#2 v2925 jacket, collar and sleeves

 
 
Today I worked on the construction of the jacket and lining body, peplum, sleeves and collar. I used several sources for my methods of construction. My reference for turn of cloth adjustments to the lining and collar was an article by Judy Barlup in Threads July 2007, number 131. I also used information from Martyn Smith's lining article in the current Stitches magazine.
I used a book I borrowed from my local library,Easy Guide to Sewing Jackets, by Cecelia Podolak as a reference for construction order, but particulary the method of easing the sleeves shown above. The method involves sewing a 1 and 1/2 bias strip to the sleeve cap, "from notch to notch", stretching the strip as you sew, except for a 2" section at the top, so that when you stop sewing, the bias strip relaxes, and the sleeve has been eased. I very much like this idea, but I was not sure if "notch to notch" meant the easing area marked on the pattern, or the pattern matching notches. The photographs in the book do not make this clear, but the bias strip appears to be applied over a large section of the sleeve. I have eased over the greater area, as when I previously made this jacket, there seemed to be a lot of fabric to ease into the armhole, and the ease provided by this method is very gentle. I steam pressed the seam allowance to flatten the fabric in the seam allowance area, but have not yet attempted to sew the sleeves in. I may not be so impressed with this technique tomorrow!
I used two references, again from my library, for work on the collar, as Cecelia Podolak's book only deals with collarless jackets. These books are "Fashion Making" by Gloria Mortimer-Dunn, and a 2006 Dorling Kindersely book "The Complete Book of Sewing" which has a skimpy tailoring section at the very back of the book. The instructions were better in "Fashion Making", but the photograhs in the DK book were much better than the drawings in "Fashion Making". My collar construction beyond the pattern instructions involved, first trimming the under collar and lapel, machine pad stitching the undercollar, then pinning it to the padded ironing board over a rolled towel and steaming into shape. After I had done this, the undercollar was amazingly easy to fit to the neckline, far easier than I remember from the previous jacket. Unfortunately I did a beautiful job of sewing it to the lining instead of the outside, and did not realize until I had trimmed the seam very close and clipped it! I have unpicked it and attached it to the outside jacket, but not quite as nicely.