Vogue 1213 - Koos van den Akker Linen Coat

This is a long post. Maybe you want to skip the text and just see more pics. :)

Omigosh, do I love this pattern!

I liked it when it came out. I ordered it during the big BMV sale a week or two later. It arrived, along with all the other new pattern goodness, and, much to my surprise, I just knew I had to make this one first. I didn't expect that when I ordered it, but once I had the pattern in hand, I immediately envisioned the project and couldn't wait to get started.

Luckily, I had the perfect fabric on hand. Months ago, I purchased 6 yards of a "denim linen" from FabricMart (it's no longer available). I washed and dried it several times. This is truly a denim linen and not just a denim-colored linen. It is woven in a twill weave, just like denim. The warp threads are white and the weft threads are indigo-colored, resulting in that typical yarn-dyed denim effect. The only difference from standard denim is that the fiber is linen, so the resulting fabric has a nice drape and wrinkles like crazy.

I had trouble finding a suitable lining fabric. I bought at least three different potential linings from Fabrix, but none worked. It's difficult to match blue, especially this heathered, indigo shade of blue. I dove into my stash, but came up empty handed, at first. Finally, I found a sueded, sandwashed rayon that I bought from FabricMart maybe 6 months ago that worked pretty well. I purchased the fabric just after attending a lecture by Sandra Ericson where she talked about making Vionnet (and similar) bias garments. Someone asked Sandra how much fabric she buys and she answered that when she finds a nice, drapey rayon she will usually buy 5 yards for a dress, so that's what I did. I still have a couple yards left – I am not making bias dresses anyway. ;)

Materials:

• denim linen from FabricMart - I used about 5 of the 6 yards
  
• slate blue sueded, sandwashed rayon for lining, also from FabricMart - you need more than is called for if you want to line the sleeves
  
• 2 spools Gutterman cotton topstitching thread, color 20 (white)
  
• white tricot fusible interfacing from Fabrix
  
• 4 1-1/4" shank buttons from Fabrix
  
• 4 5/8" clear buttons from Fabrix
  

I often make muslins, but I couldn't bring myself to make one this time, partly because I'm running out of fabric suitable for muslins - I can't keep cutting up my kid's bed sheets. :)

Instead, I pinned the pattern tissue together, tried it on, and decided I needed an FBA. Vogue gives the sizing of this pattern as "Very loose fitting" and they are right. According to the pattern, the finished bust measurement is 48" for a size 14, 50" for a size 16, 52" for a size 18, and 54" for a size 20 (the largest size). Usually, I cut out a size 20 and have to add an FBA to add width at the bust, but this time a size 20 was plenty big in the bust.

However, I still needed an FBA to add length - without it the hem of the coat would be shorter at the front. So, this time I used Sandra Betzina's princess seam FBA, from the book Fast Fit, which adds to the length only. I added 1" to the front pattern piece. For the middle front pattern piece, I added 1" to the side that is sewn to the front piece, tapered to 1/2" on the side sewn to the side front. On the side front, I added 1/2" to the side sewn to the middle front, tapered to nothing at the side seam (remembering to hinge at the 5/8" seam line to maintain the overall length of the seam). I also lowered the bust "bump" on the middle front several inches to my actual bust line. I applied the same alteration to the front lining pattern pieces.

I imagined this wonderful design a bit differently than shown on the pattern. First, I wanted to fold down and sew the scallops to the coat, rather than have them marching at attention along the seams, mimicking the back of a T-Rex. I also wanted to use a single fabric, rather than 6 contrasting fabrics. To ensure that the scallop detailing wasn't lost, I topstitched the seams with white topstitching thread.

A couple notes about the scallops: If I had thought this through a bit better, I would have realized that a twill fabric is not going to yield easily to scalloped seams. A twill weave is a diagonal weave, meaning it behaves differently depending on whether the bias angles to the left or the right. Scalloped seams have, by definition, bias in both directions. Creating a smooth scallop is not easy on a twill fabric. I was very painstaking when cutting and sewing the scallops, but they are not perfect. Of course, this isn't entirely my fault because the pattern scallops were apparently drawn by a human – they are not even - they vary quite a bit. I really don't care, but keep this in mind.

If you find the scallops too "unusual", it would be an easy matter to fold them down on the pattern before cutting out the fabric. I did this when I created the lining pattern for the sleeves.

Scallop construction

Folding out the scallops for the sleeve lining.

How many scallops? The body of the coat has six seams with six scallops each. The sleeves have another five, so there are 46 scallops total.

What is the deal with the buttonholes? I think of the buttonhole treatment as a quasi-bound buttonhole. You first sew a lined square - similar to an empty beanbag. Markings are transferred to the square, which is then sewn to the inside front facing. The buttonhole is cut, and the square is pulled through to the front. The opening is top-stitched, encasing the raw edges. The fabric square, which is now on the front of the coat, is pleated and topstitched to create a decorative bound buttonhole.

Pattern alterations and construction notes:

• The pattern tells you to interface the scallops. This might be a good idea if you plan to let the scallops stand up, as designed, but I omitted the interfacing since I planned to stitch them down and didn't want them to have a different "hand." I did interface the front band, the collar, under collar, and collar stand. However, since the scallops aren't interfaced, stitch and handle carefully so as not to stretch the bias portions of the seam.
  
• I narrowed the shoulders approx 3/4". I could have narrowed them even further.
  
• There are no shortening or lengthening line on the sleeves. This is because the scallops run along the entire length of the sleeve. I needed to remove length, so I removed about 1/4" from each of the five scallops. (I folded approx 1/8" - 3/16" from the fullest part of each scallop, perpendicular to the grainline.)
  

  

  

  Shortened the sleeves by removing 1/4"-3/8" from each scallop.
  

• The body of the coat is lined, but the sleeves aren't lined. I created my own lining by folding the scallops down, creating a straight line. I realized this fairly late in the game, so I sewed the sleeve lining in and then bound the armscye with a bias linen strip.
  

  

  Creating the sleeve lining by folding out the scallops.

  

  Lining. You can see the bias strips finishing the armscye.

• The decorative buttonholes are a multi-step process. You first create a lined square, transfer the markings to the square, and sew it to the inside of the right facing. Cut the buttonhole and pull the fabric to the outside. The topstitching is done in three steps. First, stitch around the buttonhole. Then stitch around the outer part of the square. Finally secure the tucked portion of the buttonhole.
  

  

  Steps one and two of the topstitching are finished.

  
  

  Completed buttonholes

More Pics!

Lining

Topstitching goodness!!

Worn closed. Remember this scarf? My friend Renee made this this silk Nuno scarf for Christmas last year.

Hangar shot

Without scarf.

What do I like about this pattern?

• The fit and flow of this great silhouette. If the scallops seem weird to you, it is easy to fold them out of the paper pattern, so don't let that deter you from this great design with lots of RTW details!!! You can also use regular or standard bound buttonholes and eliminate the decorative buttonhole detail. I'm just sayin'. :)
  
• All the delicious topstitching goodness!!!
  

  

  Some of the great topstitching!

• The unique quasi-bound buttonholes!
  
• The collar with the collar stand. The stand doesn't extend all the way to the front edge of the collar, which is unusual, and it feels like high-end RTW. The under collar is cut on the bias and is slightly smaller than the upper collar, so it's easy to create a collar that falls beautifully.
  

  

• The "two" princess seams in front, one has the scallops, and the other has the pockets, so the fit is so nice and the pocket is placed at a more natural location.
  
• The bias band that finishes the hem.
  

Buy this pattern before it goes out of print! :)

How could one not love this line drawing? It reminds me of a Picasso, with the squiggly lines, and buttonholes that look like eyes stacked on top of each other! That little horizontal line at the bottom looks to me like the bemused mouth – it's actually the word "FABRIC" shrunk to a tiny size. :D

Postscript: After the coat was nearly finished, I moseyed on over to the discussion boards at Pattern Review. In the "New patterns from Vogue" thread, I saw that this coat had received some rather cutting comments, and had been dubbed the "Stegosaurus Coat" or the "Stego Coat." I love the nickname, but those reviewers really didn't see how marvelous this pattern can be. I want to make it again and already know what fabrics I would use for it (yes, next time I would use more than one fabric and I might even leave the scallops standing up).

ASG, PIQF, Iron - Report!

It feels as if I haven't blogged forever, though it's just been a week since my iron post. But it is my second weekend intensively sewing the same project and I'm still not done! This one is fairly labor intensive, but I'm hoping to have it done in the next few evenings. The post is mostly written, so I just need to finish and get some pictures.

Meanwhile, I had a fun day on Friday! I don't always attend my ASG (American Sewing Guild) meetings because it means taking time off from work, but I managed to make it this month. Everyone was encouraged to muslin the Loes Hinse Oxford pant. This pant was selected because it's reputed to fit a wide variety of figures and we found that to be true. My muslin, made from a very light lining fabric, is too sheer to share publicly, but I hope to make up a pair, or three, of these pants soon. The ASG group recommended a very simple alteration, so I just need to select some fabrics and get sewing. It is a flattering pattern and very suited to the more mature figure.

After the meeting, I rushed off to PIQF (Pacific International Quilt Festival) in Santa Clara. I used to quilt obsessively, so I am quite familiar with this conference, and I still remember the indigo dyeing and shibori dyeing classes I took there long ago, but I hadn't attended in years. Now that I am back into sewing garments, I looked at the vendors with a new eye. You can see in the above photo some of my booty. I bought some nice separating zippers for $7 each, some very interesting buttons, some Collins Wonder Tape (previously, I'd only found the Dritz version), and a couple cleaning devices for my machines. The four "sticks" shown in the photo are wooden beads that the seller (and artist) had airbrushed. They are really beautiful and only $1 each, but I'm not sure how to use them. I also bought a couple pieces of jewelry and a purse pattern, not shown in the photo. Everything I bought fit into my purse, so I was feeling good about my apparent restraint. :)

There were a few questions/comments about the Digital Velocity iron I recently purchased. I've now used it for a couple of weeks and I continue to love it. But let me address some specific comments:

• Robin asked if the point is "pointy" enough. Robin, it seems to be. I'm not sure what your criteria is, but, so far, the point is pointy enough for me. Do you require a specific angle? Maybe I can find a protractor and measure it for you.
  
• ReAnn asked about the recommendation on Amazon to buy replacement filters. I was a little surprised by this - I'd totally missed that. From what I can tell, the filters are used by the anti-scaling system. I am not using the anti-scaling system - so hopefully I won't need any filters. Do I even need a anti-scaling system? Does my water have scales? :)
  
• Nancy says her sewing instructor has two of these irons and one has developed a leak. Quel horreur! I hope this is an anomaly and not the norm.
  

Another nice feature of this iron is that it has very few holes in the stainless steel sole plate. There are just a few towards the tip of the iron and then there are little grooves that lead from the holes, towards the bottom and curve towards the sides. So you don't get lots of unfused "holes" when you fuse interfacing that you have to go over to eliminate. My current project had quite a bit of fusible interfacing and it worked great!!!

Another thing I should mention is that when you turn off the iron, at least the way I do it by turning off the power strip, you lose the "settings". When you turn it back on, you have to reset the temperature and disable the auto-shutoff again. (This is done by holding down the steam button for several seconds until a "pause" symbol appears (two parallel lines)).

I hope everyone has a great week. I really need to finish my current coat, so I can move on to other projects!

Reliable Digital Velocity v100, How Do I Love You!?!?!?

Last week I moaned about the demise of my Bernette ProGlide Plus iron, which had served me well for many years. It had been developing cracks in the plastic over time, but the final straw came when I dropped it.

SIGH

This happened when I was in the middle of making a Miyake coat, so I ran out and bought the only iron I could find without auto-shutoff, a cheapie Black and Decker.

Wow, what a piece of junk. I have heard sewists say that they were satisfied with their Black and Decker irons, but they must have been talking about an older, better-made model. I couldn't possibly fuse interfacing with this thing.

What else could I do? I ordered myself a Reliable Digital Velocity v100. It arrived on Wednesday, but I had a very busy work week and I didn't open the box until Saturday morning.

OMIGOSH.

This iron is AMAZING!!!

First, this iron is heavy, the way a good iron should be. It's not too heavy, but it's heavier even than my ProGlide. The iron does have an auto-shutoff feature, but you can disable it. This thing creates steam like there is NO tomorrow. Even on the coolest setting, it creates buckets of steam.

The negatives are very minor, but I should mention them. The manufacturer recommends using soft water. I had read that it required distilled water, so I'd purchased it even before the iron arrived, but if your tape water is soft, you can probably get away with using it. When the iron is creating steam, it hums. There is a button on the handle which toggles the "humming"/steam mode and my hand sometimes hits it accidentally. I'm still figuring this out.

I have been sewing on linen all weekend, using my new iron. I am loving it so much and having so much fun with this project, that I could barely tear myself away to even write this blog post. It may be another week or so before I can get this project finished, but had I known this iron would be such a joy to use, I might have dropped my ProGlide much sooner. ;)

Postscript: I did take that nasty B&D back to Target this morning. I got my $13.10 refunded and took it to JoAnn's where I spent it all on topstitching thread for my current project. A much better use of that money!

Vogue 1069 - Issey Miyake Embroidered Wool Coat

As Self Stitched September was waning, I was beginning to get a hankering to make a coat... or three. When I ordered this embroidered wool fabric from Fabric Mart months ago (it's no longer available), I was surprised when it arrived. It was quite thin, kinda rough, but very drapey. I can't remember what I originally had in mind for it (and maybe I had nothing in mind at all), but I was perplexed when it arrived - it reminded me of a thin army blanket that had been embroidered. I put it away.

Later, I cut a square and threw it in a load of laundry to see what would happen. It felted up, so was less thin, but much of the embroidery unraveled and I really didn't like the result, which was now thick(er) and still rough.

Some time later I was at a friend's house and she had this Vogue pattern laying out. I had never really paid attention to this Miyake pattern before – it looks so... conventional. ;) But I started really studying it and it had some features that I liked: the shawl collar, a shoulder princess seam that curves to the side seam, the slight fullness at the hem, and a sleeve gusset.

Actually, when you open up the pattern, it is more interesting than it first appears. The seams are all sewn as lapped seams. The sleeve and the curved piece at the side are both cut together - and that pattern piece is where the gusset is attached. The front band and shawl collar are a single pattern piece. You cut out two of these, sew in a tuck and a large dart to create shaping, seam them together as center back, and then attach to the coat backwards. The lining is then attached and the collar is brought around to the front and partially attached. The rest is left unsewn, so it flaps open when you move and the wrong side of the fabric can show.

Materials:

• Navy wool with embroidered rayon squiggles from FabricMart. (They no longer have it on their website.)
  
• Slate blue poly charmeuse from Fabrix for the lining.
  
• Leftover black, diagonal poly used to line my McCalls 5525 trench coat - used for the pockets.
  
• Two size 10 (3/4") black Dritz sew-in snaps.
  

I cut out View A (the shorter version) in the largest size (20) and made some modifications before the constructing the muslin:

• A princess seam FBA on the side front. (I didn't modify the side piece that is attached to the sleeve.)
  
• Shortened the sleeve by 4".
  

Modifications and alterations after the muslin:

• The sleeve is a bit narrow at the bicep. I widened it 1" at the top of the sleeve, tapering it to nothing at the elbow. (This widened the sleeve a total of 2" at the bicep.) I had to move the gusset slit – I traced off the original gusset slit and then moved it to the new location and copied it.
  

  

  

• After making the muslin, I tweaked the FBA further.
  
• I drafted a pocket in the princess seam.
  

  

  The pocket pattern that I drafted, next to a pocket sewn into the coat.

• The pattern calls for lapped seams that are zigzagged. I didn't want to use this construction because of the rayon embroidery, which tends to ravel where it's cut. I used conventional right-side-to-right-side seaming. This required thinking ahead, especially for the collar.
  
• I managed to lose the gusset pattern piece, so I drafted a new one.
  
• The pattern calls for hidden buttons/buttonholes and I was planning to do that. But when the time came, I decided to use snaps instead. The biggest snaps I had on hand were size 10s (3/4"), but I would have used bigger ones if I'd had them on hand.
  
• Where the embroidery looks like it might unravel, I applied Fray Block.
  
• After the outer coat was constructed, I took it in a bit at the side seams. I always do this final tweak at the end of construction.
  

Worn open

Trying to show how the front flap opens to reveal the wrong side of the fabric - but the camera went off a bit too soon. :)

Flashing the lining. Silky soft to wear, nasty to sew. I didn't mention it in the text, but I also did a bit of gathering at the bust to fit around the cure. This was accomplished in the wool shell as easing, but you can see the slight gathering in the lining, particularly on the left side.

Pocket closeup

Used 3/4" snaps instead of buttons

Reverse front flap is left partially unsewn.

Conclusion

This is a fun unstructured coat. I'm not sure how flattering the wide hem is, but I will see how I like it over time. It really needs pockets,so I would recommend adding those. And the bicep is narrow, so I recommend making a muslin first. Because the way the coat is constructed, the shawl collar is formed at the very end. I find that it's a bit "messy", as shawl collars go. It doesn't lay as well as one might like. I'm not sure if this is a result of the FBA or not. It's ok, and I like how full it is, but it's a bit fussy.

Dagnabit! Farewell, Bernette ProGlide Plus!!

I have been using my beloved Bernette ProGlide Plus for over 20 years. What a great iron. Much better than the Rowenta I had prior to that, which was more expensive but used to spit. (I had bought my Rowenta around 1984. Rowentas weren't made in China back then, so that can't be the excuse for its unsatisfactory performance.)

Today, I was working on my coat, pressing open the seam allowance between the lining and the wool outer shell. I had pressed almost half of the long seam when I set the iron down to readjust the seam on the tailoring board. I set it down on the narrow end of the ironing board. Or so I thought. In fact, I missed the board entirely. Oops. It landed on some plastic bags on the tile floor and I had to act quickly to avoid a real mess.

My reliable iron was broken. The sole plate was hanging away from the handle - the plastic anchoring it had split.

What did I do?

I did what any determined sewist would do. I jammed the sole plate back as best I could. It didn't work too well, but I had to finish pressing that seam! I did finish, but the coat got drenched for my trouble - the iron was leaking everywhere.

Harumph.

I got in the car and headed for the nearest brick and mortar that might have an iron that would suffice. Target. They had only one iron, out of many, that lacked auto-shutoff. I bought the $10 Black and Decker and brought it home, filled the reservoir, and fired it up.

It's awful. I had heard that these irons weren't too bad, but I guess I am spoiled. This one leaks. It doesn't get hot enough, and it's so lightweight that it's barely there. Every sewist knows that a heavy iron is an effective iron.

Eventually I want to get a Digital Velocity iron. It's in my wishlist at Amazon, but it's a pricey little number. Are there cheaper, but good, non-gravity-feed irons available that aren't ruined with an auto-shutoff feature?

Please let me know. :)

IBOL II - Stash Busting for Peace

I ran to the post office at lunch today. Well, actually, it was more of a stagger. First, I mailed the La Fred patterns to the winners of the pattern giveaway in honor of Fred Bloebaum. Once again, congrats to Kathryn (fzxdoc) and Deb!

I also had two flat rate boxes stuffed-to-the-gills-but-forced-to-hold-together-with-strapping-tape and headed to Iraq for the IBOL II project. I was blog surfing last weekend and I came across the Slapdash Sewist's blog with information about this project. The deadline to send something was today, October 1st, which didn't give me much time to dive into the stash.

IBOL, or Iraqi Bundles of Love, was started last year by an American soldier stationed in Iraq. The project was designed to dovetail with the Muslim month of Ramadan, which includes the tradition of generosity. This soldier, the "IBOL Guy", is related to quilters, and he decided to get sewing supplies to the women of Northern Iraq, who have very little. To do this, people sent him bundles of supplies, in large flat rate boxes, and mailed to an APO address (which is charged at a discount rate of $12.50, instead of $14.50). The person at that address distributes them. (The IBOL Guy himself is now back in the states, but he has arranged for the program to keep going.)

I have amassed fabric and supplies in the last year that I will probably never use, but are too good to cut up for muslins. It felt great to create two bundles. I threw in rolls of elastic, ribbons, buttons, and appliques from when I sewed for my kids. I would have loved to send more than 2 boxes, but I just ran out of time.

At any rate, the IBOL guy tells me they will probably have an IBOL 3 next year. It felt great to share with my sewing sisters across the world.

I Survived Self Stitched September 2010

WOOT!

It's over! Self Stitched September 2010 was an interesting experience. Every day throughout the month of September, I wore an outfit that was entirely self-stitched by me, with the exception of underwear, socks, shoes, and accessories. I took photos of every day, except Sept 3rd, when I was sick and spent most of the day sleeping in my self-made PJs. ;)

This project was conceived by Zoe, immediately on the heels of Me-Made-May earlier this year. She posted a participant list, started a Flickr group, and off we went.

My personal challenge was to move beyond my favorite garments, those that I wear over and over, and to delve deeper into the recesses of my closet.

Here are some of my observations about this experience:

• Everything I wore was made in the last 13 months, when I returned to sewing. Yowza, I've made a lot of clothes in that time. :)
  
• There were several self-made garments that I didn't get a chance to wear. o.O
  
• I do not have enough clothes for hot weather, which is not too surprising, since I live in a climate that has very few hot days per year and I don't really like sewing, or wearing, that sort of clothing.
  
• The photos are very helpful to see how an outfit is working. There weren't too many unfortunate outfits, but there were a couple. I have already started a Goodwill bag and have placed several items inside. I'm not going to say which ones, because I don't want anyone trying to talk me out of it.
  
• A few garments were worn over and over: my black Teagarden T, my black ponte Marcy Tilton pants (V8397A), and my new Jalie Jeans. Thank goodness I made those jeans just before Sept 1st! I generally wear jeans very rarely but these were so comfortable and flattering that I wore them over and over!
  
• I am not a person who likes to dress up, sit on the couch, and work. I guess I'll never be that sort of person. I prefer to work in my PJs and get dressed if and when I need to go out.
  
• Some outfits emphasize my bust much more than others!! Not in a good way. ;)
  
• Structured jackets are my friend.
  
• Accessories that divert attention from my bust are my friend.
  
• More fitted tops (rather than long, loose tops) are my friend. I'd pretty much figured that one out already, but sometimes I'm gonna wear those tops anyway. :)
  
• As so many other participants noted, taking a photo of oneself every day is a pain. And it's a bigger pain if you have to rely on someone else to take the photo. I'm glad I can do it myself with a tripod and my camera remote, but still, it gets old. Because the photos are so useful, it's worth the effort. I'm getting better at taking photos of myself. It's actually less embarrassing to pose for a camera when no human is behind it, but I wonder what my neighbors thought about it. :)
  

That's all I can think of for now. Feel free to post your own thoughts, if you want to go peek at my Flickr album.

All week I have been working on a wool coat in the evenings. It was very hot earlier in the week, so it was very slow going. But now, our wonderful, blissful, cold fog has returned and it's become more enjoyable to sew with wool. The shell is mostly constructed and tomorrow night I plan to cut out the lining. I'm hoping I can finish it this weekend and can hopefully blog it before Monday.

Yesterday I took advantage of the BMV sale and ten new Vogue patterns are winging their way to me, including the new Marcy Tilton jacket that is so cute.

Three cheers for Fall Sewing. Yay. Yay. Yay. ;)