D & G Seams

This is the completed seam treatment on the center back seam of the D&G jacket. It will go on all the vertical seams on the bodice and one of the sleeve seams.  I will be flipping from the actual jacket to a small sample in the pictures as I show how I did this. The strips were first all cut on the bias, an inch and a quarter wide,  and the center back seam was sewn.

 Right sides together the raw right edge of the strip is lined up with the well of the seam, right side of jacket facing up. With a 1/4 inch foot I stitched that amount away to the left of the raw edge/seam well.

 The strip is then pressed first as sewn then over and  toward the right.

Now it is topstitched. I used my regular foot, lining up the left side with the fold of bias. I changed needle position a couple of clicks to the right. You want to stitch this so both sides of the jacket seam allowance, inside, are stitched down.

Next, brush the edge gently to fray it up a bit. . FWIW, I tried using strips cut on the straight of grain and the brushed edge were very messy. The bias strips stayed looking pretty. They will flatten out when you press the garment but will fluff right back up with a pass of the toothbrush.
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I have chosen to make this with what I call a Modified Chanel technique, cherry picking the parts of a Chanel construction that I wanted to utilize. Here are some of the changes I have made already.

*  The boucle is fused to a light weight knit interfacing. I don't want to deal with "wooly mammoth" frayed seams.

*  The seams are not overcast. The bias treatment of the seams will manage to topstitch down each side of the inner seam allowance so therefore, no need.

*  Sleeves are two piece and will have no vent. The original D&G jacket has simple bound edges for the sleeve hems. I'll honor that.

* There are no pockets, mock or otherwise, on this design.

* I did hand stitch the lining together as you can see here. I used a fell seam. Because I was not using the usual huge SAs as you would in a Chanel, the SAs were all 5/8ths. I pressed one lining SA over the stitched jacket SAs and then pressed under 5/8 inch on the remaining lining SA. This laid right on top and was easy to pin and fell stitch.

*  I did not tie the quilting threads into the interior of the jacket. I found on my last jacket that led the bottom stitches to loosen. Obviously, I am not skilled enough at that technique but this time I tried something different, faster and easier. I quilted all the pieces. I threaded a needle with the thread from the lining side. Then I backstitched into the last stitch, coming out on the public side of the jacket. From there I tied each pair of threads with a square knot. Then I rethreaded the needle with both threads and ran them into the intereior of the jacket and coming up a few inches away. It ended up being much tighter and nicer looking than my last jacket. The knots on the outside are TOTALLY invisible, sinking into the boucle.

My next plan is to now do the rest of the seams on the bodice and then tackle the collar. I have redrawn the front of the pattern to give it a slight double breasted look and have cut a collar from another pattern to fit on. Lets cross those fingers!
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I did manage to score a gorgeous piece of white melton wool at the Fix this last trip. It will be dyed when the warm weather comes and I can do it outside. I also got some interfacings. They were new to me but 60 inches wide and "professional". We'll see. I prewashed them  all and now it is time to go put them up on rolls.

Isn't that embroidered selvedge gorgeous?....Bunny