Linen outfit, getting on with the sewing

Things are proceeding apace. Everything is cut out and things are going together.

Although I knew the jacket was unlined, it wasn't until I started sewing the two pieces of the sleeves together that I realized, it was unlined! The instructions call for using seam binding in the body of the jacket and there is a yoke and yoke facing but there is no call for finishing the raw edges of the sleeve seams. So I zigzag stitched the seams I'd already sewed, which made me think, I'd better zigzag the raw edges of the skirt as well. Normally, I do a flat fell of some sort but I don't think it will lend itself to this fabric.

Speaking of fabric, is linen ever nice and easy to sew. It doesn't move around or bunch up and it's not hard to puncture. It may wrinkle when you wear it but it's very pleasant to work with in the meantime. Above are the yoke and the yoke facing. I deliberately cut the facing into the non-embroidered area at the selvage so I would have less embroidery on the inside of the jacket. Not that it matters but I liked the idea of it.

The sleeves are 3/4 length with a V shape on the finished edge. In the instructions, it just says "sew hem in place" but since I dislike an unfinished raw edge, I decided to use some seam binding here.

I pinned the double-fold bias seam binding to the raw edge and stitched it on by machine, using a "fancy" stitch that did a zigzag every fourth stitch, just to be sure that I was catching the binding on the underside.

Here are the sleeves, wrong-side and right-side out. I hand sewed the hems up.

I also hand stitched the interfacing down the fold line on the jacket fronts. I chose sew-in interfacing because the pattern recommended it but also because I thought it would be best, given the natural fabric. I haven't decided yet if I will do any top stitching. The pattern doesn't call for it but sometimes, it gives a little more structure to the garment.

Linen outfit

It takes me a while to get comfortable enough with the fabric to start cutting it. The linen was draped over my cutting table for a few days before I started eyeballing it to see what would be best. The flowers are obviously directional so which way was "up" was no problem.

I started with the two front pieces of the jacket. As usual, I am cutting one piece at a time. I decided to focus on the place where the facing folded, as opposed to centre front.

My index finger is pointing down the line where the fold will be. I choose this line because there was almost no embroidery along it. I didn't want the fabric to fold over a flower and have a big bump there.

You may have to click on the above photo to make sense of it by going to Flickr and looking at the notes. I have cut out one jacket front and have laid it face down on the fabric which is right-side-up. I have also folded over the facing part on the jacket from so that I get the same non-embroidered part on the fabric along the foldline, for the other jacket front.

Here are the two jacket fronts, cut out, with the facings folded back under them. They look pretty much the same, thank goodness.

Linen outfit

I've ironed the linen and it looks great. I took out and ironed the pattern pieces for the jacket and noticed for the first time that not only are the sleeves "below elbow" (or three quarter) but they have a little V-detail on the hem which is nice. The 3/4 length is even nicer because then I don't have to wonder how much to take them up for my short arms.

Now I am comparing skirt pattern pieces. I am using a New Look pattern (#6705) I have had for some years. I have only made the top before, with its faux-Mandarin collar.

Then I am superimposing the pattern pieces for that skirt I always make on top of the new pattern, to make sure that it will fit width-wise but also that it works for length. I lined up the marks that say "natural waistline" and the New Look skirt is only a few inches higher in the waist so it won't be like a giant sash or something. And it doesn't have a waistband either, but uses petersham or grosgrain ribbon for the facings.

The New Look pattern calls for a side zipper and a side slit, so the back is cut on the fold. I am going to change that so I get a back zipper and a back vent. I think the vent will look more formal than a side slit. I also plan to line the skirt, even though the fabric is thick enough that I probably won't need to. But a skirt hangs better when it is lined and it sticks to hose is it isn't lined. By lining it, it will look more formal and work under all leg situations.

Linen outfit

I want to thank everyone for their great guesses as to what the ceramic cigale was for. I think it is too small to put water and flowers in but the small hole is probably for hanging it up. Maybe for silk flowers, especially because the lack of glaze on the underside would allow water to seep out. I think it would need a second main hole (not just the hanging-up hole) for it to be a flute. But anyway, it's a fun souvenir!

After I posted the last post, I got really sick with some stupid but virulent cold virus. It even gave me a temperature of 101F (38.5C)! I couldn't even read, I felt so crummy - all I could do was watch tv and that was no joy, I can tell you. So I've been thinking about my next project and you probably won't be surprised, but it doesn't involve Provencal fabrics!

I have no idea if I am going to get this particular job interview that I really, really want but if I do get a call soon, I decided I wanted a new, summer interview outfit. My wool outfits are great but way too warm, especially with this heat we've been having.

So today I had to bike over to have my annual medical check-up and I knew Darrell Thomas was having a sidewalk sale so I carried on after the medical to Darrell's and shopped. And I found some linen. Now, I have always been wary of linen, being small and looking like an unmade bed when wrinkled. But my friend Carmen loves the stuff. And there were some comments made over on A Dress A Day's packing hints entry that have made me rethink linen. Plus, I found this stuff on sale for only $19.99 a meter and figured I could NOT go wrong.

I am going to make this adorable jacket (Vogue V2956) with the swing back and a high-waisted skirt that will go to about mid-calf. In the first photo, I also show some cream coloured sanded silk that I am going to make into a simple top for under the jacket. You can't tell from the photo but the cream silk looks good enough to eat, it is so lush.

I am hoping it will be like lighting a cigarette and having the bus arrive. By making this outfit, I will get the call for the interview. (I think I wrote that before, in an entry on making an "interview suit" but what the heck - I'm eternally hopeful.)

Provencal fabrics

Here are the fabrics I bought in Arles.

I bought about 2 meters of each except for the small prints on the right - the ones that coordinate with the stripes on the right. I bought 4 meters of those because I had in mind that I might make placements and napkins with them and so I needed two sides to the mats and napkins to match one of the sides. The four fabrics on the right strike me as essentially Provencal, with their patterns and rich colours.

I also bought all of the fabrics except the two on the left at one shop in Arles and they cost 9 Euros per meter. I bought the two on the left at the Saturday market in Arles for 6 and 7 Euros per meter and they seem a little less substantial than the slightly more expensive ones. Also, I bought them first, before I went to the one shop. I am pleased with them but I could have bought more, I am sure. I think I got a little less of the market fabric so I got about 19 meters in all.

To answer Heather's question from the previous comments, I carried them home in our back packs! We are allowed 12 kilos for one carry-on piece of luggage and when I left Canada, mine weighed 7 kilos and Peter's weighed 8. When we came back, they each weighed almost 10 kilos but we were still under the limit. Amazing what you can do when you find a laundromat and do two washes in two weeks. Of course, in most of the photos of me in France I am wearing the same yellow jacket! But you can't have everything. The weather was quite nice, even if it did rain a little here and there and it was warmer than it is at home right now. We went down to 3C last night and are only getting up to about 17C today, but in Provence, it was over 20C every day.

After I spent so much at the fabric store, I saw the woman who cut my fabric put a wrapped thing into the bag as a bonus or treat but I didn't think to look at it until I got home. It is a ceramic "cigale" or cicada, which has become a symbol of Provence. You see them everywhere and they are quite attractive, even if they are insects. The thing is, I can't figure out what function mine may have.

It is hollow and fairly large but it doesn't stand up on its end.

Underneath, there is another small hole as well as the large one where the "mouth" would be and it is unglazed on the "belly". So if anyone knows, let me know!

Other than place mats, I really haven't thought what I might make with all this fabric. Most of the things already made up were household items and not clothing. There were some very cute little girls' dresses made with this fabric but no clothes for grown-ups, except for the cowboy shirts. Apparently, the Gardians of the Camargue wear shirts made from these prints, although I didn't see any actually being worn while I was on a "safari" there. So I am planning to wash and dry it and hang it over the railing along with the red linen I got as a present, and try to think what shall I do with it all.

I'm back!

Great time! Will expound on the subject over at my other blog, some time soon. In the meantime, I learned some more (clothing) lessons on travelling and will write about them somewhere.
Here are some outfits (there may be notes on them over at Flickr, if you want to click on them and go there):

The yellow jacket and brown skirt. Great skirt pattern, very comfortable and only blows up in a very strong wind, like we had that day in Avignon.

The red polyester jacket and print skirt (same pattern as the brown one). The only bit of polyester I took with me (other than convertible MEC pants) but it never wrinkles and looks good.

The yellow jacket with the red print skirt. The skirt has some yellow in it and I thought they went well together. I think I might be adjusting my bra. :)

The same yellow jacket with the other print skirt. It brightened up a rainy day. The reason I am speaking with these nice Parisiennes is because the one nearest me has an 8 week old chocolate Labrador puppy. She was so soft! The dog, I mean.

The brown safari jacket, standing in front of Provencal fabrics. I got a few yards at this market but then I got 16 yards at a store later. Pix of those soon!

Ready to rock 'n roll (almost)

I'll wear this on the plane with pants, I think. Warmer on the legs than a skirt. Now to pack!

Brown outfit done!

Whew!

I have to cut the buttonholes open and sew on the buttons but I have time to do that tomorrow morning. The skirt I finished earlier today. So my brown outfit can go travelling with me! I bought this fabric for the colour and because it was a substantial cotton with a touch of Lycra but with its peached finish, I am surprised how much like faux suede it looks. It's my neutral with all the bright colours I am planning to pack. Of course, once I start packing and see how little space I have, things may change.

Peter came home as I was toiling away and snapped this photo for me. Why is my face always so red? Anyway, I was putting the pocket flaps on. I think it's an optical illusion that the jacket looks so long, but time will tell. The skirt is about half done. I may get this finished yet!

The brown outfit

I'm doing my assembly line kind of sewing, where I pin together as many things as possible and then run them all through at once, so I don't even cut the threads between pieces until they're all sewed. Once I amass a pile of sewed pieces that need ironing before I can attach them to other pieces, then I turn them if they need turning right side out and iron them all at once too. So far I have done the four pockets, their flaps, the collar, the front facings and four tiny darts in the jacket fronts. I could have done the sleeve vents but I forgot. No time for pix! But later, maybe.

Yellow jacket finished!

Well, I guess it's like watching water boil. Nothing happens for the longest time and then suddenly, there it is!

I am happy with how it turned out, collar issues notwithstanding. I had to whip-stitch where the collar joins the body to cover up the "issues" but I can't even see it now. The sleeves are about 1/2 inch too long but so what, it's a casual jacket.

Now I have cut out the brown fabric. I am making the safari jacket with 4 pockets and long sleeves but no belt, and the flippy summer skirt that I have made several times now. I won't have to wear a slip with the skirt as the cotton is quite substantial. I think it's good that it also has a little bit of Lycra in it too. If I can get these made by Monday, I'll take them on the trip!

Yellow jacket

I am not making much progress!

Here, I have put the sleeves on. Now I have also added the cuffs. But when I went to put the collar on, I didn't read the instructions and did it "my way" instead and now I am having issues with the front bands. Argh. More sewing, less talking!

Yellow jacket

I am working away on the yellow jacket but on Friday, I wore the reversible coat I made a while back. I haven't worn it since I made it because it was too tight (it looks like it fit in the original pictures but it really was too tight)! Since I have been working out however, it now fits. Peter snapped this photo on Friday after work. The background is just the small mall near where we live and he chose it because the red complimented the coat.

I wanted to try to get an accurate photo of the colour of the yellow and realized that it is a little lemony and makes my mouth pucker but what the heck - I like bright. These are swatches from the two skirts I will wear with it.

I put this photo in because when I sewed the top of the pockets, I continued sewing a line of stitching all around where I would fold the raw edges in, to make it easier to fold accurately.

Finally, this is about the best colour representation so far. It may be a tad warm. I have the sleeves on and now have to do the cuffs, collar and front bands and the buttons last.

S.W.A.P. for a trip

I'm going on a 2 week trip to France in a warm month (i.e. soon) and all I'm taking is a 35 litre MEC backpack as carry-on (it's under travel packs called "the Shuttle" if the link doesn't work). I'm also allowed a purse type object and will take that too but most everything has to fit in the backpack. All winter long, when I walk everywhere because I don't ride my bike in the snow, I carry a smaller (about 25 litre) MEC book backpack (they don't have them any more I guess - I couldn't find the one I use on the site) so I prefer a backpack, am used to one and think they really work for carrying things. I carry groceries home nearly every day in it and sometimes have crammed as much as 10 kilos in there. Clothes and shoes won't weigh as much as bags of milk so I am not concerned about the weight in the pack on my trip. But now I am starting to consider what I should put in there. Of course, I can always wear five layers of clothing on the plane and kind of cheat a little that way. And I may buy an umbrella there. But we went for a bike trip for two weeks last August and carried everything in two panniers so I don't see why I shouldn't be able to do this.

Of course, all this planning is making me think about coordinating clothes and how, while I certainly do have some (okay, lots), I would like to have some more that coordinate well.

I have been buying some new patterns lately and have been looking for "the perfect jacket". I still have not found that one yet but I have been wanting to make different variations on my standard jean jacket pattern that I love but admit that it is a little boxy. I found these two, unlined jacket patterns and got them with no particular fabric in mind. The Butterick 4741 is more of a jean-type jacket, with the pockets and bands and such. I am planning to make view D (the red one on the envelope) for the trip. The Vogue 8208 is sort of a safari jacket and I think I will make it in the long sleeves but I am not sure I need the belt.

I have been thinking about what main colour I should have on the trip and since I like bright colours and have bright colours, I am thinking I will go with a red/yellow combination. Red will include pink and orange too so it's all warm colours. Here are some existing skirts and jackets. I have a red and an orange jacket and three printed skirts in those tones. And I have a yellow and pink shirt. I put the beige corduroy outfit I made recently on the bed as a neutral.

Then I put away the print skirts and placed three solid colour skirts I have had for years with the same jackets and shirts. I think I like a few prints in with the mix - all those solids are too much.

My idea when I went shopping today was to get two pieces of complimentary twill - one in a print and one in a solid, in warm colours. Unfortunately, I couldn't find such things and so I ended up buying two solids. That yellow is warmer - not so green as in the photo, and the brown is a warm fawn colour. I plan on making the Butterick jean-type jacket in the yellow twill. It is too sheer (yellow is like that) to make a skirt unless I line it so I just got enough for a jacket. The brown twill has 3% Spandex and is thicker with a nice peached finish and I plan to make the safari jacket and an unlined skirt out of it.

So now I am really SWAP - Sewing With A Purpose. Head down and nose to the feed dogs and go. I am rehearsing the phrase: "Je l'ai cousu."

Silk suit finished!

It only took me another 5 days! Please pardon the model in the pix - they were taken at 6:30 am with no make-up. Zzz.

First: the buttonholes.
I realized, especially after thinking about what Lorna wrote about taking a lesson for bound buttonholes, that I was not making "real" bound buttonholes. I made real ones on my faux fur winter coat. You make the tiny welts and turn the welt fabric to the inside of the jacket front, which is inside where the interfacing is, between the front and the facing. Then you finish the buttonhole on the facing in a similar way and bind them together. I sewed the "welts" to my silk jacket, sewing through all layers at once and turning the welts to the inside but where they showed on the facing. The above photo shows one finished buttonhole at the top, from the outside. The second buttonhole has the welt fabric zigzaged to it from the outside. There is a line of basting in dark green thread running down the middle of the welt area. That's where I cut the buttonhole open.

I know I showed this before but here is the buttonhole from the inside - the facing side. I have tucked under the raw edge on the short sides of the "welt" and pinned them down.

Here, I have sewed the fold on the short ends down to the jacket facing. On your right side, I left the needle in to show the scale and the stitches. The stitches are very small but not invisible. But the silk fabric is very forgiving and doesn't show all sorts of insults. Then I had to tuck under the raw edges on the long sides of the "welt" and sew them down too. You can click on these pix and make them larger at Flickr for detail.

Here it is on Rose last night. I am having an "issue" at the moment with the top button area not wanting to lie flat. I am not sure I will want to button it all the way up to the neck but I should press that and maybe it will work better.

I decided to model it with a yellow t-shirt because, a) I haven't decided what shirt to wear as it is only -2C out there right now and b) the yellow suited the pink because if it's warm background - it is not a blue-pink.

Here it is all buttoned up with the top button "issue".

And here she is with the top button undone. Whew. I guess I should make the satin blouse next but I haven't decided.

One finished buttonhole

I know what's holding me back - fear of doing the wrong thing. Because I haven't done this before, I'm not sure where I'm going. But I do know that once I've made a buttonhole, it's there forever.

Here I am, laying out the jacket and thinking it should have only four buttons down the front and not the five I have put on previous jackets. The buttons are larger and the buttonholes will be more prominent so it may be too much to put all five buttons on. And no, I'm not doing this because I made one of them too dark - I can easily go get some more button forms to remedy that.

So I made the first buttonhole at the neck. And it looks good on the outside! But if I don't always button the jacket up to the neck, you are mostly going to see the inside of it...

... which looks huge, at least to me. I am thinking about running a bit of zigzag machine stitching around the buttonhole from the inside, knowing it will hardly show on the outside because of the type of fabric this is. The machine stitching will make the buttonhole sturdier and may cover up some of that floral fabric. Other than this issue, I have tried on the jacket and it fits nicely and feels even better, so I am pleased with it and I suppose I shouldn't worry about 4 buttonholes or 5.

The sample buttonholes

I don't know where the time goes. But I went to the store on Thursday and got button forms to make the covered buttons. I had one at home and got a package of 4, as I needed 5. Then I went and covered them and...

I made one button dark red to see what it would look like, thinking I could take it apart once I made it. Wrong! You can't get these things apart without wrecking them!

So, I either need to go get some more forms, or I could use the dark button at the very top at the neck. I probably wouldn't button the jacket all the way up to the neck much, and if I did, it would be okay if the button at the top was different from the other four. But you really can't put the dark button in the middle. That's my rationale and I'm sticking to it. Anyway, I can just get another set of forms the next time I am at the store.

I took a scrap of fabric and ironed interfacing to the wrong side of it and then folded it over to make two layers. That's what the front of the jacket is like, with the front and the facing. Then I took a piece of the floral fabric and sewed it to the right side of the jacket scrap, trying to stay in a straight line with the weave of the fabric. That's hard to do on both sides. I used a zigzag stitch and went around where the buttonhole will be. Then I sliced open the buttonhole and put a button halfway through for a visual.

I turned the scrap over and pulled the floral fabric through the buttonhole to the other side - what will be the inside of the facing on the jacket. I played around with tucking under the tiny folds of floral fabric in preparation for hand stitching them to the facing. That's going to be a fiddly job! I think when I'm done hand sewing, I will reinforce it with machine sewing. I am lucky and can do that with this fabric because it is loosely woven and stitching just doesn't show on it.

Here's what it will sort of look like from the right side or outside of the jacket. I haven't sewed the facing side. The buttonhole looks like a tiny welt pocket. Now to actually DO it.