Pants progress -- Pockets

I've launched into the pants. My plan is follow the pattern directions for the front slant pockets, but I'll defer to Cabrera for the back welt pockets. Why you might ask? Firstly, his directions are crystal clear and there's a line drawing for each and every step. Secondly, I can totally ignore all the fiddly little pattern pieces. The pockets are just constructed of simple rectangles which are easy to chalk out and cut. I love it when things are made simpler.

Having made a pair of Thread Theory's Jedediah pants prepared me to make the front slant pockets. The construction here was exactly the same. The pocket facings are attached to either end of the pocketing. Then it all gets folded in half and stitched to create a French seam. The result is a pocket that's beautifully finished on the inside. No raveling seams, no serging required. The pockets on this pattern have a lovely curve to them.

Here is the pocket from the right side. A nice feature of this pattern is that the pocketing extends out beyond the side seam allowance. This extra fabric eventually gets folded and stitched over the side seam, which makes the finish on the inside very neat and tidy. I will try adding this feature to my next pair of Jeds.

The back double welt pockets are new territory for me, so I let my buddy Roberto Cabrera take me by the hand and guide me step by step. This strip of fabric will become the welts. It's basted in a slight curve over the pocket placement line. The curve is intended to keep the pocket from gaping open. I won't bother to show all the steps here, just know that it's all extremely straight forward and not difficult at all.

There are a few unusual sewing shenanigans; like where the entire pair of pants has to be pulled through the pocket in order to sew it up. Crazy.

But again, the result is a nicely finished French seamed pocket.

So here are my pockets from the outside. Unfortunately, I don't have any extra buttons that match the jacket. Otherwise, I would have added a button loop closure to the back pockets. Next time, right?

A peek into the back pocket, which ends up perfectly finished inside almost by magic.

Here I've added a crotch shield of my floral shirting fabric. It's a square of fabric, folded on the diagonal and then pressed into a curve. It's zig zagged onto the pant's front crotch before sewing up the inseam. I'm also planning on using my left over shirting to construct the waistband "curtain". I love adding little unexpected touches to my clothes when I can.
Now it's on to the waistband and belt loops, which I'll make according to Cabrera. I figure it will take the better part of a day. More later.

Oh, and the boat is half planked up.

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Wedding Suit -- The pant muslin

All that remains on the jacket are the finishing details, things like sewing on buttons and adding some pick stitched details. These are all little projects that can be done in little snippets of time. If I have a few minutes I can sew on a button or two. But my deadline is looming, so it's time to move ahead on the pants.

 

I've only made one other pair of pants, so my knowledge of them is pretty shaky. I know that they can be difficult to fit (I struggled a bit with my Jeds), but I've decided going into this project that I'm not going to agonize over them. I don't have either the time or the desire to work through muslin after muslin, looking for that elusive "perfect fit". I'll be more than happy if they fit around my waist and aren't too saggy in the butt.

So, I made a very quick and dirty muslin out of a flimsy Goodwill sheet. It's about as minimal as I could make it. No zipper, no pockets. Just the basic shape sewn onto a waistband of sorts. So here's what I learned about these Bill Blass pants right off the bat. They are very straight legged.

 

Here I've laid a Jeds leg on top of the white Blass muslin. The Bill Blass pant leg is at least 4" bigger. Palazzo pants? The Jed pant leg is a little too slim for a suit IMO, especially for a guy my age. So I've decided to split the difference and remove 2" of width from the leg.

I also need another inch in the waist to accommodate my little gut. This was actually an easy fix.

 

 

Here's where the side seam is hitting the waistband. I added a 1/4" to the seam (sewn in the darker thread), which will give me an extra inch of waist circumference. This adjustment also straightens the hip area, which I'm learning is usually too full on most patterns. I'm just not that curvy in the hip.

 

 

The left leg has been tapered, removing 2" of width at the hem. Look how that change has improved the fit at the bottom of the buttocks! I never anticipated this. Fitting Score!

 

 

Here the extra fabric in the right pant leg is more evident. It makes the pant visually bottom heavy. Of course,the pattern appears to have been drafted for a 6' 4" man. I've shortened the inseam by 6" and they're still too long!

 

 

Are they the perfect fitting pair of pants? Hell no! Will they work? Yes! Time to cut out these bad boys and delve into the mysteries of sewing trousers. Zippers, flys, crotch shields, Oh My! So much new sewing territory.

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Back from a break. Soldier on, Dad.

I took a much needed break from this project. It's easy to forget just how labor intensive a tailored jacket can be. But it's time to get back on the horse, as they say.

 

When I left off I was completely baffled by the collar construction. I read and reread Cabrera's instruction to the point where I felt comfortable just jumping in with both feet. Why so reticent? He has you discard the pattern piece for the collar. The entire collar is hand stitched using just the undercollar as a reference. "Sewing without a net" I call it. What follows is just a glimps of the process.

 

 

I trimmed the seam allowances off the collar pattern to use as my undercollar pattern. I just didn't trust the Vogue undercollar, which seemed too small. I cut the undercollar from felt (B Black and Sons) and interfaced it with a fusible French canvas that I picked up at Steinlauf and Stoller in NYC a couple years ago. This proved to be a huge time saver. Otherwise, I would have been back to padstitching. I'm always a little leery of fusibles, but this stuff worked perfectly. As you can see, the canvas is cut a bit smaller than the felt so that none of it will be visible in the end. Here you see the interfaced felt, cross stitched to the neck opening.

 

 

This is where it gets scary. There is NO pattern for the upper collar. The felt is basted onto a rectangle of the fashion fabric, and the entire collar is created "on the fly" around the felt.

 

 

Baste here, baste there, trim, fold, slipstitch here, cross stitch there.

 

Did I mention basting?

 

Thankfully, it all comes together in the end. Simple or fast, it IS NOT! The result, though, is probably better than what could be achieved by following the pattern instructions. I'm glad to have this step behind me, and relieved that it turned out as nicely as it did. Trust me, there were moments when I really had my doubts. And really, is there anything more strangely constructed than a man's jacket?

 

The buttonholes are done. I always hold my breath at this point. The last thing I need is for my vintage Singer buttonholer to start acting up. I'm pretty sure we've all had that OH F$&@ moment with buttonholes. I owe the sewing gods for sparing me this time around. I will cut these open later so that they'll be functioning, a "distinctly custom touch" according to Cabrera.

 

 

An entire day was spent handsewing the lining. Working with polyester acetate is my idea of hell on earth. Next time I'm picking a jacket pattern with a single vent! Working around two vents was almost enough to break me. Fortunately, I'm pleased with the result, but my enthusiasm for this project is flagging. I really need a break from all the handsewing. Hopefully the pants will be easier. It will seem novel to actually use a sewing machine! Forward March. The end is almost in sight.

 

 

Plank # 3 is finally on the boat.

 

 

 

 

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Tailoring Progress

I'm making steady progress on the wedding suit.

It's been awhile since I've done any tailoring, so the amount of basting and handsewing has been a little overwhelming at times. I'm using the Roberto Cabrera book on tailoring which is usually helpful, but tonight he has me totally baffled about constructing the collar. It's almost more confusing than putting in a zipper fly! So I'm just going to walk away for the night and pick it up in the morning when I'm fresh. I do that a lot, hence I'm one of the slowest sewers out there.

The sleeves are essentially done, they just need buttonholes on the vents. I do like Cabrera's method of making and lining the sleeves. You do have to make a muslin first because the length will be set when all is said and done.

 

 

A wide piece of bias muslin is basted into the cuff along the hemline and fold lines of the vent.

 

 

The hem is pressed up and attached to the muslin. This way there will be no stitches visible on the outside of the cuff. The sleeve and lining are then sewn up as usual.

 

Both the sleeve and the lining will be wrong side out. They're stacked up and the corresponding seam allowances are quickly stitched together with a diagonal stitch. Nothing fancy here. Then the fun happens. Reach down through the lining and pull the sleeve up through it. Voila! A perfectly lined sleeve (inside out) ready to have the lining finished at the vent.

 

 

Here's the finished vent. You just have to fiddle with it until it works. Once it makes sense and comes together, I press it into position, baste to hold things together and then slipstitch with silk thread.

 

 

The sleeves are done for now and set aside.

Next I've worked on the lining and added an inside left chest pocket.

 

I used some of my left over shirting fabric for the welts. A fanciful touch. This is the same pocket construction as the outside pockets, just a bit smaller. I'm not bothering to make a right inside pocket because I would never use it, not to mention the time required to make it.

 

 

 

It looks like this from the inside.

 

 

I've put in the shoulder pads. The front of the pad is padstitched into the canvas. It's kind of a wrestling match, and I'm always glad when this step is over.

 

It's not pretty, but it works.

 

And here's where I leave off. Is there enough basting???? :)

 

 

 

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Completing the Jacket Fronts...Tailoring nerds rejoice!

I know that many of you enjoy seeing the tailoring process, so this post's for you! For some, this may look like torture, but I actually enjoy all this hand work. Maybe you do too. It may look complicated, but in reality it's pretty basic stuff. There's a real sense of constructing something as I work through these steps. Tailoring a jacket or building a boat, it's all the same in a way. One little step at a time.

 

 

With the canvas basted to the jacket fronts, I move on to pad stitching the lapels. Working parallel to the roll line, small diagonal stitches are worked up and down along the lapel. This job is made infinitely easier with silk thread, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Why? Because it's virtually tangle free in addition to being incredibly strong. I run the thread once through beeswax and stitch away. This is a labor intensive step, so if something as simple as silk thread can make it go easier and faster, I'm all for it.

The stitch should be very small, just catching the fashion fabric under the canvas. Roberto Cabrera says it should just be a "pinprick". That would take more skill than I have. My stitches are clearly larger than that. The underside of the lapel will be peppered with tiny stitches, none of which will be visible in the finished jacket, so I'm not going to agonize over the size of my stitches.

 

The next step is kind of hard to describe and harder to photograph. After pad stitching about 1 1/2" from the roll line, the work is turned around and the lapel is folded back into the position that it will ultimately take on the finished jacket. Holding the lapel back, the pad stitching continues in rows until the whole lapel is covered. This step puts a permanent curve on the lapel and will make it want to hug the chest when the jacket's worn.

 

 

Here you can see all the little stitches on what will be the backside of the lapel. (Bigger than pinpricks I'm afraid!) The shadow hopefully shows how the pad stitching has built a curve into the lapel.

Here the lapel is lifting up off my glass top work table. This always amazes me! The next step is taping the edges of the jacket and the roll line.

 

 

 

 

The seam allowance of the canvas is very carefully trimmed off prior to taping. The tape is a 3/8" cotton twill tape that has been soaked in cold water to preshrink it. Starting at the neckline the tape is basted along the lapel edges, down the jacket front and across the hem. Tape is also basted over the top 2/3rd's of the roll line.

 

 

The tape over the roll line is cross stitched into place. The stitches should be at the outer edges of the tape. Again, silk thread will make this much easier.

 

 

The rest of the tape is slip stitched to the canvas on one side, and to the fashion fabric on the other.

 

This completes the jacket fronts. Next I'll tackle the sleeves.

 

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Oh, Yeah... I'm supposed to be making a suit.

Wow, it's been ages since I've posted anything. Spring sort of happened, (although most people in the Northeast are still in doubt), and life got a little hectic. Still, I've managed to make some progress on my Martha's Vineyard wedding outfit. I guess one could say I've been productive but silent. Still, I have a ton of work to do if I ever want to be ready by Labor Day weekend.

After finishing my Jeds, I moved immediately to the "wedding shirt" because I knew I could bang it out using my TNT shirt pattern. So here it is.

 

Squeee. Another floral shirt! This cotton fabric from Elliott Berman was a dream to work with. A point collar with collar stays may have been more appropriate for a somewhat formal occasion, but I opted for a buttondown because I want to wear this shirt A LOT after the wedding. I can get much more use out of a buttondown, and it would be a shame to have a shirt this gorgeous just hanging in the closet. I wish you could feel this fabric. Heavenly.

 

 

I'm wearing it with a vintage raw silk Rooster tie that I've owned for ages. I'm scouring Etsy and EBay for other alternatives. I'm really liking the skinny look.

 

 

I wasted a huge amount of time trying to match this fabric, AND did a poor job of it! The front placket matched perfectly at the neck, but gradually ran off course down the front of the shirt. I'm sure you see it in this photo where my tie is askew. It makes me feel like I need to make an appointment with the ophthalmologist. Almost painful! Live and learn. I would never bother to match a busy fabric like this again. My daughter from CA assures me that no one will ever notice. On a brighter note, I did a great job matching the left front chest pocket. Trust me, there's a pocket there.

 

 

I experimented with several different thread colors for the topstitching and buttonholes, and settled on a muted gold color. It almost disappears, as do the buttons, which are the color Latte from Fashion Sewing Supply. I strongly suggest that anyone interested in making shirts pick up the entire range of shirt buttons that Pam offers. They're a great value, and you'll always have just the right button.

Shirt done, pressed and in the closet until August. On to the suit....

 

In case you forgot, my suit fabric is a olive green cotton / silk blend from Elliott Berman. It had a somewhat stiff "crunchy" hand so I decided to prewashed it in cold water and run it through the dryer. Ooops! I ended up with a wrinkled mess that I just couldn't iron. In a slight panic I dropped all 6 yards off at the dry cleaners and asked them to steam press it. Their result was only slightly better than mine, so I'm going to have to embrace the rumpled nature of this fabric.

So here's where I stand.

 

 

The pockets are done and the jacket fronts are basted to the canvas.

 

 

I'm using a lightweight premade canvas from B. Black and Sons. It's very inexpensive and saves a great deal of time, which is of the essence right now.

 

 

 

The pockets are made according to the directions in Roberto Cabrera's book on men's tailoring. I'm really pleased with how they came out, especially the flap welt pocket which I've never attempted before. What I love about Carbrera's instructions is that you can toss out all the fussy little pattern pieces. The pockets are composed of simple rectangles that get marked, folded and stitched. "Sewing origami" is my name for it. Somehow, it all comes together, and I love when that happens. I plan to add a pick stitch detail to the pocket flaps and lapels of this jacket.

 

The next step is to pad stitch the lapels and add the twill taping to the front edges. Lots of handstitching in this man's future!

 

Oh, and I've finally started planking the boat!

 

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