I must say it has been an absolute delight to sew on this little project. I have been working on it solidly for the last two days and for the most part it is done. Two things remain. The sleeve and bottom hems are on hold until I see how it looks with the dress underneath. I want the dress sleeves hidden. The second bit of attention remaining is some additional embellishment. I am thinking maybe some bullion roses on the collar, top of the back pleat, and maybe on the button. I won't decide this either until the dress is done. We are going for a nice soft balance here. The pattern is Simplicity 4712 OOP. I had a dickens of a time finding a picture but PR to the rescue! I stole it from someone's review! I am making the short little jacket in a size "1/2" which usually translates to a 6 month. I don't think the whole jacket is any more than ten inches long. My fabric is 100% cotton matelasse. Because of the bulk and it's amazing ability to ravel I covered all seams/edges with a Hong Kong finish using a 100% cotton seersucker in a matching shade.
Continuing with the effort to eliminate bulk, I decided to not use any facings. The center fronts were extended and inch, HK seam treated, and folded to the inside. The collar was the challenge. First I had to completely finish the collar. I used only one layer of the matelasse for the collar, NO UNDERCOLLAR. The wrong side of the collar is fused to Formflex. The outside seam allowance was removed and the edge was bound. Then I did an outline stitch between the matelasse and the bound edge. I really liked that. Next the collar, which fit beautifully by the way, was basted to the neckline edge. The neckline edge was then bound with the seersucker. Here you can see how the binding was folding back around the CFs and stitched. The neckline binding was completed with hand stitching.
This pattern has an inverted pleat in the back. Again, back to the bulk issue,,,,,I decided to stitch the pleat edges, inside and out to get some control over them. It worked well.
* I apologize for my picture quality. I have had a very difficult time photographing this little garment. Either the pics are too light with the camera to show any detail or they are in the shadows. I know it has to do with this being such a light colored garment but I am reading my photog book and hope to get this figured out. Thanks for your understanding. It will help if you click on the pic to see the details closer up.
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We have been in falling snow for the past three days with no letup. I am hoping for a break in the action to get some pics of the vest taken and up. The good news is all that snow has me hunkered down in the cave sewing my brains out. May you all be as lucky!............Bunny
Absolutely adorable. Love the yellow fabric.
ReplyDeleteI love little coats on infants! This is so sweet.
ReplyDeleteHermosisimooo
ReplyDeleteBeautiful coat....I can't wait to see it when its done....
ReplyDeleteBeautifully done, as always! What did you bind the collar with, Bunny?
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Cissie
Oh, so pretty! You know, this is the very collar finish that I'm going to use on BOH. I decided on that yesterday, and there was your post last night!
ReplyDeleteBunny ... but nice !!!!. For many years I have not sewn a garment for a child. It is a delight, really. Here too we have had snow in recent days, something rare in Spain, but it is affecting a wave of cold that cube across Europe.
ReplyDeleteMy best wishes and see you soon,
Paco
...Bunny, pero que bonito !!!!. hace muchos años que no he cosido una prenda para un niño. Es una delicia, de verdad. Aquí también hemos tenido nieve en los últimos días, algo poco habitual en España, pero nos está afectando una ola de frio que cube toda Europa.
Mis mejores deseos y hasta pronto,
Paco
thanks all, y gracias a Paco.
ReplyDeleteWe must be psychic, Summerset. Anon, the binding fabric and also used on the Hong Kong finish is a simple 100% cotton seersucker. The color was perfect and the little bit of texture worked well. I also wanted to keep in the same fiber family so it was an easy choice. The interesting thing about the collar is that it is one layer. The Formflex gave it a nice finish on the back without the bulk. There is a great deal of sentiment in the heirloom community that "those tiny little garments don't need that nasty stiff interfacing" to quote a very well know expert, but I see tons of flipped up collars out there on otherwise beautiful garments. I always use interfacing in my heirloom garments and am glad I do. If you have a tool why wouldn't you want to use it?
Bunny, I think a lot of those "flipped up" collars are caused by construction rather than interfacing. I find that cutting out the collar lining slightly smaller than the outer collar eliminates this problem and forces the collar to "cup", if that makes sense. Also, in heirloom garments, an interfacing of an extra piece of batiste is much softer than using an iron-on fusible piece.
ReplyDeleteBut in the case of your collar, not using anything was certainly the smart choice. I'm going to remember that!
Cissie
Love the matelasse. It's been so long since I've done ANY heirloom sewing/hand embroidery, I can't really remember what an outline stitch is. I'm thinking half a wheat stitch, which I can't remember the name of either . . . Is yours done in a light blue?
ReplyDeleteI had been sewing many years before I learned heirloom sewing, and also noticed that it didn't include interfacing. That is until Gail Doane (sp??) came along. Now there's a lady that knows her sewing stuff! (have you ever seen any of her garments?) Makes a lot of sense (at least to me) to interface a yoke that's going to be supporting smocking, not to mention a collar. BTW, I'm not familiar with Formflex, is it noticeable on the underside of the collar? Can't wait to see the bishop to go with it! (Trying to figure out who the "expert" is)
Bunny, the coat is beautifully done! It's truly adorable!
ReplyDelete