Going to Need A LOT of Magic Closet

So.  Much.  Magic.  Closet.  I'm talking Narnia here.

Sigh.

I separated the lining from the facing two inches up from the hem and still cannot get rid of the horrible pulling.  The right side (shown above) is not nearly as bad as the left side.  The lining is no longer attached to the hem and is left to hang loose.

I've made three lined coats and three lined jackets.  I've never seen anything like this before.

It seems as if the front is longer than the front facing.  When I pulled up the front and pinned it, the pulling somewhat disappeared.

I carefully measured every seam line on the front, front facing, and lining and found one discrepancy of 1/2".  Everything else was pretty close with a margin of error of 1/8" - surely not enough to cause this much trouble.  Right?

I didn't use steam when fusing the interfacing, so I don't think shrinkage is the culprit.  Plus, interfacing is fused to both the front and front facing.  If the interfacing is to blame, it seems like both pieces would suffer the same fate.

The coat fabric was pre-washed, dried, and steam pressed prior to cutting the pattern.  My wool jackets were only steam pressed and the other three coats weren't pretreated at all.  This problem is a mystery.

So off to the magic closet it goes.  After some considerable time off from this coat, I'll go back and reattach the facing-lining unit by taking out that excess fabric near the collar.

I momentarily considered removing the lining completely and replacing it with some Ambiance rayon.  But, I'm not comfortable with discarding this lining...yet.  It matches the vision in my head and I can't shake that image.

Oh well.  

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.  I've started working on fall clothes since that seems to be lacking right now.

Until next time, peace!

L

Need Your Help!

I've been working on a trench coat for the past couple of weeks.  Things were going along smoothly and as I neared the finish, this happened:

What.  The.  What.

Never mind the wonkiness of the sleeves; the lining is attached, but not pulled all the way through.

There is some serious WTFery going on with the front facings and I don't know what to do.

The pattern is BWOF 9-2006-104.  I cut size 44 and made a few alterations (to be detailed in a future post).  I doubt the alterations have anything to do with the facing issue.  I checked and double checked seam lengths etc. before cutting the fashion fabric.  I did *not* do an FBA, so there were no substantial changes to the front or front facings.

The shell is 100% cotton twill with no stretch; the lining is 100% silk broadcloth.

When cutting out the fashion fabric, I added the seam allowances right on the fabric.  This is what I do with all patterns that don't already have seam allowances.  I've not had any problems doing it this way.  

However, I did add seam allowances to the lining pieces first since (1) the lining is a slippery silk and (2) it's plaid.  I carefully cut each lining piece in a single layer and used a rotary cutter to decrease the risk of shifting.

The shell and lining pieces were definitely cut on grain; I'm a little neurotic about this.  I may cut corners in other areas of sewing, but not with establishing and matching the grain.

The hem is supposed to be 1.5 inches.  So, I removed 1 inch from the lining pattern pieces with the intention of bagging the lining and having a o.5-inch jump pleat for a bit of vertical ease. (Edited to add: Actually the jump pleat will be slightly less than 0.5 inches due to sewing the lining to the hem. The pleat will probably measure about 0.25 inches.)

To attach the facing to the front, I folded the facing back, right sides together, and stitched across the facing 1.5 inches from the bottom.  When I turned the facing right side out, this is what I get on both sides:

The front facing length is the same as the front length.  I figured I could trim the extra bit off after the facing was attached (as shown below).  Do you see the bubble?  I don't understand what went wrong.  When I removed the horizontally-sewn stitches, the bubble disappeared.

I thought that perhaps I measured something incorrectly and "added" the cut piece back by doing a little surgery.

The bubble is still there.

I thought about this a lot after taking and staring at the photos.  I think something may be fishy about the lining-facing seam.  The last two photos are when the jacket is "at rest," i.e., without me holding it.

Could this be the source of the weird front pulling?

I am confident I shortened the front lining piece 1".  I checked the pattern piece and see the notation.  The strange thing is this lining piece seam is the same length as the facing piece seam which WAS NOT shortened.  I know I shortened it because the other lining seam length matches the side front seam length.  That wouldn't have been the case if I hadn't made the alteration.

Sigh.

Any suggestions??  Pleeeeeeeease.  I put a lot of work into this coat and am not ready to give up.  I have more of the fabric to cut new facings, but I don't have any more lining and can't get any more.

I was two minutes away from sewing the buttonholes, but I was worried about how they would sew with the weird pulling in the facing.

I unpicked all of the topstitching and "unbagged" the lining so that I can get this right.

I really appreciate any ideas or help you can give!

Thanks!

L

Randomness Today

1.  I don't know who this Murphy fellow is, but he needs to stop making laws.

2.  Had an appointment today.

3.  Wore my new duds:  Simplicity jacket, McCall's top, New Look skirt.

4.  Thought this was the perfect time to snap some photos.

5.  Camera breaks.

6.  You've got to be kidding me, right?

7.  The lens is stuck and will not move a millimeter.

8.  I consulted the Google.

9.  None of the fixes worked.

10.  It's not the batteries.

11.  I am annoyed.

12.  Seem to be having an electronics failure season.

13.  Again.

14.  I have almost 8 pounds of blueberries currently in my possession.

15.  That's not a typo.

16.  I really like blueberries.

17.  They'll be gone by this time next week.

18.  There is no gracious way to eat sliced mango that still has its skin.

19.  It was cool enough to wear a wool jacket this morning.

20.  In June.

21.  In the northern hemisphere.

22.  Got buttons for my trench coat.  They're perfect!

23.  Did I mention I was sewing a trench coat?

24.  Oops.

25.  I would show pictures. 

26.  Stupid camera.

27.  I've had it for eight years

28.  I guess it was time.

 What's on your mind today?  =)

L

Jalie 2919 (cardigan): complete

Because I wasn't happy with my first cardigan, I searched for a suitable replacement.  First I traced the Jalie Cocoon cardi, but didn't have enough fabric.  Then I traced the Jalie Drop Pocket cardi, but decided against it for a reason that I cannot remember.

Finally I settled on the Jalie (I detect a theme) Pleated cardigan and couldn't be happier!  I owe a lot of my squeeeeeee to the fabric as it has the *perfect* drape for this pattern.

Fabric & Notions:

• 2.5 yards of medium-heavy cotton knit
• strips of muslin selvedge to stabilize the shoulder seams
• 80/12 stretch needle for seams; serger to finish seams together

Size & Fit/Alterations:  I used a straight size Z (according to my full bust measurement) and no FBA.  This is my size for bodices using Jalie patterns.  The only drawback is that the shoulder seams are usually too long, which is an easy fix.

Either I have freakishly short arms, or Jalie drafts for people with freakishly long arms.  I removed 2" from the sleeves and could probably remove another inch or two.  In their defense, the knit I used has really awesome drape and pulls everything down.

I also removed three inches in the bodice length.  

The Fabric:  I bought this fabric from that fabric store which shall not be named and immediately questioned my purchase.  The content was supposed to be 90-something % cotton and the rest Lycra, but it was shiny and felt synthetic.  When I did a burn test, it proved to be pure cotton.  Hmm. 

I'm glad I kept it because it proved to work perfectly with this pattern.  I have another piece in gray that I will probably use to make a second version.

Construction:  I sewed the seams on my machine first and then serged them together.  I used a 3.0 straight stitch for both the seams and the tucks.  The stitches appeared to 'get lost' in the fabric; lengthening the stitch solved this problem.

Conclusion:  Love!  

***

This is another garment in my Starting from Scratch wardrobe-building plan.  Here's my progress so far:

Step 1:  nice pair of pants 

I made Kwik Sew 2960 in black rayon-poly-Lycra.

Step 2:  shoes

I have a pair of black semi-comfortable loafers.  I can get about four hours of wear out of them before I have a fit.  Needless to say, I need a better option.

Step 3:  cardigan and tee 

The cardigan is done; I still need the tee shirt.  I had two major failures in this part.  Who would have thought fitting a tee shirt could be so difficult?

Step 4:  jeans and a shirt 

Jeans were made in April and blogged here.  I'm dragging my feet on making the white button-down shirt because...it's white.  I haven't figured out what to use to mark the fabric. Plus, my serger is covered in dark-colored lint and fuzz.  Gotta clean that first before I sew anything white.

Step 5:  accessories round 1 

I have scarves with my colors:  teal, yellow, white, black.  I also have an Olivia Pope-inspired black purse.  I'll fill in more accessories later in process.

Step 6:  accent color tops and scarf

I made a dark teal button-down shirt back in January.  I will raid the stash to see if I have anything in yellow; I'm sure I do.

Step 7:  base in the second neutral

 

In this step, we are to include a pair pants, cardigan, and shoes in the second neutral.  I made two versions of Kwik Sew 2960 in solid dark grey and dark grey herringbone and have a pair of grey flats.  I still need the cardigan.

***

That's it!  There is a point in the steps where all of the possible combinations are pictured.  Once I've completed the missing items, I'll create a collage and post an update.  

More information on Starting from Scratch can be found here:  The Vivienne Files.  NAYY - just a fan of her wardrobe plans.

Until next time, peace!