Jacket's done and some other stuff

First of all, let me say thank you for your kind comments. And all of them positive, as I had asked for! That whole energy thing is a force to be reckoned with.

Now, back to the jacket. This is the cuff. I have sewed it to the wrong side of the sleeve, sewed the ends together and turned them and now I have pinned the folded and trimmed edge to the outside. If you make the photo large and look closely, you can see the line of stitching that attaches the cuff. The folded edge will just cover that line and the cuff itself will be sewed to the sleeve with topstitching.

Here I am, sewing the cuff to the sleeve with a line of topstitching.

Once I had finished ALL the topstitching (each line has a duplicate, parallel line so there are two rows everywhere), it was time to attach the snaps. I just use the kit snaps and they come with two tools. You cut a tiny hole in the fabric with this one tool, by hammering it through the fabric and then you put the snap pieces in place and hammer them together using the other tool to crimp the pieces of metal together.

It works pretty well until the hammer slips off the tiny tool and smashes you in the thumb. Not a crisis (although it does really hurt) but when you have chemo, the chemicals break down your blood cells too and you can bleed pretty badly, so I iced this as soon as I had smashed it.

Once I got back upstairs, I realized I could hold the tiny tool with a pair of pliers and couldn't believe I had not thought of it before. It was a slap myself in the head, duh kind of moment.

And here it is! I am all decked out with Christmas colour accessories because Christmas is tomorrow. I bought some large scarves for my now bald head but I find I am most comfortable in this little knit cap I got from the MEC for bike camping, or all the old scarves I bought for my beloved dog when she was alive. Wearing her scarves is a sort of homage to her too.

And then I had some time to make a couple of gift bags that can also be used as shoe bags. When you live in snow country, you wear boots everywhere but bring your shoes when you visit peoples' homes and shoe bags are always welcome.

I had two pieces of some upholstery fabric that were just big enough for women's shoe bags. The only thing I miscalculated was the size of the pocket for the draw string. If in doubt, leave more room.

I was using this fairly fine, nylon cord I had so I thought I didn't need much room. And it does move through the sleeve well enough.

But the fabric is so thick that it doesn't bunch up much and it would have been better to have a slightly larger casing. However, I am not willing to re-do it now. Anyway, if it's just for shoes, it doesn't need to be tight at the top.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas for tomorrow.

Why everything is taking so long

Okay, it's time for an explanation why my blog entries are taking forever. I have a really good excuse - it's a humdinger, in fact. In August, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. In September I had surgery which got it all, and it had not spread to the nodes - great news. But it was a really aggressive tumour so they recommended chemotherapy first and then radiation as preventive, adjuvant measures and I have just had my second round of six chemo sessions and it is tiring me out. I am thinking radiation in the Spring will be a walk in the park compared to chemo.

I decided to go ahead and teach this past semester, as I had already committed to it, but I am not going to be teaching in January. I am thinking I want all my energy to get well - not from the cancer which is gone but from the chemo - that is some toxic stuff. So I have planned some creative projects for myself that I can work on when I feel well, which really, is most of the time.

Before people respond with sympathetic comments, let me tell you what I have learned about energy. I have learned that there really IS negative and positive energy and people can project it like quills on a porcupine. I have discovered that, however well-meant, expressions of sympathy are negative energy. Negative energy requires effort to resist and I am not willing to expend that valuable part of my own energy resisting it. I intend to be relentlessly cheerful and positive about this entire experience and I have been therefore avoiding anybody who can bring me down, even if they really do mean well.

I have been writing about the experience from the get-go and that has been tremendously therapeutic. I am now trying to come up with suggestions for how people can respond when they hear about something major like this. Don't say "I'm sorry". I know that's almost always the first reaction but don't say it. I have been thinking people could say something like "Wow, how are you coping with that?" I had one person respond with "God love ya!" which I felt was not negative. So my challenge to you, my dear readers, is to come up with other initial expressions of caring that are not negative. I'm currently stumped.

In the meantime, I am carrying on with the corduroy jacket.

Here are my nice flat felled seams, from the inside and the outside.

Here's the back yoke from the inside, pinned and ready to be sewn down. I actually turn it over and sew it from the outside to make sure the topstitching goes in the right place. I sew very slowly because the pins are underneath then and I can't take them out as I go.

This is the shoulder seam, after it has been sewn and then one side of the seam allowance has been trimmed. I trim off the seam allowance belonging to the body of the jacket because there is only one seam in the sleeve part that will need to be folded over to make the flat fell.

Here I am pressing the outside of the shoulder seam over the ham. Because of how awkward it is, I don't press the flat fell over on the inside around the shoulder seam. I just fold it over once the outside is pressed flat and then pin it and sew, also very slowly.

And here is the jacket, taking shape. I have sewed on the bottom band to the inside of the body. After I sew up the ends, I will sew the folded edge of the band on the outside of the jacket with topstitching.

Green jean jacket continued

Steaming ahead (literally)! There's a powerful lot of ironing in this jacket -- all those flat felled seams and pockets and things.

I always haul a previously made jacket out of the closet so I can look at it, more than the instructions even. This is one I get a lot of wear out of, made of a pale lilac pinwale cord.

Here are all the pieces ready to be assembled, after I have ironed on the interfacing. I decided to go with the black interfacing, to be one less colour in the palette. The interfacing occasionally shows, like when the front facings flip out in a wind or something.

Here are the pieces as I've started to assemble them. I've made this jacket so many times that I can assemble it out of order (and practically from memory) so that I can make it fairly quickly, sewing a pile of pieces and then ironing them all at once.

These are the two seams on one half of the front and I'm ironing them over after I've clipped one of the seam allowances, so I can make the flat fell. Onwards!

Another Jean Jacket

I do apologize for not blogging in so long. I have a lot going on in my other life right now.

After I finished my last project - which I have worn quite a few times now! - I decided I would make up this fine wale corduroy I had in the stash.

I got it with another jean jacket in mind (and because it was on the sale table of course). It is a print and the contrast between the black and green makes it look intense. Because it is SO green, I thought it would be cute for wearing at Christmas with something red. Or black.

Since it is a print, I have had to cut out each piece of the pattern (my old tried and true Vogue 7610) in one layer only, so I can make sure the lines of houndstooth print are all straight. I am just glad they are tiny enough that I don't have to think about trying to match them vertically or horizontally. It was fairly tedious and made my back ache, bending over the table like that for hours. Or what seemed like hours. Anyway, it is all cut out now except for the interfacing and now I can finally assemble it.

Working on this jacket has got me to thinking yet again about this jacket I cannot find but want to make. I have it in my head that I saw a photo of such a jacket in a Laura Ashley catalogue back in the 80s. My sister used to work there - they had a store right here in Ottawa with the most beautiful home dec fabrics and the clothing too. I even sewed for patrons of the store who wanted stuff that I called "soft furnishings for the home" made but couldn't do it themselves. Anyway, I only remember this jacket from this one catalogue. They had such beautiful stuff back then, when it was still family owned. Something has happened to them in the last 10 or 15 years and they aren't the same at all.

This imaginary jacket was a dark green wool, hip length jacket that might possibly be called Edwardian. Except when I look up Edwardian jackets, they don't look at all like what I have in my head. So I have decided that after I finish this jean jacket, I am going to design my imaginary jacket. It will be a first - I have always used patterns. And I will use pieces from my existing patterns to help me. But I am quite excited about this! I will make a muslin too - another first for me. And when I am ready, I plan to go see what Darrell can find me in the way of a beautiful fine dark wool tweed. Mmm, I can taste it already.

White denim jacket and skirt

I decided to use the 3 or more yards of white "ten ounce" denim I have and make it into a jacket and skirt. Not to wear all together of course, lest I look like the Man from Glad. I am calling it "ten ounce" because it is very substantial, like the denim you get in traditional jeans.

I am using Butterick 4741, view D (the red one), the same pattern I used for the yellow cotton jacket I wore to death in France. This time, I am taking up the sleeves by 1/2 inch and the body by a whole inch. The sleeves were really long on the yellow jacket and I ended up rolling the cuffs up almost the whole time I wore the jacket. I didn't notice that the body itself was really long but looking at it in the mirror, I realize it could come up a bit too.

I am using McCall's 3656 in a modified version of the fly-front with pockets skirt. It is way too short for 50 year old knees so I have lengthened it over the years.

That looks lame but it is still just above the knee, even with the extension. When you are 6 feet tall, you can wear a skirt that goes half way down the thigh and it is wearable. But when you are 5'2", the femur just isn't that long and halfway down it can mean disaster for sitting in a short skirt. So I go just above the knee for a casual, cotton skirt.

I've been thinking about what buttons to use. As is my wont, when I can't sleep, I go through my fabric boxes in my head and sometimes, I think about the next project. I have a white corduroy jacket in the "classic" jean jacket pattern and I used silver snaps for that. I didn't want to go with plain white boring buttons on this jacket but couldn't decide until I thought about wooden buttons!

Of course, I shall have to go get some new ones and they won't be very dark wood but what do you think of the concept?

Back to posting!

It has been far too long but I am finally blogging again. No real reason - just distraction.

Back on August 3, I was making a black jacket and I just finished it today. Now I am "allowed" to start a new project. But first, the jacket and a few other things.

So cute! Even if it is just plain black. It is the same pattern as some other jackets I have made (Simplicity 4698) and I went with the "no lapels" variation because I didn't have enough fabric. I decided to make it less plain by adding a bit of satin piping around the front edge and a not-too-boring button. The sleeves are 3/4 length so I will wear it with a sleeveless or short sleeved top. That works for me because when I teach, I am always very warm, waving my arms about and standing in front of the class. Plus the jacket is only partly lined so it will be nice for Summer too.

Because of the way the jacket is constructed, with a partial lining, I decided to sew the sleeves into their tube shape and sew the body of the jacket together, and then set in the sleeves and finish the raw armhole edge with a flat fell. It does make it more tricky and fiddly, especially when the fabric frays a bit, but with patience, you can tuck in the raw edge of the sleeve all the way around the armhole edge and then sew it down to the body of the jacket to encase all the raw edges.

Anyway, I am quite pleased with it and think I will get a fair bit of wear out of it.

This is a shot of that blue twill jean jacket I made a while ago, with the complimentary patterned skirt. I find both patterns very comfortable to wear and thought I'd illustrate that I really do wear the clothes I blog about - in this case, at a family gathering this Summer.

I had a student from last year become a friend and when she went home to China for the Summer, she came back with a couple of meters of red linen for me! She says the Chinese characters on the fabric are very old and not in use as "letters" these days, so chances are they don't really spell anything and won't offend anyone. Now I have to decide how to prep this fabric - should I wash it or will the gold come off? She said it was linen and it feels like it, which means it will shrink. But even if I only ever dry clean it, I worry about the gold. We debated about what I might make with it and I thought "jacket" and she thought "dress". I am leaning more toward something that I won't have to clean very often, which rules out dress.

A Dress A Day had a post recently about fabric stashes and deciding what to use next, and I related to it a lot. So I think this red linen will join the stash for a while. In that same vein, I am putting the expensive navy wool aside, while I make my next project.

I plan to make a two piece suit with this green wool. It's only partly wool and has a bunch of other fibers in it, including a thin silver stripe which you will be better able to see in later photos as I make the suit. I pre-washed and dried it in the dryer and it came out perfectly, much to my relief. It was originally $20/metre but I got it on sale for only $5/metre, which is why I dared to wash and dry it. I will use the same patterns that I plan to use for the navy wool, as a sort of practice run. I have used the patterns several times before but not since I got my dress form (whose name I still don't know in spite of what I wrote earlier). There is a troubling tendency of the front facings on the jacket to seem shorter than the outside pieces and therefore, curl the front up slightly. I don't know why this happens and can "cure" it by pressing and pounding the heck out of it. But maybe with the dress form, I can see what is happening. I'll know soon.

Blue jacket finished

So much to do, so little time.

The blue jacket is complete and has been worn twice! I love it and the green one and now I want to make five more the same way. Too bad - there are other things that need doing more.

I wore the jacket to a BBQ on the weekend, where it was actually cool enough to do so. Here, I am heading to teach my second last class and I'm taking the jacket because the college is air-conditioned and thank goodness because in the photo, it is 33C (91F) out there. I found the little turquoise top with all my other sleeveless tops and discovered it went with the skirt so I put it on, on top of a plain white t-shirt.

I wanted the full effect of the jacket with the skirt so I put it on in spite of the 40C humidex. "Quick! Take the picture!"

Next - Peter needs a cool cotton seersucker cycling shirt. It may be hot, but we're still "out there" (maybe in more ways than one).

The Blue Jacket and Skirt

Forging ahead with the blue fabric, I have finished the incredibly easy four panel skirt.

It will go with everything, including of course, the green jacket.

Except for the bands (cuffs and bottom) here are the contrast pieces. I tried doing the topstitching in blue on both top and bobbin threads to see how it would look. I used the tabs as test pieces because they are small and you never really see the undersides of them. I didn't like the way it looked (as I suspected) and so I did the rest of the contrast topstitching with blue on the top and white on the bobbin.

I also did the buttonholes on the flaps and tabs before sewing them to the jacket. I often do this because it's just easier to put them under the buttonholer but couldn't do it with the green jacket because I had not got the buttons yet. In this photo, you can also see the way the topstitching looks on both sides.

I am including this photo of the inside of the back yoke because of how I like to press things really flat. Even though the seam allowances get pressed up, I first press them open and then press them up. One more step but I think it makes the finish worthwhile. I tried taking a photo of the right side with one half only pressed up and the other double pressed but you couldn't see the difference in the photo. Of course, I can tell the difference in real life! Truly. :)

Here is the blue jacket on Rose, about half done, with one pocket flap artfully pinned up to show the contrast.

The green jacket is done

So I finished the green jacket last week and have even worn it twice and am started on the blue one but haven't blogged in ages. Sorry about it.

It has been so long, I had to go back to the last entry to see where I left off. Here is a shot of the bottom band, about half on. I sew the blue or inside to the wrong side of the jacket body, then sew up the ends. When it is turned right-side-out, the green side of the band gets sewn to the outside or right side of the jacket using topstitching.

Here's what it looks like when all finished. The topstitching on the outside is all done in green of course. On the inside, I used blue bobbin thread except for the first line of stitching that attaches the folded edge of the band in the first place. That line of stitching never (or rarely) falls on the blue band but instead, falls onto the body of the jacket which in this case, is green. If you go to Flickr and look closely, you will see a line of green thread and only one line of blue stitching where the band meets the body.

I made the tabs with the underside in blue too, so you get a little hint of it at times. Having worn the jacket now, I know that the casual observer might not notice any blue at all unless I had the cuffs rolled up. But I still really like the subtlety of it.

I had decided that I would use buttons and not snaps for this and the blue jacket but I wasn't sure what I would find when I got to the store. I lucked into these shiny slightly yellowish green buttons that work perfectly with the look. I also used blue bobbin thread wherever it was necessary and forgot to change it once when making a buttonhole on the jacket front and so had to rip out a little bit of that one.

Here I am with the finished jacket. I look a little tired because I was in the grip of a nasty cold that wore me out but it's gone now and I'm on to the next jacket! And skirts!

Up to the cuffs

I now know to turn off the strong incandescent light over my ironing board, before I take a photo. Then the flash on the camera goes off and I get the right colour reproduction. So now my pix are really GREEN.

Here, I have started to pin down the flat fell for the shoulder seam finish. I really can't iron down the flat fell around the shoulder, so I pin it, sew it and then give it a final press. Of course, I did first press the seam allowance as flat as I could toward the body of the jacket.

I usually do a modified flat fell on the underarm seam but since I made the tiny baby clothes recently and flat felled everything there in miniature, I thought I would do a proper, trim-only-one-side flat fell and it worked well. I also did it that way to save thread, because I would only have to sew down the one side, but I think I am going to end up with lots of thread left, I have been so parsimonious.

Now it was time for the contrasting cuffs. I first sewed the blue band to the INside of the sleeve. I used green thread for the top (I think) and blue for the bottom. In any event, I did have the two colours of thread on the machine at the same time.

Then I sewed the ends of the cuffs together, making sure to fold precisely along the seam between the green and blue bands. At this point, I realized it was better to sew with the blue side up, so I could see where to start and end the seam and I didn't change the threads around. As I suspected, it didn't show when I was done anyway, so it didn't matter.

I trimmed the seam allowances fairly closely and turned the cuff to the right side out. Then I pressed along the seam between the blue and green bands, trying to make sure the blue was every so slightly angled toward the inside of the cuff. I wasn't entirely successful along the ends of the cuffs and a tiny line of blue does show there, now that I've finished the topstitching. But really, I don't think it's a big deal.

Finally, I did the topstitching. The way these cuffs are constructed, you fold the seam allowance under and sew the folded edge of the band over the seam line on the OUTside of the sleeve. In this case, it was the green side of the band that got stitched to the outside of the sleeve. Since I have done this manoeuver many times before, I know that in the first, outermost line of topstitching, the line that actually stitches the cuff closed and to the sleeve, the INside line of stitching (the bobbin thread line) actually ends up more on the sleeve part than on the cuff part. Therefore, I used green thread for the top AND bobbin for that line of stitching. You might have to go to the extreme close-up in Flickr to see it, but you can see that on the INside, there is green thread in that one spot. Then I switched to blue bobbin thread and stitched all around the cuff in the two rows required for the top stitching. I'll be doing the same for the bottom band.