Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Sew-Along #32 - School Days Jacket - Lesson #5

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 5

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 our coats; yay!!  We will hem the bottom of our main coats and do all the hand stitching. The hand stitching on this coat is pretty important as it makes for a professional finished result. So are you ready? Let's begin.

1. We will first prepare the sleeves for hand stitching, turn the coat inside out with the sleeves aligned. As you can see the stitching line on the main (laminate) sleeve and the lining sleeve is pressed under already. Note, the woven coat will sew just the same as the laminate coat, so follow the same steps. 

2. Bring the top of the fold on the sleeve lining up to the meet the stitching line on the main sleeve. You will notice that the sleeve lining will have extra length; this is for ease while the coat is being put on and worn by the child.

Either pin your woven coat sleeve all the way around, or if your are using a laminate fabric for main, you can use scotch tape to hold your sleeve lining in place. Tape it in several places all the way around, and repeat with opposite sleeve. You can hand stitch your sleeves in place at this point, but like I said before, I wait until the very end to do all my hand stitching at the same time.

3. Next, pin your coat lining up out of the way.  We will be top stitching our coats and sewing the hem all the way around and we do not want to sew any of the lining at this point. (As you can see in the photo we still have our main coat hem clipped in place for sewing the next step.)

4. There was no easy to to take a picture of this next step so please refer to the pattern for the stitching guide. It is on the "Assemble The Jacket And Coat Lining, Step 3."  Also note that the woven main coat (like the denim) is pressed very well and does not need to be pinned before sewing this next step but the laminate cannot be pressed so it holds together better with clips along the outer edge. Also, as I sew the edge of the coat I use tissue paper between my machine and the coat to keep it from sticking to my sewing machine while it is being sewn.

5. Next, we will prepare the coat lining to be sewn. The coat lining will be longer than where it needs to be sewn; this is again for ease while being worn by the child.  Bring the coat lining up to meet the bottom stitching line.  If using a woven fabric pin in place; if using a laminate fabric tape in place.

Continue working your way across the bottom of the coat lining in same manner.

6. Now onto the hand stitching! I recommend a nice comfy spot to sit with a warm cup of tea for this next part as it does take a bit to stitch it all. We will start with the coat's bottom edge. First tie a couple of knots into the threads end on your needle. We will be using a ladder stitch to sew the coat's lining onto the main coat. 

Insert the needle into the bottom corner of the coat's lining. Then insert the needle into the main coat only through the inside layer. The needle and thread will be sandwiched between the outer coat and the inside of the coat. We do not want our needle to pierce through the outside main layer at all. We do not want any holes in this layer so take great care as we sew across.

7. Bring your needle out again about a 1/4" away. Then reinsert the needle into the coat's lining and bring it back out again another 1/4" along.

  8. Reinsert the needle again into the coat's hem with the needle sandwiched between the two layers and bring it back out a 1/4" further.

9. Pull the thread tight and you will not see any of your stitching. Repeat steps 7 and 8 across the the entire bottom of the coat. Then, when you reach the end, tie your thread off. Sew your sleeve(s) lining in the same manner as the coat's bottom hem.

10. We are almost done with our coats!! Now we will remove our basting stitching in the coat's lining back center. (See the next two pictures for this step.)  Carefully use your seam ripper to remove the basting stitch all the way up the lining.

11. Sew your buttons into the wearer's right side button tabs. Or, if you are using snaps apply them now.

12. Time to admire your coat!!! (This really is my favorite part.) I am so excited to see everyone's coat. Please share them in the Whimsical Fabric & Me group

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 Five to this Facebook Album by 12:00 noon CT, Thursday, April 7th. If you have any questions the Facebook Group is a great place to ask.


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