Sewing Vloggers

Friday, September 10, 2010

Simp 8488 - Sophie's Jammies

Simp 8488 whipped right out, even including all the embellishment! I traced off the pattern in a size five as I know I will be using the master pattern  a lot in the future. It is very easy and sweet. I dug thru Ima's goodies to find some ricrac, eyelets and ribbon to trim it all off.
I know, that little ric rac needs an iron. It will get it.

Now on to a tute here on how I did the placket. I am not one to read patterns, unless they are a Vogue designer or such. I just pretty much cut,  sew, and do my own thing. It went right by me that the back of the jammie top had a center back seam. The method the pattern recommended for the center back placket looked a little awkward to me. Combine that with the fact that I want these jammies to last and last and here is what I did. All seams on the garment were stitched, serged together, ironed to one side, and then topstitched 3 clicks away from the seam line and another topstitching line a quarter inch away from that. It is what I call a mock flat fell stitch. These seams are going nowhere and will take lots and lots of washing. It's not your mother's heirloom sewing. Now to deal with the placket, or lack thereof.....
The challenge with the placket was to get a continuous line of topstitching and it was really pretty easy.

* Serge each center back seam edge. 

*Stitch the garment seam until you reach the point where the placket begins.

* Press the seam to one side

* Topstitch the seam about a sixteenth of an inch from the seam line, starting at the hemline. I use an edge stitching foot with  the blade running directly down the seamline. I click the needle 3 times to get the right position.

* Topstitch that seam until you reach the spot where the placket begins.

*Lift the presser foot and remove the garment from the machine, leaving a good 6 inches of thread.

* Stitch another topstitching seam a 1/4 of an inch from the first topstitching seam, again starting at the hemline. End that one also where the placket begins.

* Again, remove the garment from the machine leaving about 6 inches of thread. So now you have two rows of topstitching ending in a long thread where the placket begins.

Now comes the semi-tricky part:


* In the placket area put the top fabric section over the bottom fabric section, lining up the seam lines. In other words, just lay the doggone thing out flat, from where you left those long threads to where the neckline is. OK, they are now overlapped, kind of like they were sewn, but we know it hasn't been sewn yet.

*Now fold all of the bottom layer of fabric away from the placket area.  Keep it nice and flat. The top layer will go under the presser foot. Put the garment back under the presser foot and lower the needle into the exact same hole where you left off the last stitch and the long thread. All of the garment must be folded up behind this, otherwise you will stitch this seam shut. Don't want that!

* Start stitching, no backstitching! right from the same hole as the last stitch.

* Do the same thing for the 1/4 inch topstitching line.

* Remove it all from the machine. Thread a hand needle with those long threads. Now put the needle into the stitch hole that is after the one with the long thread. All threads will end up on the back. Tie them off.

If you have gone with your needle right into the next hole it will be almost invisible to tell where you stopped and started. Your placket will be topstitched just like the rest of the mock flat fell seam. Here is my final placket before adding the buttonhole and button:

Hard to tell where the seam ends and the placket begins, right?  It is right in the middle of the photo!  I used one small pale pink MOP button at the top of the placket and finished the neckline with bias tape, as per the pattern. Simp 8488 is  a great jammy pattern and I highly recommend. .......Bunny

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While stitching away on Sophie's jammies yesterday afternoon, I had a visitor. She stayed about 45 minutes and really enjoyed the apples hanging on our apple tree. Her name is Bambi. The camera was handy so I took this pic through the window.

14 comments:

  1. Those are just the prettiest little pajamas! And that tutorial on the top-stitching was very good. I will remember that. Lovely!

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  2. Lovely sewing (as usual) AND the Hostas are superb. You get good ric-rac in Australia but not plants like those!

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  3. The little one will have sweet dreams in those jammies! We have deer also, and although beautiful tosdee, they are a nuisance because they are constantly going across the roads, causing driving hazzards!

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  4. We sew so much the same - I tell my students, don't read the directions they will only confuse you!!! And most patterns will tell you everything you need to know - it's all about how to read them. Love the pj's and love "your" flat fell seams!

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  5. Bunny - I love love love the PJs. Thank you so much for the tute!! Bambi sure is cute.

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  6. Bunny, that little girl is going to remember those PJs the rest of her life and always wish she had you around to make more. What lovely memories you've made for. The pajamas are so special and beautiful.

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  7. Those are the cutest jammies. You have such a good eye for embellishment--charming!

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  8. Bunny- These are the sweetest pjs! Well done!
    I am plaaning to be in that area this autumn. Could you provide the name of the quilt shop, please?
    Many thanks!

    Kathleen (I can't get my Google account to work!)

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  9. Great job on the sweet pjs! I am trying this again. Hope it works. Please excuse the typos!
    Kathleen

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  10. I'm like you are - unless I really need to read those pattern directions, I don't. Your method of construction is pretty much, bomb-proof, or at least child-proof. These should last a long time. It brings back memories of the things my mother sewed when I was young. Everything had a french seam. I think was to keep things neat and to put two seams in the garment in case I ripped one out! This was before sergers were common for home use, of course.

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  11. Thanks Bunny for that tutorial - I too will start using this on my garments. Your granddaughter is so lucky to have you sew for her. I also love your photo on 'bambi' - quite heavenly, really.

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  12. The jammies are so cute. You do lovely work.

    I know you enjoy Bambi's visits, and I love your bottle tree.

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  13. Beautiful PJ's - the trims make them very cute indeed!

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