I'm sure I can get this shirt to fit better. I'll start with some easy fixes and hope it will be enough. I'm not a fitting expert. These are just a couple of techniques that have worked for me in the past. Fix #1 is the easiest -- adding some shape to the back. I [...]
Blog posts
The – "what was I thinking???? – muslin
I'm not sure what on earth made me think I could just cut this shirt out and it would fit. I really deserve a good "dope slap" for this one, especially after participating in Peter's MPB shirt sew-along last year. Hopefully you can look past the crazy fabric. This was a $2 twin sheet at [...]
New year — New directions
It's a new year and time for some new projects. But before I go any further I want to thank Sunni, of the blog -- A Fashionable Stitch, for featuring my pea coat on her blog. I was totally blown away to learn this. It's hard for me to believe that anyone is paying any [...]
The 8 degree (-13 C) photo shoot.
The "not so much wool" pea coat is finished! It was 8 degrees here in Maine today, so I'm wearing a flannel shirt, wool sweater and scarf under the coat. On a day like today I'm very glad I decided to add the flannel underlining to the back. I think it really made a difference. [...]
The home stretch — finishing the lining
The rest of this project is all about handsewing, some of which is simple, some.... not so much. Here goes. Up until now the back vent has been basted closed. In order to work the lining around the vent the basting is removed. The left vent (which is on the right when working from the [...]
Resurrecting the pea coat
Wow, this coat is way off track. God willing, I hope to wrap it up this week. Even though I haven't been posting, some progress has been made. I ran into a major roadblock when I realized that I had screwed up buying the shoulder pads for this project. I'm a horrible shopper and picked [...]
Hemming — (yawn)
OK, I know, this isn't exactly exciting stuff. I've described this process on other coats, so this is primarily for the benefit of my sew-alonger. These techniques are taken from The Bishop Method of Clothing Construction, a book from 1959 that I refer to often. The author, Edna Bishop, comes across as an imposing but [...]
Putting it all together — The BIG SEAM
I've mentioned this before, but what I'm about to do has NOTHING to do with the instructions in the book. It's just a technique that works for me. It gives a nice clean finish to the inside of the coat, and almost eliminates any hand sewing of the lining. Before getting started I've learned to make [...]
Building the collar
The collar is the last tricky bit of sewing left on this coat. After making our muslins, both my sew-alonger and I felt that the collar was too small. While working on my muslin (made from an old bed sheet), I had to stretch and clip the collar like crazy to get it to fit. [...]
The coat lining. Why do I hate this so much?
I've said it before, I'll say it again, I HATE working with polyester lining material. This crazy stuff was $2 / yd and comes with the added bonus of a little lycra. The stretch is probably a good thing for wearability, but makes it difficult to press. Hey, but it was only $2, right? The [...]
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