Claire S. - I'm missing a step somewhere

I've only got 2 more pieces to baste with the underlining and can move on to the interfacing.

I've got sew-in hair canvas to be made into interfacing pieces for front/side front under underarm and for the back per Marji's interfacing post - oh, and the collar, too.

The front facing has me stumped - I've gone through all the posts and if there are instructions for the facing then I've missed them completely.

Does it get hair canvas, interfacing, underlining, nothing ?

Someone? help please...

Claire S. - Moving along

I haven't posted in awhile but I AM finally making some progress. Bits & pieces of progress were posted on my blog.

I've cut out all my wool, and flannel underlining and have started basting the pieces together - I was hoping to have them all done by the beginning of the weekend but it didn't happen, so maybe by the END of the weekend ?

Dawn's Progress

I don't know whether this is something to be happy about or sad but I finally cut out my coat pieces! I am far, far behind. :( I guess life got in the way. Now that it's cut hopefully I'll be quick about sewing it together.

Just thought I'd check in and let people know I haven't given up!

Tany's coat: satin tape and more on the buttonholes

As promised, I’ll show you some details before starting the padstitching on the coat. For attaching the interfacing, tapes and reinforcements I’ll be referring to Paco’s tutorial.

Let’s start by the satin tapes around the waist, which must be set before the interfacing and after stitching all the vertical seams of the coat’s body; the satin tape is hand stitched because I didn’t want to take the risk of damaging the velvet by using the sewing machine:

Another detail is the buttonhole treatment after basting the canvas in place. The right front interfacing must have the buttonholes cut out as rectangles, slightly bigger than the buttonhole size:

The buttonhole’s SAs are slipped through these rectangles as seen in the next picture:

The canvas is then hand basted to the front; the buttonhole Sas are trimmed, graded and tacked down to the interfacing:


Now I’m ready to start padstitching!

Tany's coat: bound buttonholes

This is a very time consuming project and I am extra limited because the fabric is black and I avoid sewing black fabrics at night, hence my progress has been so slow. Up to this point I’ve made the buttonholes (the welts were hand sewn in place), sewn all the body’s vertical seams (I left the shoulder seams open), tacked down the SAs and I started hand sewing the satin tape to the waist of the coat. The main reasons for all this hand sewing are: the presser foot could flat down the pile when sewing on the right side of the fabric and avoiding the slide effect when joining two layers when at least one has pile (sewing straight is very difficult because of this sliding effect). I could minor this problem by extra hand basting but I’d risk damaging the satin tape. Hand sewing provides more control and the result is much neater; the only disadvantage is that it takes extra time to get done.

Today I will show you the buttonholes; I used the “window” method, explained in a previous article at my blog (read it here). The only difference is that I’ve hand sewn the welts on instead of topstitching them.

The window method always uses a patch to make the “window”, a small rectangle of sheer fabric on the same color as the fashion fabric. It is placed on top of the buttonhole marked set place on the right side. Then a rectangle (the size of the finished buttonhole) is stitched, using a short stitch setting, and then it’s cut (both patch and fabric). The patch fabric is slipped through the resulting hole to the wrong side of the jacket/coat front, and pressed (see the link to the tutorial provided above for more details and pictures). I used black silk organza for the patch, and the resulting “window” is this (right and wrong side):


After stitching both welts together using a long stitch/loose tension setting, I made a few long running stitches using contrasting thread (basting cotton in this case) so I could see the two welt junction and better center it on the buttonhole window:

In the following picture you can see the process of hand sewing the welts to the buttonhole window (take extra care so each stitch goes through all the fabric layers so the resulting welt is sturdy).

This is how it looks on the wrong side; the canvas will have slightly bigger cut out rectangles at the place of the buttonholes and the allowances you see in the picture will pass through those rectangles when the hymo is set in place on the right front piece. These allowances must be trimmed and graded, and finally tacked down to the hymo. I will share some pictures when I get there.

This is how the buttonhole looks on the right side:

In the meanwhile I’ve started hand sewing the satin tapes around the waist of the coat. I will share pictures when I’m done!

Lindsay T: Progress made, plus a question

I made considerable progress on my coat this weekend. The body is all done, having been pad-stitched, catch-stitched and machine-stitched; the sleeves are assembled and ready to be attached. Marji, you'd be pleased to know I'm actually getting into making this coat.

I also spent some time thinking about what extra touches I want to incorporate, as the OOP Vogue pattern I'm using is basically a blank slate. I photocopied the pattern illustration and then sketched various pocket and trim ideas. For now I've added two flaps at the high waist and I like the definition it gives my rectangle figure. Fabulous buttons will be a must, of course. You can see one of my sketch ideas at left.

Question: The pattern calls for inseam side pockets. I tried this with my coat and then ripped them out because it made me look thicker through the middle, and I want this coat to have a slim fit. I like the idea, though, of pockets as a place to put my gloves when I'm not wearing my coat. Is a patch pocket inside on the lining a bad idea? Any thoughts?

Nancy K: So much for having all my materials in place

I finally have all my issues with fit and pattern worked out and was about to block fuse the pieces that will use the same interfacing. I am short! I just ordered some more and hopefully will have it in a couple of days. I am using Palmer Pletsch's heavy interfacing for the under collar, on bias, as I really feel the need for a lot of support so that this collar will actually hold it's shape. I'll use a weft interfacing for the body and facings. I don't like the method of attaching the facing to the lining and sewing it on together. I think that sewing the facing to the jacket gives more control. I also prefer to hem my coats so that it doesn't fall after a while. The method I like for bagging the lining calls for a back facing, so I made a pattern for that.

Digs: A rethink?

So, fall is all around us, and it's starting to feel cold. Still, I haven't progressed much beyond my two muslins. I decided that my little coral coloured McCall's can wait till spring. By the time I finish it, it'll be too cold to wear it!

The big Siege of Stalingrad will have to get done, but it seems such a huge project! I hate the thought of tackling it. And it's such a SERIOUS coat - black with grey pinstripe.... that coat's never going to have any fun.

So today, looking for instant gratification, I made a little fall number from Burda 7856, view A, to cheer me up.

This is the easiest garment I ever tackled. I picked the size based on the finished bust width (10 had tons of room for me, I have a suit jacket under the coat in the photos here and it still feels roomy), cut, sewed - well no, it sewed itself. I made no adjustments for my height - it's a little longer than on the model, but I like it that way. Because it's wide across the middle I thought it would make me look like the pillsbury doughboy, but surprisingly no, it's cute. I love the big, wide open collar; I also love that this project was practically free: I used a piece of wool coating (woven in black & red giant herringbone, very geometric) I'd bought a thousand years ago to serve as a bedspread/blanket. It's been begging me for another life for years.... Love it - bouncy tough stuff, I felt it needed no interfacing anywhere, but I did interface the under collar. The lining, a silk jacquard with a Christmas motif, and the interlining, a soft knit poly fleece, were Fabric Mart freebies. No design changes except cutting the upper back on the bias, and adding cuffs to the sleeves just for the fun of it. It's SO much easier to "fire all torpedos, full speed ahead" when the fear of wrecking some pricey and delicate piece of cloth doesn't enter the picture.

I've been wearing it since last week, and am happy to report the interlining is keeping my core warm even though the coat's too short to do much for my legs. The oversize beret's a hit: DH said, "it's very Left Bank", and my little son's been stealing it every night! He's asked for one for himself: so that'll be this weekend's project.

The photos, btw, are courtesy of the first snowfall of the season, 11 cm overnight, even before the leaves are off all of our trees. We Canucks DO love our weather.

Mary OK: Bound Buttonholes

I have spent the last 3 weeks or so learning how to make bound buttonholes. I looked at the references Marji provided, but found this resource to be the easiest for my fumbly fingers.

Susan Huxley. Sewing Secrets from the Fashion Industry.
Search for bound buttonholes to see the text on pp. 92-94. (I LOVE Amazon's book reader!)

left, buttonhole test for center front
below right, buttonhole test for sleeve vent
buttons from G Street Fabrics, Rockville store

Question: are the cf buttonholes long enough?

Tips:
Use the sharpest marking pencil you can find. I used a plain white Crayola colored pencil to draw the lines on the interfacing.

The directions call for 1" strips of bias or straight fabric. The melton fabric seemed to need a little more for turn of cloth. For the center front buttonholes, I used strips 1 and 1/8" wide. For the sleeve vent, the strips are just a hair over 1 " wide.

Use a fine silk basting thread. The finest thread gives the least room for error. Stitch all basting lines by machine and measure before AND after stitching. Do it over if there is even a hair of difference.

Baste the cut folded edges together to keep them from opening out.

Start stitching from the same end of the buttonhole, for both top and bottom.

Count your stitches! Use the same number of stitches top and bottom for all buttonholes.

Check the back -- Make sure your stitching lines are parallel to each other and absolutely straight. Do over if needed.

When you line up the little triangle to stitch over the lips, center it perfectly over the lips. If you don't, the lips may come out uneven on the front.

Nancy K: Not so sure about this coat.

I have a second muslin finished and I stopped. For several reasons. One of them being I am not sure that I want such a low opening on this coat. The collar is huge, so I was thinking of folding out some of the depth to in both the collar and the separate lapel area so that I can raise the opening. The coat is actually lower and wider than the drawing appears. Though this could be that the coating will take up more room.
The second question: The coat doesn't call for shoulder pads, which is kind of understandable with the monster collar. However, I have a low shoulder and I either need to take up that shoulder and or do a combination of adding a small shoulder pad and taking up the shoulder seam. SB says if you lower your shoulder you also need to reduce the outside edge of the collar. Without a shoulder pad the fold out in the collar would be 1", double the amount I lowered the shoulder, which without a pad is 1/2" front and back. Her book is the only place that I have seen this mentioned. The left shoulder could benefit from a small pad too. This totally eliminates any diagonal wrinkling pointing to my shoulders. Advice please?

Tany's coat: some progress made

During this weekend I was able to make some progress on my coat.

At this point I’ve cut all the velvet pieces, underlined them with the thin knit fusible that Paco sent me, thread traced them all, cut the canvas interfacing and the lining. I’ve initiated the construction by making the in-seam pockets on the side seams (I’ve decided to maintain the original pocket placement). The pockets are located in the seam that joins the upper side-front and upper side-back (both these panels are to be stitched to the bottom side panel next). You can see the upper lateral here:


The pocket bag is made of a lining part and a velvet part. The lining is stitched to the front panel and the velvet to the back (don’t forget to reinforce the pocket opening) and the finished pocket bag should be set towards the front. You can also observe that I’ve topstitched the front opening, to avoid the lining peeking out accidentally.

Here’s the wrong side:

And another detail of the seam treatment: you can see that I zigzagged the SAs but if you look carefully, you’ll see that the SAs are also catch stitched, so they remain flat and open:

Next I will join these panels to the bottom piece of the side panel. There’s yet a lot to do before attaching and padstitching the canvas to the coat: the bound buttonholes and the waist embellishment (satin tape); I must join all the vertical seams of the coat so I can apply the satin tape to the waist as a continuous tape. The shoulder seams will be left unstitched until the front interfacing and back shield are set in place.

Happy Sewing everybody!

Claire S. - V8346, Lapel Pattern Pieces

In answer to a question from Marji,

My front, front facing and lapels are 3 separate pieces and look as shown below:

Facing - the white paper is my new seam line after adjustments.


Front and Lapel - you can see the lapel lines right up with the front.


I was/am considering laying a lapel in place next to the facing and the front and cutting each of them out as one piece. I think I'd prefer that to a seam at the roll line.

What do you think ?

Q&A October

Hi all,
I'm deep into wedding sewing at the moment, so am not quite keeping up with the construction and question notes here. Pls have patience.
Claire and Susan, I appreciate that you've been finding some of your answers by just reading past posts and making use of the internet tutorials out there. Several members here have written excellent tutorials while constructing jackets and coats too - be sure to look at their blogs and use the search function on their blogs.

I can think of several relevant tutorials on the blogs of (in alpha order):

Ann and Els (The Sewing Divas)
Kathleen (Fashion Incubator)
Summerset
Tany


From Claire- Lapels - this pattern has separate lapels (instructions say to cut 4, interface 2 and stitch 1 interfaced piece with 1 un-interfaced piece then turn right side out) - All the example pictures shown so far have a front piece that includes a lapel all in one piece, so to follow the sewalong techniques, What on earth do I actually do with my pieces ?

If your lapels are separate, but together with the coat front piece they look like a coat front that is all cut together, it's perhaps a design issue, but also possibly just a fabric use issue. If the coat front is large (double breasted comes to mind) and the collar is oversize, it's entirely possible the seam is there just to make the cutting layout and the fabric usage reasonable.

In the case of the jacket I'm working on, the collar had a "collar stand" piece - surely a design issue. Anyway, I just interfaced both the collar stand and the collar and seamed them together, then proceeded to pad stitch the roll lines. I would suggest that you think it through and make the decision on how to interface based on what the pieces look like. Where is your roll line? Is it on the seam line? on the lapel side of the seam line? on the jacket side of the seam line?

You can interface separately, stitch the pieces together and then pretend the seam doesn't exist and proceed with your shaping padstitching per Paco's tutorial (which is probably what I'd do, but it's dicey saying that without seeing your pieces).

From Lisette:
I was going to interline my cashmere/wool blend fabric with cotton flannel but the added bulk in the lapel (notched collar) worries me plus I have a welt pocket that extends along the side front and the front and according to Marji I should interface instead of underline. What do you recommend? I'm leaning to just interface with the fusi-knit and forget about the flannel...Can I still padstitch with this method? Any help would be greatly appreciated, I need a push to move forward!!

Going back to the information on cutting, and interfacing/underlining etc -
I'd recommend underlining the side fronts, side backs, back, sleeves. The front gets fully interfaced - so it's supported and doesn't need the added underlining. It's also, to a point with most coats, overlapping at the CF along the buttons, so underlining there for warmth is not necessary.

You're right, you don't want flannel underlining in your collar and lapels. Around the welt pocket, I'd stitch the princess seam, mark the welt pocket, cut the flannel out of the side front (your fronts are not interfaced yet) and fuse an interfacing where the welt pocket goes, make the welt pocket, then catch stitch the flannel interlining back to the edges of the pocket seam allowances. Then I'd apply the hair canvas to the front and proceed. There is a good argument for simply cutting a box out of your hair canvas too around the pocket and catch stitching the edges, although if it's not too much, I'd be tempted to just let the interfacing sit on top of the pocket, between the pocket and the lining.

Lindsay T asked about interfacing the front of a collarless jacket.
Louise Cutting dissected an Armani jacket some years ago and wrote an excellent article in Threads on the front shoulder stay he used (it's not the on-line article about an Armani jacket that Marci Tilton wrote). If you have that issue, please speak up. I have it, but it's buried right now and, with the wedding sewing, haven't been able to find it.

Anyway, the gist is, cut a shoulder stay pattern from your front and side front just as we did with the lapel jackets - EXCEPT - the CF line, which would normally be on straight of grain, is placed on true bias. As Louise explained, this puts the neck edge, that you want to stabilize and keep from stretching, on the straight, which then acts as a stay, and puts the area across the front on the bias, which allows for more comfortable movement. Quoting Louise (from a conversation, not necessarily the article) "ingenious."

For your coat LindsayT, you definitely want a shoulder area stay across the front and back. And you want the interfacing to extend into the sleeve seam allowance.

Miscellaneous Construction Notes

Back intefacing stitched to underlining.
You should have this piece in your jacket regardless of your collar style.
If your jacket is collarless (LindsayT) you'll want to tape the seamline at the neck edge, same as taping line along lapel that Paco illustrated, Except you'll clip the tape along the curve to allow it to spread. Or you may use a fusible bias tape and fuse your neckline stay tape on.
If you have the Singer Tailoring book there's a good pic in there that shows this.

From my tailoring class notes, c 1980
Stitch undercollar to jacket
Pin undercollar side up, stitch from one dot across to other stitching TO dot, not through it, stitch jacket side up.
Now clip to dot (not into dot), Turn undercollar around corner, pin again, dot to dot, matching dotes carefully, and stitch, backstitching on both ends.
stitch upper collar to facing.
in same manner.

To attach Facing to Jacket
Set jacket on top of facing making raw edges even. Match all markings, Pin, then hand baste right on seamline.
Don't ease too much facing to Jacket, or else facing will roll out to jacket. If jacket side is larger ease it to facing below waistline. Above waistline facing should be larger than jacket.
When stitching slightly stretch vertical front from waist to lapel corner.
At point, stitch to "one stitch away" from corner, with needle down turn work in machine and take 2 diagonal stitches across corner, then with needle down turn again and stitch remainder of lapel, to dot but not through dot.
Pin collar to undercollar from CB to corner, baste, stitch same as for lapel, cutting diagonal at corner.
Trim interfacing from undercollar and neck edge seam allowance
Trim sm allowances to 1/4", Grading so that longer seam allowance is on the public side. This will mean that at the end of your roll line along the front of the jacket you will switch the grading. Above that point the sm allowance on the facing side will be the longest, below that point the sm allowance on the jacket side will be the longest.





Method for hemming.
I hem my sleeves, then hand stitch the lining at the hem, before setting the sleeves in to the jacket.



Stitch hem allowance to wigan.

Claire S - Have I used up my quota of questions yet ?

'Cos I've got a few more...

Muslin - done, cut apart & ready to go
Flannel underlining - preshrunk (4 times !) pressed, straightened & ready to go
Wool flannel - london shrunk, pressed & ready to go - NOPE - it's not squared up

DH & I tried to straighten it by pulling, no go. So I checked around the 'Net and found some possibilities. It went into a sink of water with Euclan (sp?) for 20 minutes, spun once in the washer and 'then' pressed while damp, stretching to straighten it. NOW it's straight - hopefully to stay that way.

I'm ready to lay it all out and here come the questions...

- Wool - I cut all the pieces (front, side front, side back, back - sleeves, collars & lapels)

? - Flannel underlining - I cut side front, side back, back and sleeves - Since there is a front facing, do I also cut an underlining piece from the front, or not ? The facing piece is only about 1/2 the width of the front piece - OK just re-read the underlining/interlining post - no front underlining

? - Interfacing - following Marji's interfacing post, I'll have to make interfacing pattern pieces
Full front piece, top of side front, - using Marji's diagram
Side back, back - using the diagram from the Tailoring book included in Marji's post
Will the front facing be interfaced as well ?

? - Lapels - this pattern has separate lapels (instructions say to cut 4, interface 2 and stitch 1 interfaced piece with 1 un-interfaced piece then turn right side out) - All the example pictures shown so far have a front piece that includes a lapel all in one piece, so to follow the sewalong techniques, What on earth do I actually do with my pieces ?

This ought to be enough to get me through the next step.

Thanks everyone - as always, any advice is appreciated.

Lisette M: Back to work!!

Hello everyone!

I'm finally back to working on my Burda WOF coat. My fabric a cashmere/wool blend tore nicely to check the grain and I will take it tomorrow to have it steamed at the cleaners. I started transferring all the changes to my patterns that I made to the muslin. I'm also reading all the wonderful tutorials that have been posted that will guide me through this project.

Marji, how do you recommend I pretreat my silk jacquard lining?I can't find any reference on how to treat it.

Hope to have some more progress soon!

Guide: Pockets

• Inseam Pockets
• Welt Pockets
• Patch Pockets

There isn't much I can do to improve on this chapter on tailored pockets at the Vintage Sewing site, mostly having to do with various types of welt pockets, and a bit on patch pockets.

There are also countless welt pocket tutorials around the net. If you've written one you'd like to have included here, please post a link in the comments, and we'll make sure it gets into the body of this post.

A note about inseam pockets - you'll want to fuse the fold line using a woven straight-grain fusible tape or strip of interfacing


Patch Pockets:
My preferred method of attaching patch pockets

1. Assemble the lined pocket
2. Cut lining just a hair smaller so that it is recessed behind the fashion fabric layer
3. Topstitch the pocket if topstitching is desired
4. Hand baste the pocket in place on the front of the jacket
   
5. 
6. Flip the jacket front over, to the inside
7. Beginning at the top corner, using doubled waxed thread, stitch pocket to coat/jacket, as shown.
   
8. At the end of the pocket (after working all the way around, for this quick sample I just did a few stitches) reverse direction of stitches and retrace outside edge of the pocket, crossing the initial stitching line.
   
9. Back at the top, reinforce with extra stitches both vertical and horizontal.
   
10. The stitches will be invisible on the right side; however if while working your stitches you flip to the right side and pull the pocket away from the stitching line to see what is happening, this is what it will look like.

It's my opinion that patch pockets that are topstitched onto a coat front tend to look a bit as if they're "stuck on." I know this is more hand stitching, but it creates a much neater pocket application.

As a parting shot, an interesting link: An article by David Page Coffin on tailoring a mens coat from Threads

Guide: Buttonholes

Because bound buttonholes must be made at the beginning of construction, you need to make a decision about buttonholes early on in your construction process. If you're going to make handworked or machine worked buttonholes, once you've made that decision you can forget about them for awhile. If you decide to make bound buttonholes, then you need to work those in the front before you stitch your shoulder seams or side seams.


Buttonholes:

• Bound buttonhole - make these before front facing is attached, then finish back through facing after garment is fully assembled. These are a hallmark of a finely tailored women's coat or jacket. You will not find these on men's coats.
  
• Hand worked buttonhole - these are worked after garment is fully assembled.
  
• Machine worked buttonhole - these are worked after garment is fully assembled
  

You have the choice of making Bound Buttonholes, appropriate for women's coats, and the time to make them is before the jacket is put together. Because your entire front should be interfaced with the hair canvas or interfacing that you're using to support and shape your lapels, it is a good idea to put your buttonholes in before applying the hair canvas. The hair canvas should not be sewn into your bound buttonhole. It is appropriate to add an alternative interfacing in the area of the buttonhole.

For any method you'll first need to mark your coat front with a "ladder" to make sure that your buttonholes are consistent and lined up. Using thread tracing stitch the CF line, then a line for each end of the buttonholes - so you now have 3 vertical lines. Then you'll add the horizontal lines to mark the placement for each buttonhole.

3 methods of bound buttonholes:

What I call Patch and Wrap - I'm honestly not certain if there is really a name for these. After the patch is cut through the center, the patch is wrapped around the seam allowances in the center and stitched down.

• Summerset has already written a great tutorial for this here
• Simplicity has a clearly illustrated tutorial here
• A tutorial for another patch method may be found at Vintage Sewing site.
  

Corded Bound Buttonholes: Does anyone have an illustrated source for the old fashioned way to make the corded bound buttonholes? The type where you make a corded piping, then sew the piping to the buttonhole box, cut the fabric, then turn the corded piping through and stitch the triangles on the ends?

Hand worked buttonholes
I chose to make hand worked buttonholes for my military style jacket, made with a cashmere/wool blend coating weight wool. I just thought that bound buttonholes would not be in keeping with the style of this jacket. And, just to show you that I'm along with all of you, I'm having to make samples, work on technique, and practice some of this stuff that I don't do often. I'm going to post pictures of the first sample buttonholes I've been making for my jacket. It's obvious that I need to practice. But, I'm showing you my first and second buttonholes here - which are pretty miserable. Thankfully, by the time I got done with my 6th they're looking much much better. If you click on the picture it'll get large enough to see.

These are the epaulettes that go on the shoulder. I made one set that came out lopsided, even though I carefully marked my seamlines, so I used them to practice the topstitching and buttonholes. The topstitching is by machine, using a 5mm stitch and Madeira Lana thread. I'm very pleased with the look of the topstitching. I had to experiment with widths from the edge.

I made my first hand worked buttonhole using Madeira rayon embroidery thread. Too shiney, and the stitches were really uneven. The second buttonhole I tried using Madeira Lana thread, doubled. Too heavy, although I like the matte finish of the thread on the wool, and again, I still need a lot of practice with the handstitching.

Next I tried the regular Gutterman All purpose thread, doubled and waxed. The thread buried so deep into the wool that it didn't look as if there were any buttonhole there at all. So then I tried a single thread of the Madeira Lana wool thread. It's what I ended up deciding to make in the epaulettes.

I've made the buttonholes for the epaulettes and stitched them onto the shoulders of the jacket. I'll practice more before making them for the front. I'm being realistic, even the 5th and 6th hand worked buttonholes I made weren't anywhere near perfect enough for the front of a jacket. But the epaulettes will never be unbuttoned, and those buttonholes will not show. I did want working buttonholes up there, I think it's better looking than just popping a button on top and stitching the end of the epaulette down.

Machine Worked buttonholes.
All I can say, if you're planning on making buttonholes by machine is "Sample sample sample!" Practice before you make your first one.

Fabricluver: Attaching wigan?

Could you give us more information on this please? On your blog (Marji) you state "attaching wigan at hemline - stitched to side seams and hand stitched with running stitch along fold line. Still needs to be pressed to fit shape of hem."

I can see that you cut it to match each pattern section and that it is sewn to each piece before the side seams are joined. It looks like you have left about 5/8" below the hem line and the bulk of the wigan above the hem line. Is this correct? Does the running stitch come out later? How is it pressed to fit the shape of the hem? It looks as if there is a lot of wigan above the hemline.

As I'm sure you can tell, I've never used wigan before so any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

***Edited to add: I really should Google first. Found it here

Response From Marji

Susan, that's a great resource link you found.

As far as the wigan I'm using, and what went out in the packages that I sent, it is the lighter weight 3" wide wigan that Kathleen talked about.
Kathleen is a professional coat maker, so I'm sure her information is more correct than mine. I do it the way I was taught back in the 80's by a European tailor, so my photos may look a tad different than hers.

• I use a 3" wide wigan for a 2" hem, and attach the wigan over the fold line so that it is included in the folded hemline.
• I cut the wigan to the lengths needed at the hemline of each body piece. I then use chalk to mark a line 1/2" over the edge, and stitch that to the hemline. In this case I hand stitched it, right along the fold line using stitches that do not go through to the right side, and those stitches will stay in.
  
• I then stitch the wigan into the side seam

The wigan is a stiff bias product, and may be shaped with pressing just like a bias binding tape.

Els: Sleeve Heads Tutorial

As promised I would do a small tutorial how to use the sleeve heads.

The sleeve heads are sewn at the armhole after the sleeve is set in. You can see that the left and right side of the sleeve heads are different in length and shape.

If you fold the sleeve head at the shoulder notch (small slit) you will notice that one part is longer and has a more angled shape at the end, the longer length needs to be placed at the back side of the armhole, the shorter part needs to be placed towards the front side of your jacket or coat.

I am making a jacket from a silk tweed which I ordered from Melody (fashionistafabrics) I used a very thin stretch fusible interfacing for the whole jacket and sleeves.

I use 3/8 inch (1 cm) seam allowance at the armhole and sleeve, and have used a fusible bias cut tape to stabilize the armhole.




Pin the sleeve head shoulder notch matching the shoulder seam, with the edges matching from sleeve, armhole and sleeve heads.

You can sew the sleeve heads into the armhole while you are removing the pins or you could baste the sleeve heads in first which I did here for an example. I used orange basting thread and basted over the stitching line from the set in sleeves.

Sewing the sleeve heads in with the sewing machine and sew a hairline away (towards he seam allowance) from the previous stitching (sleeve inset). The sleeve head is placed towards the machine bed so I can see the previous stitching from the set in sleeve. I used a 3 mm stitch length which is just a bit larger than my previous stitching to set in the sleeves

view from the sleeve head the basting thread is still visible.

Remove the basting thread, the seam allowances are heading towards the sleeve.

Done.