My second tailored jacket pt 3: Putting it all together.

More progress on the jacket I'm to wear this evening. I've laid out the front pieces which are to be interfaces and began and finished the process.

My second tailored jacket pt 2: The second muslin.

Hello lovely people.

Been feeling like I'm going crazy lately. Not like I need to be committed crazy, but more like I have so many things to do and I'm trying hard to stay afloat but I need to do more, crazy. Life kind of crazy.

Another tailored jacket in a week?

Good morning lovely people.

I'd been thinking about what I'm going to sew next for me because I have been going through so many projects for others. Now that it's winter, I was thinking it would be a good time to sew some knits. I envision myself in my own custom t-shirts with cool necklines and perhaps a 3/4 length sleeve but cut to a vintage standard. Oh yes, I can see that.

Let's chat about the sew-along.

Hello lovely people.

Hope your week is going well. I've been busy these past couple of weeks. I have three current dress commissions. Whoa boy! I'm also working on Vintageville, which is getting really good feedback. Working on the comic is really fun, and I've got about 3 weeks planned in advanced.

Can I make a tailored jacket in a week? The follow-up.

Ever have a project you really like and worked hard on but after it's complete you see something you want to change but just don't want to deal with it?

Meet my jacket.

I'd like to thank everyone who commented on the process of my tailored jacket a few months ago. It was a crazy undertaking, but I'm glad I did it.

The thing is living in Los Angeles: A desert, even in winter, or should I say, 'winter', I wore it not even a handful of times. That was disappointing. It's not a dressy jacket, so putting it on at night when I go out isn't a real option, and it so warm, it bakes me in the day, so no jacket then either. It was even too warm out when I wore it to the tweed pub crawl I made it for. *sigh*

For the most part since that evening the jacket has been hanging on my wardrobe in plain view for me to look at. I spent a lot of hard time on that garment and I'll be dammed if I'm just going to stick it in a closet.

But now the Air Raid is coming up, and because that is an outdoor event I'll have a chance to wear it. I'm super excited.

After wearing it the handful of times I did, I realized that I needed to alter some things. All small things mind you but just enough to make a big difference in the look and drape of the jacket.

This is what I changed.

1) Larger shoulder pads.
2) Notch out the bulk in some of the corners of the lapels.
3) Take in the front darts more.
4) Tack down the drape of the lapel.
5) Add trim to the inside where the lining meets the facing.

1) The shoulder pads.

I had some shoulder pads that I made for one of my dresses. I just stuck those into this jacket and from the start I felt they were too small. I decided to take them out and make some new ones.

I traced off some from one of my patterns, and actually made real legitimate shoulder pads. That is something I NEVER do. I really like the pattern of the shoulder pads, and the curve it gives. I filled them with polly batting and tacked them to keep the batting in place.

Then I placed, pinned and stitched.

2) Notch out the bulk in some of the corners of the lapels.
While I was in there I decided to trim down the bulk of the corners a bit more. I always felt they were a tad too rounded and with some corners having 6 layers of fabric, a closer cut wouldn't hurt.

3) Take in the front darts more.
Next to the shoulder pads this was the real reason I wanted to open up the jacket. Since I made it I've always felt I didn't take in those darts enough. There was a bit more draping than what I was comfortable with. When I decided to change the darts, I had to take off the binding tape I tacked on and completely take out that dart stitch from the center chest to about 1" to the shoulder seam. I'm not stupid after all.

Taking out the shoulder seam was NOT an option a sane seamstress would do. I eased in the new stitch to meet with the old one and tacked everything back into place.

4) Tack down the drape of the lapel.
There is a lot of bulk at that fold in the lapel. It's not solely my fault, that tweed is thick. I decided that if I did a small tack on the inside it would nudge the lapel to one side more and I wouldn't have to worry about it sitting too straight. That's exactly what I did.

5) Add trim to the inside where the lining meets the facing.
This part was another major fix I wanted to make to the jacket. Okay, not fix. It's a finish. I had this red lace that I thought would be great to cover the unsightly overlocked edge of the inside facing that just screams homemade.

I didn't do it last time because I was just so tired of the thing I didn't care anymore. Because I was in there anyway and because I had washed and ironed the lace weeks ago, I thought it was time.

A simple fold, pin and whip stitch and two hours later I have a lovely finish.

*whew*

All these alterations took about 5-6 hours. A drop in the bucket for how long the whole thing took. And really, isn't a few more hours invested in a potential life long piece worth it? I'm very pleased with it now. It feels finished. It's going to look great with my Air Raid outfit(s).

Have a great day everyone!

Overalls are finished!

Man, nearly a week with no posts. Sorry about that. I lost a freelance gig then got another one that's been taking up my time, and I'm glad for it. Don't get me wrong, I love the sewing, but rent is awesome.

But I did have some time to do some hand sewing.

I stitched the bib to the pants and presto, instant overalls!

I've put the pictures on NVL.

I also put up more images of my tweed beret and my tailored jacket.

Thanks!

I can make a tailored jacket in a week!

Though I don't recommend it.......to ANYONE!

Don't we look like some steampunk crime fighting syndicate?

The Tweed Pub Crawl was a hit! We all looked rather fetching and got a lot of stares. There were about twelve of us at any one time. It so happened the crawl was the same night of the LA Art Walk, which happens monthly, so we were in a sea of hipsters and getting a lot of looks and smiles and compliments. It was fun.

The crawl got to me early though. I only went to 3 bars, but the crawl ended at 4. I wanted to Ginness it all night, but the first two bars only had it in bottles (A SIN I TELL YOU!) and not on draft. At the third bar, I got a cocktail and there as I was looking to my right. Ginness on draft! *$#%!!!! The cocktail was good (I had a Sazerac).

But back to the jacket.

As I was finishing it yesterday and working on the button holes, I decided to change it up a bit and do worked button holes.

Now, that's just button holes by hand, but I used cotton embroidery thread for decoration. Because the tweed was a bit loose, I machine made the button holes for reinforcement first, then used the colored thread.

Each button hole is different. I wanted to mimic the flecks in the tweed, so I used about 5 strands of thread at one time.

They went fairly fast and now I don't have to worry about the button holes getting raveled or worn as quickly. I did a thread shank for the buttons and all was good in the world.

I'm quite proud of the jacket, and for my first time, despite some minor things I would change (The sleeves are a bit long on purpose, I hate cold wrists), I'm very happy with the fit. It will make a great everyday LA winter jacket. Its warm, small, and close fitted. I know it's nowhere near professional, and a pro would probably laugh at my effort, but I'm very pleased with this process and when I get my brain out of scrambled egg mode, I might make another one way, WAY down the line. :)

The book I used as a guide was quite helpful, but knowing that I like to make sure I do stuff right, I looked in a few of my resources.

My Du Barry sewing book was one, that's where I took the worked button hole idea from. I also looked in my big and VERY useful sewing book. This puppy has a nice section on coat making.

Also...after I finished the coat, I looked to my leftover tweed and thought, "Do I have enough time to whip up a hat? Alright, Ill just sew for three hours, and if it's finished, its finished."

Finished it.

Hat was a HUGE hit. One lady almost ripped it off my head! Just made it from my trusted altered beret pattern. Quick and easy. You have no idea how hard it was NOT to make this thing two-tone! I had to constantly NOT do it! It's a sickness I tell you, a lovely, lovely sickness.

So that's my tailoring adventure. I plan to have more final pictures of the jacket and hat on NVL in a day or so.

I sincerely appreciate everyone on the words of encouragement and such during this crazy never attempt again in a week process.

Do any of you have any questions about my process?

I'll answer them in another post.

Can I make a tailored jacket in a week?

So I got this tweed awhile ago and I've wanted to make something from it for a time. At first I thought I only had enough for a skirt, but I decided to do a quickie lay out of my repro pattern and I was happy to discover I have enough in spades!

The thing is, I want to make it to wear to a social gathering a week from now.

The other thing is, my freelance gig is really hitting high gear and I don't know if I'll have the time to sit down and work on this jacket. But who said I wasn't a glutton for punishment? Hell, I'm writing this post at 5 am and I haven't even gone to sleep yet!

I think Ill give it a shot. The weather is getting cold, sans the 90 degree temp we are expecting for today, and I've wanted to use my coat making guide as reference for the longest time!

So what the hay!

On another note, I laundered all that vintage rayon I got.

It took well to a bucket soak. It was filthy and only one piece ran.

It was the red flowers from the I believe 30s rayon.

I was kinda bummed because it dimmed the crisp white of the flowers in the print.

But hey, what you gonna do, right? It happens and the fabric is still completely usable so I'm not too down about it.

Well thats it from me, I think i need to go to bed now. I have a long day tomorrow...er, today.