Jacket - Day 2

Sorry, no photos. I'm not very good at photo journalism.

Oh well.

So...it's very well fitted. The problem is, then it has to fit perfectly, which isn't easy. I think my FBA was about 1/4" too big...seriously. The bust point is also a bit too low. Since I got a nice bra that hikes up my bosom, I have to beware of a low bust point. I could just wear an old bra...lol.

So I tried to make it a bit smaller, but you can't mess too much with the princess seams, especially in a fabric that has no stretch.

The sleeves went in well enough.

So far I'm done up to wear the lining is connected to the facing, then the whole thing added to the jacket. I will have to redo my top-stitching though. I had to take it out to fix the princess seam, and I had done it on the coverstitch machine. It looked great, but I had a few loops on the back side so I was afraid of skipped stitches. The fabric is so tightly woven. I'll probably do a triple stitch for top-stitching for the contrast.

End of Jacket TNT day 1

It's getting late, and we all know it's not safe to sew when one is tired.

This is what I accomplished so far:

I did a 1/2" upper rounded back, just because I know I have one. Here's how it looks on the pattern. You can also see the 5/8" seam marked in purple ink. It seems to be a simple enough alteration.


Then I pinned it all together, as per Palmer/Pletsch instructions and put it on.


This is where it gets difficult. They make it look so easy on the video, but it's just hard alone. Pulling with my hands I could feel the center back meeting my center back, at least I hope that's what it was doing. On the front it was obvious I needed the FBA and I even measured, rather than eyeballing, and got 1 1/4".

So I did that alteration, followed the steps in the book. I even remembered to use a white sheet of paper underneath when drawing lines and such (and yes, it really does help.) I used the 1/2" tape (and I still shrunk my pattern pieces...note to self: turn heat down lower.)

Oh, and I also estimated out that I needed a 1/2" forward shoulder alteration, so I did that at that time too.

Put it all back together and it seemed good enough. I can't see pulls and such on a taped up pattern.

So the plan was to make a muslin....bah. I have more than enough fabric to make a muslin and redo it if necessary. I'm just going for it. So I got the pieces all cut out and tomorrow I will start sewing things up, and work on the fitting as I go (taking note so I can cut out the lining.)

The fabric I wanted to use, the khaki one, was actually a"stretch cord," or so it was called, and I don't want stretch. I want it to fit as it is, with this pattern. I had a big piece of a cotton satin twill or something or other (I'll drag up the label tomorrow and link to it if possible.) This stuff if pretty darn sturdy, and it doesn't stretch at all. Oh, and it's dark navy blue.

It's late, I'm tired, and a cat is meowing at me.

My quest for a jacket TNTpattern

Okay, folks, I've actually gotten started. In the posts to follow, I'm going to be tracking my experiences towards hopefully creating a simple jacket TNT pattern.

I'm following the Palmer/Pletsch method for paper fitting, will make a muslin, and then go on to my fabric and lining.

I posted the pattern before and also the similar style from the Chico's catalog, so scroll down for the Chico's design.

The pattern is Simplicity 3628. It is a shoulder princess seam with a very simple collar and one-piece sleeve. The pattern also has instructions for the lining.


I measured my high bust as per P/P and got 36". This is a size 14. It seems to correspond well as I tend to have to make my back narrower, which I never do right, I end up scooping out part of the armhole area, which is probably a no no.

Since I know my waist will be about a size 20 (gasp) and my hips a size 16, I blended the size 14 upper chest, into the size 16 waist and hips. The pattern was 10,12, 14, 16.

Like I said, I'm following the steps. So I'm currently marking the seam allowances with purple ink and will place the tape as instructed, pin it together and will photograph for my first fitting.

Alterations I know I will have to do include an FBA, an upper rounded back of about 1/2", and possibly a swayback adjustment (or a big butt adjustment.) I will have to add at the waist too, but would like to be able to create the idea of some curves.

New books

Since I had such success with my orange wool jacket just recently, I've decided I'd like to work on my jacket making skills. Reading through the lined jackets thread in the contest forum at PR encouraged me to order some books. The two below came the other day, and I'm still waiting on the Palmer/Pletsch Jacket DVD and one other jackets book.



So I'm pretty sure I broke my toe this morning. I'm such a klutz at times. I have the litter box sitting in the middle of the room as I noticed cat urine outside of it recently, and didn't know if it was leaking or if I just have a guilty cat. So it's sitting on a plastic tablecloth and the carpet was cleaned and drying out well.

And yup, I ran right into it this morning. I have a pretty purple toe and walking isn't fun. No dancing for me tonight. Other than that I have till next Wednesday to contemplate dancing, so that is good.

Oh, back to the tailoring books. I browsed through them and felt totally overwhelmed. This is more than I want to deal with. More than I had to deal with with the orange jacket. I kind of don't know where I want to go right now. I had a plan, and I think I should stick with it. I want to do a jacket in a khaki type fabric with lots of contrasting threads and detailing. I supposed it's all the interfacing and layers of it that seem crazy.

At the same time, I understand why all the jackets at the store look like crap.

My daughter - the weaver

My oldest daughter is a textile major at The University of Kansas and graduates this coming May.

Here are a few of her current projects which are in a similar color scheme as it's part of a portfolio. Her favorite is weaving, and this project is a "satin" weave where she has woven in sulky threads.


Here is a scarf, I love the edging.


This is a quilt where the fabrics were all hand dyed. You can't see the thread she used to quilt but it is a varigated sulky, the backside is dark blue dyed fabric. She plans a white binding.

Burda Hoodie

WhooHooo....a top completed in 2 days, kinda nice.



Review on PatternReview.com

Heaven forbid I rewrite all that.

So something else I discovered today...I was threading my coverstitch machine, Janome CP1000, and I noticed something I hadn't seen before. Tell me, have you noticed that the threads need to go through here?


Click on this photo to see it better.

I went ahead and finally ordered the Bob 'n Serge. I can't get bobbins to work at all, they get hung up, even with caps on top.

Two of my books arrived on tailoring and jackets....I need to go through them, how exciting.

McCall's 5668 - Lambswool Jacket

I'm not rewriting my review, but I will post the photos here and a link back to the review.
Review on PatternReview.com

Here's the pattern cover:


Here are my finished photos of just front and back: