Friday, April 1, 2016

Sew-Along #32 - School Days Jacket - Lesson #3

The School Days Jacket by Oliver+S

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You can find the Oliver + S School Days Jacket pattern in the shop. Kits are available as well. Click on the links below:

Welcome to Day 3

As we begin, both the laminate and woven coats will be sewn in the very same manner other than I use wonder clips on the laminate fabric (remember pins will leave holes) and I use straight pins on the woven. Be careful while sewing the laminate fabrics as even when seams can be ripped out the holes will remain in the same place. If for any reason a seam needs to be taken out be sure to sew right over or just to the left of it to prevent a line of holes in your rain coatAlso, do not press the laminate fabric as it will melt. A pressing ham is a great tool when sewing with laminates.  


You will need to read the pattern directions before you start today's lesson and will need them in hand to sew it as well. 

Today we will be finishing up the main side of our coats. So shall we get started?


1. Take your coat back and one coat front side piece and clip/pin it in place matching your side notches and right sides together at the coat sides and shoulders. Stitch with a 1/2" seam then press the seam towards the back of the coat. (Remember if you are using the laminate fabric to only finger press the seams and do not use a iron on it).


2. Top stitch the seams in place on the coat's back side. Repeat with the coat's opposite front and back side.

3. Take one of the main pocket pieces and one of the lining pocket pieces and place them right sides facing at the short un-notched side. Stitch them together. 

4. Trim the seam in about 1" on both sides as shown. This will help to reduce the bulk on the pocket after turning.

5. Fold the pocket over, matching up the notches at the bottom of the pocket. Clip/pin in place. Now to make it easier on me while sewing the pocket, I also add the 1/2" markings for the beginning and stopping points. I also bring them in 1/2" on each side of the notches on the laminated fabric due to it not being able to be pressed. (The pattern calls for the beginning and stopping points to be at the notches themselves.) I find it easier to keep the opening smaller for pressing and sewing the pocket on in the next step.  

6. Stitch around the pocket leaving the area between the notches un-sewn or with the laminated fabric like I said I bring the un-sewn area in about 1/2" on each side. Clip into the corners but do not clip into the stitching, and turn and finger press.

7. Top stitch 1" down from the top of the pocket all the way across. Repeat with second pocket.

8. For the pocket placement on the woven fabric I just transferred the dots from the pattern pieces, however on the laminated fabric as I said before it is harder to mark the placement, so I use the pattern pieces to measure where they should go.

I use scotch tape to hold the pockets in place while I am stitching them onto the coat.  I remove the tape right before I sew that area of the pocket.

This is the pocket all top stitched into place. I like to sew mine on with a 1/8" seam allowance. Repeat with second pocket.

9. The School Days coat has set in sleeves on it. This means that the sleeves are not gathered on the finished product however with the 1/2" seam allowance we will gather the top top of our sleeves to sew them onto the coat as not to have any puckers or pleats in it. On the laminate fabric it is very important not to sew two rows of gathers threads as well. This is because when we take our gathering threads out the holes will still be left in the top of the sleeve.  Instead we will only sew one row of gathering threads with a 1/3" seam allowance. Repeat with second sleeve.

10. Fold the sleeve in half with the right sides together, clip/pin the sides together and stitch. Trim the bottom part of the seam to reduce bulk and finger press the seam open.

11. Now measure the bottom of your sleeve and fold it down 1 1/2" to create a cuff. Finger press the laminate fabric and iron press the woven fabric. To hold the laminate fabric clip it in place to sew.

12. With the sleeve still wrong side out, sew with a 1" seam allowance all the way around the bottom of the sleeve. Placing tissue paper under the sleeve and between the sewing machine here is very helpful so that the sleeve does not stick to the sewing machine while being sewn. Repeat with second sleeve.

13. Now turn the coat inside out and the sleeves right side out. Take a sleeve, both sleeves are identical so it doesn't matter which sleeve you use,and place it inside the coat so that the coat and sleeve right sides are facing. Match the sleeves under arm seam to the coat's side seam and clip or pin in place. Next, match the all the notches on the sleeve to the notches on the coat and clip/pin in place. Gather your sleeve to fit the coat opening; it will only be slightly gathered as it is a set in sleeve. Stitch around with a 1/2" seam then check to make sure there are no puckers on the right side of the coat at the seam. If there is, unpick the area and straighten out the pucker and re-stitch just above the old stitching line to prevent to old stitching line with holes to be visible on the right side of your coat. Trim the seam down to a 1/4". Repeat with second sleeve.


Now our coats are starting to look like real coats! We will leave off here today and will be back tomorrow to sew the lining portion of the coat. I hope you are getting as excited as I am! (This is where I can't put my coat down because I am too excited to see it all sewn.) I can't wait to see everyone's coats in the Facebook Album!

Happy sewing,
Sharon 
www.whimsicalfabric.com

*If you would like to earn entries into the prize drawing, please make sure to submit a photo of your completed Lesson Three to this Facebook Album by 12:00 noon CT, Tuesday, April 5th. If you have any questions the Facebook Group is a great place to ask. 


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