It is now 2007! We had a quiet end to our year. The younger monkey stayed up till 9:00 pm and watched a Polly Pocket movie. The elder got to stay up till midnight, watching Jurassic Park. Even though it was a hard thing to watch him struggle to stay up, he had done his part in napping this afternoon and agreeing to sleep in, so we let him hang in there and then carried him to bed after the ball went down in Times Square. While the movies were on, I went into the shop to sew ...
Last week, I had cut with an extra 5/8" s.a. and plan on sewing a full 1". I am not going to trim in back except in the curved areas. Even though I am lining this coat, the wool is a bit ravelly, so I am going to serge the edges of the wool. I am also going to machine baste the fleece to the silk at 1/4" from the edge. I could not fit the bias sleeves in the jacket I was going to recycle. So, that jacket is going to stay in the back of the cupboard for a while. That way I can use it for other things if I need it. I managed to find enough fleece in the stash. It isn't a microfleece, but it is a 100 wt, so I think it will be OK.
I managed to baste the fleece to the silk and do the darts on the front lining. I have the back pleats pinned, but want to compare to the facing before I sew as there are no markings. The sleeves are stitched to the fronts and back and the pockets are assembled, flipped, and slipstitched. Ready to attach to the coat tomorrow after I serge the edges of the wool. I know that it will all be hidden by the lining, but I really am trying to raise my standards a bit on this project. I am taking my time and relishing working with these fabrics ...
There has been much said about the instructions in HP patterns. I am not quite intermediate, but I do have a fair amount of knowledge under my belt. The instructions state that you have to know how to sew a shawl collar but do not elaborate further. To me, that assumes that you know to reinforce the corner with interfacing and then staytitch before clipping into the corner. The only other observation is regarding some missing hash marks for matching facing pieces, but as I tend not to use them anyway, I am not too upset. The muslins went together fine without them. As others have mentioned, Trudy and Jeremy assume that you have a certain amount of either general knowledge or a good reference book. For instance, the patch pockets are lined and faced. you are told to leave a gap in the seam joining the facing to the lining and then to stitch to the pocket. You are not told to trim, clip curves or corners or flip the pocket. Common sense tells you this. I really see myself growing in confidence as I sew HP projects as I am better able to see what lies ahead and expand my skills sets. For me, sewing is a journey in relaxation. The fact that I get a wonderful piece of clothing at the end is even better!
Well, I am off to bed. The New Year is here and I have one more wonderful week with the Pilot before he heads back to school. Lots of family time and there may even be a date in there as well ... we won $100 on the lottery Friday night. That paid for pizza and donairs for supper tonight and the movies after. We may be able to get a babysitter out of it as well seeing as we have movie passes! Rather than making any resolutions, I am counting my blessings and enjoying what I have. May you do the same in the rest of this year!
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Hi Lorna: sometimes a tiny fisheye dart is taken in the roll line of the shawl collar's facing (the underside of the collar) to remove extra fabric from the roll. The fisheye dart, which is simply a pinch of .25" at its widest part is usually 2.5" long. Not all patterns include this refinement but you might find it helpful.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you've had a quiet family week. Hope the ankle is getting back to useful and that the coat will be appearing here with all due time.