Friday, July 4, 2014

Summer Blazer Jacket - Vogue 2853 - part 5

Time for collar and lapels, yippee I see the end in sight. Now I know why I have never done an extensive series on my blog - I am fast losing interest and should just post the rest of these in quick succession. If only I was organized and wrote all the posts so I could just hit schedule. But that would be way too smart.
Speaking of not smart - spoiler alert for the squeamish - this morning I sewed through my finger (with the machine)  If you have never done it you are probably cringing right now but for those of you who have done it you know it is not that bad, and I consider it a rite of passage, perhaps a slightly stupid one but something that happens. The most annoying part is potentially bleeding all over whatever it was I was trying to shove under the presser foot. Anyway - briefly throbbed and now hardly noticeable. Not my first time. So raise your hand in the comments and tell me your sewing injury. After all, there are lot of sharp things, pointy things and seriously hot things involved in sewing, it is not for the faint hearted!

Back to jacket things. After the last post where I sewed the shoulder seams, then the undercollar goes on the jacket body. Sometimes I staystitch around the back neckline so I can clip and more easily pin.
Now I am going to use photos from a previous post where I made this exact same pattern in a grey plaid wool. I took better pictures back so I can illustrate the undercollar.

This is the jacket body with the undercollar sewn on, and then the seam pressed open and catchstitched down. Having this weft interfacing makes it very easy to do the stitching, as you catch the fibers of the interfacing and it never shows on the fabric.
grey jacket collar stitched on

Back of undercollar. Here you can better see the seam pressed open and then stitched down with blue silk thread. This wool jacket also has a black cotton stay across the back.
Grey jacket cross-stitch inner collar

Next up the upper collar and lapel are assembled. In this pattern the back lining piece goes all the way up to the collar which I really like, just a personal preference and I most always change my patterns to have this design.  So picture below; upper collar sewn to lapel and back lining.

collar and lapel inside

Then it gets a good press open and the seam allowance is trimmed. If this were a very seriously tailored wool jacket then I would get super fussy about the seam allowance trimming and the upper collar would be at 3/8" and the under collar part trimmed to 1/4" so when they lay on top of one another the seam is graded and bulk is removed but whoa...this is my cotton summer blazer so let's save that for another time (like a cold November).  

collar seam trimmed
Upper collar pressed and trimmed. Note that the seam allowance trimming stops before you get to the inner lapel notch, leave that for later. 
I am serious about the pressing! Pressing all along the way is possibly the number one thing that makes a garment look really well tailored. OK, well also seam trimming and grading. Those two things!

collar and lapel pressed and trimmed

Next up it is time to sew the lapels. Fun! Wow, my idea of fun might seem a bit strange to non-sewers. But you know what I mean, right?

sneak peek red and whiteNo garden photo today, I will give you a sneak peek at something else floral, my latest finished garment and a summer pattern repeat - to appear here soon. 
So feel free to share your sewing related injury in the comments. 
Have a great weekend and everyone stay safe in the sewing room!
Beth

14 comments:

  1. Please please reveal the pattern you used for the floral sneak peek - im looking for a pattern with a neckline just like that! Thanks

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  2. Oh yeah. I have machine stitched myself. Not fun at the time but makes for a good story to tell those who do not sew. I love hearing them and watching their faces. :)

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  3. Hehehe - I have sewed through my finger, too - the worst part of it was pulling the thread out. But as you say, it's really not that bad, and it healed off quickly.

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  4. many years ago, as a young adult still living at home and sewing into the wee small hours, I noticed my darling white cat playing with something on the floor and then sneezing several times... and starting to scatter tiny drops of blood! Yep, she had been playing with a threaded needle and got the needle stuck into the roof of her mouth! It took both my parents and me to extricate it. The cat was fine.

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  5. Ouch! How did it happen? Consider sharing and maybe help prevent an injury? (I admit - I wrote the safety manual for a manufacturing facility when I worked as an IE co-op student through college.)

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  6. My grandmother wouldn't let me touch her heavy duty Singer machine because she said I would sew my fingers. I was skeptical and didn't really believe it could happen, but I guess you really can sew your fingers! I haven't had any major injuries -- just some jabs, scraped skin, etc.

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  7. I have had several close calls, but have so far managed to avoid sewing through my finger. My worst sewing injury involved a ruler and a rotary cutter...and I now have a little flat spot scar the size of a sesame seed on my left index finger. Still tingles from time to time.

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  8. I walked into an iron. Actually, backed into an iron that I had left on the floor after pressing something on a towel. (Before I owned an ironing board). I had a burn cut on the back of my calf for years. Otherwise, I fear that I am getting too reckless pulling up the bobbin thread with my fingers. I've really got to disciple myself to keep my foot on the floor if I'm going to do that!
    ~Jen

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  9. I sewed through my finger years and years ago. I guess you're right that it isn't really that bad, but I don't want to do it again!

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  10. Your jacket construction is just amazing and reminds of me what I need to do when I get around to making my next one. Not so much an injury, I was at a sewing retreat and reached across the table to get my scissors, and ended up with my earrings tangled on the overlocker thread stands, thankfully there was someone there to untangle me!

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  11. Your jacket is coming along beautifully. I haven't sewed through my finger yet…I hope I never do…that sounds pretty bad! Glad you are recovering quickly!

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  12. Ouch!! I sewed through my finger.. with my industrial juki, it went all the way through and was NOT nice! My grand mother was a professional seamstress and she had an ugly fight with a seam ripper (in the palm of her hand), seam rippers were consequently banned in her house and my mother's house for the next 30 years...

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  13. Ouch! Sounds sore. The blazer looks fab though. I'm trying to pluck up the courage to make one... :)

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  14. I managed to touch my pregnant belly with a hot iron leaving an interesting mark that had the nurses questioning when I was giving birth to my daughter. I also stitched through said daughter's finger when she was about 5, sitting on my lap and learning to sew. She's 41 now and still has the scar and the story to go with it! And yes, she still sews occasionally so it didn't frighten her out of using a sewing machine.

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