KS 3827

I finally found the time to take photos of the completed KS jacket

Back view

Side view

Front view

Hands in pocket view

Buttonhole with Foot Magic

I finally was able to stitch a buttonhole on the faux suede fabric.  I posted about my issues with getting the buttonhole to stitch on this fabric previously.  The Teflon foot was used throughout the sewing of this project but when it came to sewing a buttonhole it just would not work.

Using Foot Magic on the bottom side of the buttonhole foot, I was finally able to get a perfect buttonhole.  I have yet to sew the button on yet.  I have been under the weather with a cold and just have not felt like doing anything when I get home from work.

I made excellent progress with the KS vest pattern.  I just need to attach at the shoulders and side seams, topstitch all around  and I am done.  I used the overlapping seam method which allows enough of the wrong side to show. I will try to take some photos this evening.

I think I will either make some tops or sew some dresses next, I am thinking quick gratification right now.  I still want to make another jacket using Sewaholic pattern.  More later.

Perfect button, imperfect buttonhole

After a busy day grocery shopping and running all over the place trying to find other household goods, I was excited to get to sewing again.  I have the perfect covered button and only needed to make the perfect buttonhole on thick faux suede fabric.

I used a Teflon foot for the sewing of this jacket; worked great.  Then I changed to my sensor buttonhole foot and found in testing the right buttonhole that this was going to drag on the fabric and could not get a decent buttonhole.  I tried using the Teflon foot and though gliding over the fabric when attempting to sew the other side of the buttonhole, it got hung up every time after sewing the top bar tack part of the buttonhole.

I remembered that my machine had come with "self-adhesive" glide tape--Teflon tape.  It was perfectly cut to use on buttonhole foot.  Unfortunately the self-adhesive material was only working on one side not the other side.  Trying temporary spray to affix that one piece did not work well.  I test drove this and found it would not sew the buttonhole well as the piece just would not stay.

Another issue was the need to change the needle.  I then tried the Teflon foot again; no go.  So I turned to sewing sources and Google and found a product called Foot Magic.  To make a long story short, I ordered two packets at $5.00 a piece on Amazon and hopefully will arrive the latter part of next week.

So the jacket is almost complete.  I am now moving on to my next project, using some faux Sherpa fabric.  Normally I would move on to a quick project but why not continue on a roll of working with challenging fabric.  I am going to make a vest using Kwik Sew 3172.  I have traced the pattern pieces and plan to pin fit this afternoon and cut it out before stopping to watch the Super Bowl.  Neither team is "my" special team but I am pulling for the Ravens!!!

Photo update KS3827

Jacket in progress as seen on Alma Marie.  Back, side front, collar and center front pieces attached. Also inseam pockets attached.

 

 

 

 

Here is a look at the back again with topstitching completed except for center seam.  I decided to not topstitch that until another fitting to be sure that I do not need to take a deeper seam in center back.  I sharpened the shot to provide a better look at the topstitching.

Inseam pocket.

 

 

 

 

Topstitched inseam pocket edge.

Progress on KS Jacket

This is an interesting jacket with the multiple back jacket pieces.  It feels like piecing a quilt. All back pieces have been stitched together.  One piece, the side back panel piece, did create a small issue and is due to the pattern not quite matching up the way it should.

While pin fitting the pattern pieces previously, I found this pattern piece not working well with the back panel piece it is attached to.  I thought that part of the issue is where I transition from medium to large and in part it is.  However when I matched up the original pattern piece, not my traced version, to the other original panel piece using same size I found that there is a fitting issue as result of the pattern draft.  Even with the adjustment I made to my traced pattern piece there was still an attachment issue but very solvable.

I basted the side front piece to the back jacket unit at the shoulder and side seams.  I just wanted to get a general idea of the fit.  The instructions call for topstitching the back panel pieces and I plan to do this as I think it will help with the bulk/weight of this fabric.  With several pattern pieces throughout the back area it will help this with the shaping also.  I am using a faux suede fabric and the wrong side looks like twill or denim, so there is some weight to this fabric.

The pattern calls for it to be lined and I have not cut out the lining fabric yet.  Sometimes when I am making a garment I sew up the lining first and fit that.  This jacket lining has a solid back piece so I decided I needed to sew the back panel pieces first for better fitting.

I will baste the collar and front piece so I can be sure that if there are fitting adjustments needed to the back, I can make those before doing all the topstitching.  That is a pain to remove those stitches to make those adjustments.

Updates later.

Next two projects.

My next two projects.

The top fabric will be another Magic Pencil Skirt from Pamela's Patterns.  I cut this out two days ago.  Because fabric is not as stretchy as some other double knit fabrics I added just in case 1 inch seams. 
This will be easy peasy to whip up and I have a beautiful sweater jacket purchased from Macy's that goes perfect with the purple in this skirt.

The bottom fabric is faux suede that will become a KS jacket pattern.  I just finished tracing all of the pattern pieces last night and now need to pin fit for adjustments.  This will be lined.  I will do a pattern reveal later.

New Fabric Additions

Here are photos of the two fabrics I acquired from Les Fabrique at 50% off recently.

The first one is a linen/rayon border print fabric.  This is a heavier weight linen blend and my first thought that this would become a dress.

The other piece is a blue poly suede.  The backing on this one is a woven, non-satiny knit as some other faux suede pieces I have acquired.  The blue is much prettier "live" than showing in this photo.  This almost looks like velvet; not that look at all in person.

BWOF Jacket

As requested and because DH was available here are some shots of me wearing the BWOF jacket.

.

Pocket closeup-no flap

Pocket closeup-no flap
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

I really like this pocket. The pattern called for a flap with a button. I just thought it would be too much for that area on my body. I saw a jacket from Spiegel that had a similar pocket style.

The sleeves had turned up cuffs but I just could not get them to look right. Part of the problem was that I could not get smaller buttons for the cuffs and the size I used for the front just pulled the cuffs down.

The sleeves had not been pressed with I took this photo. I am thinking I may topstitch at the edge to match up with the topstitching at the hemline and center back and center fronts.

Sewing this evening

We (DH and I) went to Danville to visit MIL and DH's niece. We returned home and picked up Chinese takeout for dinner. After eating I spent some time in the sewing room. I decided to finish up the Burda jacket. That became a real task.

First I tested the buttonhole on a scrap of fabric. That worked well. When I attempted to sew the first buttonhole on the jacket, the fabric puckered. I decided to reduce the foot tension which was a good idea. My sewing machine-Husqvarna SE-has a sensor button hole foot that for whatever strange reason did not work like it is suppose to. With this foot, you program in the button size and the machine is suppose to sew the correct size buttonhole.

The sensor worked on the first buttonhole; the second it did not stop at the beginning point and I had to manually move through the buttonhole steps as if I was not using the sensor foot. The results on the third was not very good either. This is the first time I have had this issue with the sensor foot. Not sure if it was the fabric or the foot or combination of both.

The jacket calls for a turned up cuff. I am not happy with how the cuffs look and have decided not to attach them. I turned up the hem after serge finishing the edge. I will sew the buttons on tomorrow.

I like the jacket but don't think I will make another one from this pattern. I think I will wear the jacket more as a casual one. I will take photos of me wearing the completed jacket tomorrow.

pocket closeup

The pockets are pleated at the top edge and then edge is turned under and topstitched. Of course, this was done before you attach to jacket.

pocket closeup
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

I basted the side and bottom edges of the pockets that I turned under. Then I pinned them on the jacket. There is a pocket flap that requires a buttonhole and button.

I need to search for the right buttons for this jacket. So I am coming to a halt until I can find what is going to work.

Front with back in mirror

I took this shot so you could see the front and get a glimpse of the back view in the mirror. (Note to self--clean mirror.)

Front with back in mirror
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

Front with pockets pinned

Front with pockets pinned
Originally uploaded by Danvillegirl

Here is jacket in progress. Pockets are pinned to the front and are to be topstitched to jacket.

Saturday afternoon sewing

I made pretty good progress on the jacket for Saturday afternoon. This is a shot of the jacket on my dress form-AlmaMarie. This particular pattern was part of the sewing project detailed in the Feb. 09 BWOF. I decided I would follow along and try their method for sewing. The overarm/shoulder seams were basted in this photo. I wanted to make sure that I did not need to take a deeper seam before adding the collar and front facings.

The first step in sewing this jacket is to sew the darts at the front armscye; then the center back seam. They then have you press the back seam and then topstitch. I basted the side seams and shoulders before topstitching to be sure I did not need to take a deeper back seam. All was well and I then topstitched.

Here is a close up of the topstitching.

BWOF Jacket and Faux suede fabric

Just an idea of how the jacket will look.

Skirt progress-Burda jacket

After attaching the lining, I had a Eureka! moment and decided to "unstitch" the lining from the skirt and stitch the facing to the lining. I then used my newly learned technique of attaching the facing/lining to the waist of the skirt. You can see the silk lining fabric on the right; came in a bundle from Fabric Mart months ago.

I really love this skirt pattern. I made View B this time as I thought the wool crepe would pleat well and it did. I still need to hem the skirt and add hook and eye at the side opening. I will do that while watching a movie with DH this evening. I will edge stitch the pleats so they will remain sharp. I had to take deeper seams with this version of the skirt. I think it was because it is a different fabric than the first version. I took deeper front seams as it just looked too full in that area; I also took deeper side back seams as well. I have gotten to where I try on skirts more than once during the sewing process.

I also took time to pin fit the BWOF jacket pattern for the jacket bodice. I only need to make a small FBA, my usual forward shoulder adjustment and only a slight sway back adjustment. I need to pin fit the sleeves as they look kind of full and may need to adjust for that and of course for the length.

Here is a shot of the faux suede fabric I plan to use; it goes well with the skirt.

And finally let me say thank you to all who expressed kind thoughts about my DH's dental emergency and my stomach virus. Thankfully the stomach virus was a 24 hour thing. DH is continuing to improve from his dental work and was able to return to work yesterday and worked today as well. I actually did some work at home as well. I just know what will be facing me next week and thought I should get a jump on some of it.

More later.

Update on Holiday/vacation sewing

I cut out the Vogue blouse pattern. I had thought about sewing it up but decided I wanted to spend time cutting out patterns, so I cut out the McCall's skirt pattern. This skirt does not call for lining but because I am using wool crepe I wanted to line it.

I pulled out some silk panel pieces that I got from Fabric Mart as a bundle. I had enough to cut most of the lining from the panel. I used another solid color that matched the green fabric and the green in the silk panel for the lining of the two side back skirt pieces.

I then traced the Burda jacket pattern. Whew! that was a task. I still need to pin fit the pattern. I am unsure about the size I used so I traced the largest and the next smaller size so I can test fit both sizes. The larger size, Burda 44, was listed as a 14 for USA patterns. I hope this is the case. That was a lot of tracing for it not to work. If it is a match to size 14 I will have to do a FBA but that will be okay.

Once I fit the Burda pattern, I will cut out the sage green faux suede fabric. I then will start the actual sewing and plan to sew the Vogue blouse pattern first.