jacket body and sleeves. Here's where Vogue makes it super easy, but also super easy to look sloppy. They have you make the jacket and the lining from all the same pieces, put them right sides together, and stitch around all the edges except the neckline, which allows you to turn it right side out. You are instructed at the end (steps 19 and 21) to topstitch the front opening and lower edges of the jacket and of the sleeve. But you know, unless you get that done perfectly, the odds of an inexperienced sewist having lining dip out and show could be pretty good. BUT, with the hems, and facing, you eliminate that problem. The facings also make your buttonholes more stable.

For the facing, I simply decided how wide I wanted it to be, added a 3/8" seam allowance, and then cut off that much on the lining front pieces (don't forget a seam allowance on your lining pieces). I didn't want a seam in the facing, so it's the length of the jacket, plus the hem. Um, things did get a little wonky on my facing, you'll see it in the picture, but no one will really know but me.

For the hems, I added 1-1/4" to the bottom edge of the body, and 1" to the hem edge of the sleeve, and subtracted that amount from the lining, making sure I still had seam allowances that worked. Regardless of whether you add the hem on the sleeve or not, you will still have to slipstitch the lining to the sleeve at the hem.

And that's it! For the skirt, to upgrade you could use an invisible zipper, line, and possibly underline depending on your fabric, and a button at the top of the waistband in the back would be a cute tie in to the jacket.

And no, I didn't wear the jacket to church today, because other than the dress I wore in the previous post, I don't really have anything that matches it, and, well, it's really hot here today. Almost summer like.

Raincoat Update

I've been sewing like mad, trying to finish this raincoat by tomorrow. It was going great, until I got to the sleeves, but more on that in a minute. First, a little about the topstitching. Topstitching is obviously pretty much straightforward, but one thing I do to keep the bobbin thread from showing is this:

Thread that little "finger" on your bobbin case, if you have one, and it adjusts the tension on the bobbin thread without messing with the little screw on the case.

So. I was all set to brag about how marvelous this pattern is (and I still think it's marvelous.... but) until I got to the sleeves. Thank goodness for Gertie's Lady Grey Sew Along! I used this post as a stepping stone, and modified it to work with this kind of coat/fabric.

I used a 100% cotton bias strip because I didn't need any bulk for the sleevehead. (Oh, first I skipped the gathering stitches called for in the pattern instructions. Well, not quite true. I stitched them, and then when pinning in the sleeve noticed some BIG problems.) Like Gertie says, pull on the bias strip, and push on the fashion fabric. But not too much. The goal is to utilize the bias strip like a gentle elastic, allowing it to do all the gathering work. You're trying to avoid puckers.

This worked pretty well with the lining fabric. It worked OK with the raincoat fabric, but let me tell you... I love this fabric! It repels water like nobody's business. But. There is absolutely no stretch at all, which means you just can't make it do what you want it to. I'm afraid the sleeve is not set in that perfectly. I'm hoping once the lining is in, the bulk of it all will make any imperfections in the sleeves less noticeable.


A couple more peeks:

The picture isn't that fantastic, but I wanted the harsh light so you can see the details in the black fabric.

The back view with the hood, and some of the topstitching detail.

Now, everyone keep their fingers crossed that it fits! Of course, I should have/could have made a muslin, but I wanted to give her the finished coat this holiday. With her living 3-1/2 hours away, that makes it a little more difficult when there's a time crunch. I'm feeling optimistic!

Buttonholes and the Excess

I quickly want to cover the buttonhole issue today. I had never made a bound buttonhole until Saturday, and I found, using Gertie's tutorial, that there is really nothing hard about them. The question then becomes, from a design standpoint, do I want to use them.

The practice buttonhole:

Technically speaking, I think it looks pretty good. The opening is maybe a little tall, but I'm just not thrilled with the look with the thicker wool. I made some other buttonholes:

I had to use the flash so you could get a better look. After looking at some of my RTW coats, they mostly had the keyhole version. I like the one using buttonhole twist thread to make a corded buttonhole. Bottom line though? I've decided to use those awesome giant snaps. I'll always be wearing the tie belt, and the button will be covered up anyway. And if I change my mind, I can go back and put in regular buttonholes.

One of the commenters on the previous post asked why I thought I had so much fabric left over. There are a couple of reasons. The first is simply that I bought too much fabric. According to the pattern, for a size 10, I would need 4-1/4 yards of 60" fabric. Gorgeous Fabrics sells in whole yards only, so I decided to err on the side of too much, and bought 5 yards.

Reason #2 has to do with the pattern itself. The range of yardages given for all the sizes goes from 4-1/8 to 4-1/3. That's not that big of a difference really, and clearly a size 0 will need less fabric than a size 18. In my experience, many pattern makers waste a lot of fabric with their layouts "just in case", and with careful positioning, a sewist can come up with a more efficient pattern layout herself.

Which brings me to reason #3. My mom was notorious for bringing home remnants from the fabric store she worked at, and making patterns fit on seemingly too little yardage. I seemed to have picked up on that ability, and can "squish" a pattern onto the fabric, managing to waste as little as  possible. I did make some alterations, but none that really would have affected the yardage significantly.

Basically, I like to use the given pattern layouts as a suggestion, and as a way to make sure I've cut out all the necessary pieces, checking them off as I go. I do make sure to follow grainlines, and nap if there is any, as well, which is important for a successful project.

Ironically, I thought I had enough hair canvas, and have had to order some more. It will arrive in a couple of days. Oops.

Simplicity 2362 -- Order in Sewing

Or How to Put in an Invisible Zipper when the Instructions Use a Regular Zipper

 Ok, I didn't really make that face when I put in the zipper, but if you are relatively new to sewing and have jumped on the invisible zipper bandwagon, then following the printed instructions will be darn near impossible, and I'm here to give you some order to the proceedings. (That didn't have anything to do with the face I was making. Oh, well.)

The main difference is that is it is easiest to put in an invisible zipper (IZ) first when your dress, skirt, outfit, whatever, is still two dimensional... or flat. With the regular zipper, most patterns instruct you to insert it at the end of the sewing process.

So, with that introduction, I'm going to outline the order that I put this sundress together, using an IZ. (Cross your fingers I don't forget a step.)

1. Pleat back skirt pieces, and attach back yoke pieces to the skirt pieces.
2. Insert IZ. Set the back aside.
3. Make the front yoke piece.
4. Make the front skirt piece with the pockets . In the Simplicity instructions, this is steps 24 to 29. (Don't you love the pockets on this pattern!)
5. Attach the completed front yoke piece to the completed front skirt piece. Set aside.
6. Make the shoulder straps (steps 9-11). Baste the shoulder straps to the back yoke where indicated (or where you like them, like I did).
7. (optional) Pin fit the dress, by pinning the side seams, and the shoulder straps to the front. It's easy to try on and fit here, because you already have the zipper inserted. Yay! It fits!
8. Sew the side seams, baste the shoulder straps to the front where you like them, and set aside. Don't twist those straps though or you'll be sad.
9. Make the yoke lining as indicated, and insert it (steps 17-23, 32). The main difference here is that you are working with the entire dress in the way, but it really isn't that cumbersome. Also, I pinned and stitched the back center of the lining directly to the IZ so that I wouldn't have to hand stitch that part down.

 

And, Step #10... Hem!

For the record, I didn't eliminate any steps, but just reordered them. And did you see the bow at the top of the zipper? Well, I didn't like the way the IZ looked as it wasn't quite to the top edge, but not enough room for a hook, so I made a simple bow, and safety pinned it (yes, you read right) to the yoke, strategically covering the top of the zipper.

Also, even though this is getting kind of long, a couple of other notes...

• I should have made a muslin of at least the yoke and straps, because I hated the way they felt and fit. The straps were simply too wide for my shoulders, so I narrowed them, and attached them more toward the center in the back. It involved lots of ripping out and resewing, as I decided to do this after the lining was attached. I didn't rip it off completely though. Picture of the shoulder strap here.
• I made the pockets bigger where you put your hand in. They were way too skimpy. I also used lining fabric for the pocket facing to avoid that large print from showing through. Pictures here and here and one more here.

 In looking at the pictures, I'm wondering if the style and fabric make me look too young. Wait! That would be a good thing!

Piping Tips

I'm almost done with the Rooibos dress by Colette Patterns, and it has really sewn up nicely. It's classified as an Intermediate skill level pattern, and one of the things that makes it so is the piping detail. It's optional, so if you're a beginning sewer, or have never sewn with piping, leaving it off will make it doable. If you want to try it though, there aren't any instructions on how to make piping (you can buy it pre-made).

I like to make my own, however, and it really is easy. First, I measured around the neckline and the tops of the pockets, and figured out I needed around 53". I used a cotton crochet thread, which makes a lovely "baby" piping, and figured I would need to cut 1-1/2" strips to give me enough to fold over and have a 5/8" seam allowance. It's important to cut bias strips so that it will curve easily. You will need to connect your strips with a 1/4" seam allowance. If you've never made bias strips for binding or piping, I suggest googling a bias strip tutorial for more complete instructions.

Using your zipper foot, encase your piping cord/thread in the bias strip. Here you can see my crochet thread to get an idea about how thin it really is. I didn't completely follow the suggestions for the piping in the pattern. First, I didn't baste it to the neckline. I just pinned. Baste if you're more comfortable with that. Second, I started at the shoulder seam rather than the center back. I think the connection will be less noticeable on my shoulder.

I pulled out and cut off about an inch of the cording, and folded over the end, and this is my starting end. I started sewing about an inch from that folded end so that as I come around to finish, the other end will be tucked in here, and will look like it's a continuous piece.

 In the picture above, you can see that as you reach the corners of the collar, you will need to do some serious notching and clipping. If I make this again, I plan to change the neckline and will probably leave off the collar. If I do use the collar, I would start the piping and the far right point continuing around the back and ending before the collar, leaving it unpiped. I think the piped collar doesn't look as sharp as I would like it to.

 The picture on the left shows right before the sewing is ended (I don't sew over the pins if I can help it, contrary to what the picture shows). Finally, you can see how I tuck that loose end into the folded over end. Once finished, it will look like a seam.

When you're finished sewing, turn the seam allowance to the back and check to see what it looks like. You want the piping to be flush to the fashion fabric without any stitching showing. I wasn't 100% happy with my collar points, so I flipped the bodice over, and, sewing from the other side so I could see the contrasting thread easier, I forced the needle as close to the piping as I could get it, without sewing through it.

Can you see the ridge of piping to the left of the stitching? To make it even easier to see and sew close, I ran my fingernail next to the piping to make the ridge more prominent. Ripping out the other stitching is unnecessary.

If you are new to piping, but still want to give it a try, just pipe the top edges of the pockets. There are a slight curve, but it will give you a good try at a new skill. The piping is a great detail, and takes your sewing to the next level.