SWA(SP)P 2016-Wildcards-#12: Riding into the sunset

Subtitled:  Hand sew on hand sew forth…

Earlier this week I assembled the lining for the riding jacket.  This was a work of genius, as it turned out that I only had a very small amount of the lovely black silk/cotton left, so there was some fiendish mathematical jigsaw work going on.  Isn’t it a great feeling when you manage it though?

Then I balked:  I need the lining at least partly in, so that I can judge the placement lines for the soutache trim…but I can’t put it completely in, or I won’t be able to sew the soutache in neatly.  Bum!

My solution, for good or ill was to stitch the sleeve linings in at the cuff, but leave them loose inside, then I attached the lapel facings to the lining, and got all that stitched in, with the collar sandwiched.  I only had to unpick bits of the tight curve three or four times to get it all sitting nicely, no puckers or pulls.  I’m really not a precise stitcher!  I’ve left the hem edge unsewn for now.

I’ve understitched by hand all round the turning edge, and feel quite proud that I remembered to ‘flip sides’ at the roll point of the collar/lapels, so the understitching stays concealed when the lapels fold into place.

Can you see?  No?  GOOD!

While on the subject of that collar assembly…I’ve no idea if this is an idiosyncracy of Truly Victorian patterns, or a historically accurate thing, but I thought it strange that there is a pattern piece called ‘lining facing’ which you lay over the lining piece before attaching it.  I opted to bind the curved edge, so it’s lovely and neat…but oddly, [or stupidly] I didn’t neaten that top edge, assuming it would sort of latch onto the shoulder seam [as these things usually do in my experience] and be hidden.

Not so.  I’m not sure of it’s because these Victorian styles have a shoulder seam that drops to the back or what, but this little raw edge is just sitting there annoying me.  More hand sewing I suppose.  I know there will be the same issue with the back vent/pleat finishing.  This is all historically accurate, in fact they rarely lined ladies’ garments at all, just underlining and leaving seam allowances either raw, pinked or whip-stitched to neaten. I’ll contrive something.

If I use this pattern again, I’ll cut that piece as one with the lapel facing, which will get rid of that funny little seam that shows on the right side as well…see what I mean?

Another oddity is that they say to cut the lapel facing in lining…er no, not if you want it to look right matey, I stuck with the main fabric for that too.

THEN I remembered that I wanted to add a chest piece and upper back piece inside, like I did with the green tweed jacket [remember that?  Seems like years ago now]I cut them out in a scrap of lightweight denim, decided it was too lightweight, and had to spend half an hour ironing on some very lightweight interfacing until it felt the right weight.  I should just have found a heavier fabric! Pinked, and [almost] stitched into place…

And just look at all those trimmed, notched and herringbone-stitched seam allowances!  Thanks to season 5 box set of Game of Thrones which we have nearly finished binge watching, and a sore finger lol.

This is one of those steps which I only bother with on something fancy schmancy with underlining.  It really does make a big difference to how neatly the seams lie now though, lovely stuff. I’ve also had a little play with the Singer to start working out new buttonhole settings for this- there’ll be ten I think because it’s double breasted.

So now I’m nearly ready to start thread tracing out the design for the soutache, so that I can do some more binge watching later…and possibly over the whole bank holiday weekend to be honest. I spent way too much time working out ways to do the designs on paper, then transfer them blah blah blah.  In the end I decided that just ‘doodling’ with needle and thread will actually be easier to follow with the braid, and no chance of chalk or pen wearing off as I work.  anyone had any experience of such a mammoth task?

Tools of the trade all ready to go, including brand new, expensive sewing needles, a new seam ripper, and about thirty metres of braid.

And for those of you who don’t like looking back through older posts, a couple of images which I’m using for inspiration, and links to my Pinterest boards on trim and the riding jacket project.

Wish me luck, I’m going back in!