I've been working on my jacket little bits at a time. You can see here that I have all of the pieces of the shell sewn together except for the sleeves. At this point, I realized that my pocket was too large and would be running into the seam between the facing and the front, so I cut that down smaller. As you can see, there are a lot of seams in this jacket! But, that's the great thing about it, because you can really get the fit right - which always seems to be my nemesis!
I really like to use my tailor's board when making a jacket or shirt. You can really get into those tight spots and press everything well. People at my work always say that my clothes don't look homemade (thank goodness). I tell them it's because I spend more time at the ironing board than the sewing machine! Good pressing really makes a huge difference.
OK, so now the fit issue. I started this jacket by cutting 12 in the shoulder and then tapered to a 14 at the hip. I could tell that the upper bodice was too big, so I cut the pieces down to a size 10 above the bust and resewed them. I then removed 3/4" from the shoulder and tapered it down to the original seamline at the bottom of the armscye. I still have too much fullness above the bust, so I am going to need to take some more off the front bodice above the bust. Also, I think I need to take the sleeve in a little bit, since I orignially cut it as a 12 and I probably need to cut it down to an 8. I am trying this on over jeans, but I can see that I'm going to also need to take it out a little in the hip area.
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteI have been following along with the 1945 sew along...not sewing, just watching :>) I seem to remember that Nancy E told us quite a while ago that her pattern sizing could be compared to Talbots sizing...so if you wear an 8 in their clothing, you might wear the same in her patterns. I found that to be a good rule of thumb for starting out with my patterns.
Nancy, I love the way this jacket is turning out. The fabric really suits the jacket. You are so dedicated to getting a good fit! It's looking good!
ReplyDeleteGosh--first comment was mine but sent from DILs house while I was babysitting! Oops!
ReplyDeleteLynda in LV
I had read that these patterns run big in the shoulders. But, all those seams make it easy to take it in. It is going to be a beautiful jacket.
ReplyDeleteHow long did it take you to fuse the underlining? I ask because I have two boucle jackets on the docket but I keep putting them off because of the extra work involved.
ReplyDeleteIt took one evening to cut and fuse all the underlining. I think it would be much faster to block fuse it (fuse all the fabric before cutting) because it takes SO long to cut out all those underlining pieces and then cut them down smaller so they don't fuse to the ironing board.) THe way I did it, you are basically cutting all of your underlining pieces twice. THe other option, which I am also considering, is to make separate pattern pieces for the underlining, so I am only cutting them once. You waste less underlining this way, but I still think block fusing would be the fastest way to do it, although you will waste a lot of underlining.
ReplyDelete