Its great to get back to sewing, finally! It's been a whirlwind past few weeks with travels to NH to visit grandchildren and their families and spend some quality time. I hope you all have had the same before the start of school complicates schedules and visiting.
I've started, at last, on the Ikat jacket, Simplicity 2153. This is the jacket pattern I used for the Threads Fall Jacket challenge. This latest version was meant to be a summer garment and it will be, next year! But if you have been following me for a while, you know I only do one machine garment at a time. The jacket will get finished before I start any further sewing and I am enjoying the process a lot as my tweaks make it a bit more challenging.
One of the great things about blogging is that you can go back and reread about one's earlier iterations. It was a big help before I actually started cutting out this version. Going "back" ended up providing me with a bit of controversy, something you know I don't shy away from, and I will bring that up in a bit. First....
I flatlined the bodice as I did in the Fall jacket. The lining this time is a Bemberg rayon. It does show through the pattern of the fashion fabric but this is a summer jacket, not something I want a thicker lining in so I am fine with the show through.
I started by cutting the vertical bodice seams on the lining fabric 1/2 inch wider than the public fabric on each side seam, so one inch total added to the back bodice. I did the same to the front bodice pieces, side seams only, as the zipper/facing will hide the CF seam. All other non vertical seams on the lining were cut the same as the fashion fabric.
That trimmed SA is now pressed as sewn, then the lining is pressed towards the lining. It is then wrapped around the raw edge of the seam to the back of the fabric and pinned so a slightly larger than 1/8th inch seam allowance is showing. Pin this down nice and snug. Now I go to the machine and stitch in the ditch with an edge stitching foot. It has a blade that runs right in the ditch and is really great for this purpose. Sometimes I will topstitch instead of ditch stitch. Its up to you. But make sure you stitch.
When I started this project I took the lazy route and just Googled flat lining. I expected the Threads article where I learned this technique to come up and it was first in the lineup. After that was my tutorial on flat lining which you can easily find on the tutorial page above. But after that were a few more interesting posts on flat lining from other blogs. One, from a more newbie sewing blog, said you didn't need to bother with the ditch stitching/topstitching of the seam. Well, I am here to tell you that you do. Without the ditch stitching the binding gets all ripply, particularly after the first wash. Now you may say that it doesn't matter and no one will see that. This is a technique to add beauty to your finished inside of the garment while protecting the SAs from unravelling. It takes a fair amount of extra time. If extra effort is being taken to beautify the inside of the garment, I don't want it to be all wrinkled and nasty after washing. My vote goes with following the entire method for the best results.
The next blogpost I found interesting was in a blog by an historical seamstress. It was her tutorial on flat lining a gown she was currently making. I have a lot of respect for these sewists who make clothing for re-enactments, historical events, etc. They go to a great deal of effort to used the techniques of the time of their portrayal and that takes a lot of research and effort. I haven't met one yet who wasn't trying their best to do quality sewing which they took very seriously. While I was studying her tutorial, it became evident that what she was calling flat lining was nothing like the process described above. It was what mosts sewists I know would call underlining, treating both layers of the garment as one. Seams were not bound but all pieces were "underlined", my word for what she calls flat lining. Since this sewist seamed to really have her sewing chops, I felt I needed to do a bit more research. And she is right! I came across some information about civil war garments and what I call underlining clearly called flat lining. Moral of the story, words and sayings do change meaning over time and because of that often a word can have more than one meaning. I find this fascinating bit of trivia and it's really interesting how this term changed.
Not to long ago, Kenneth King, if I am not mistaken, had an article in Threads about the differences in the terms lining, underlining, and interlining.If memory serves me right, he made the point that these terms can be and are often used interchangeably, again, that changing meaning! After waxing poetically over these terms I am wondering if maybe flatlining as I use it should be called something else. The term "bound lining" hit me during my evening table clearing. What do you think? I'm ready to change the name as it seams more specific to the technique. Opinions??????
I've started, at last, on the Ikat jacket, Simplicity 2153. This is the jacket pattern I used for the Threads Fall Jacket challenge. This latest version was meant to be a summer garment and it will be, next year! But if you have been following me for a while, you know I only do one machine garment at a time. The jacket will get finished before I start any further sewing and I am enjoying the process a lot as my tweaks make it a bit more challenging.
One of the great things about blogging is that you can go back and reread about one's earlier iterations. It was a big help before I actually started cutting out this version. Going "back" ended up providing me with a bit of controversy, something you know I don't shy away from, and I will bring that up in a bit. First....
I flatlined the bodice as I did in the Fall jacket. The lining this time is a Bemberg rayon. It does show through the pattern of the fashion fabric but this is a summer jacket, not something I want a thicker lining in so I am fine with the show through.
I started by cutting the vertical bodice seams on the lining fabric 1/2 inch wider than the public fabric on each side seam, so one inch total added to the back bodice. I did the same to the front bodice pieces, side seams only, as the zipper/facing will hide the CF seam. All other non vertical seams on the lining were cut the same as the fashion fabric.
With right sides together, the fashion fabric and lining vertical seams were sewn together for each piece. A 1/4 inch SA is used. The center front edge of the bodice was not sewn. Remember the zipper? Once sewn together, the small SA was trimmed back to an 1/8th of an inch. Measurements are important here. We started with a 5/8 SA. We sewed it just now with a 1/4 inch SA. Now we are trimming off 1/8th of an inch of the SA. This leaves a SA of 1/8th inch. You still have a half inch of SA untouched. That means the seam allowance for these seams is ONE HALF INCH, not 5/8ths, these seams only.
When I started this project I took the lazy route and just Googled flat lining. I expected the Threads article where I learned this technique to come up and it was first in the lineup. After that was my tutorial on flat lining which you can easily find on the tutorial page above. But after that were a few more interesting posts on flat lining from other blogs. One, from a more newbie sewing blog, said you didn't need to bother with the ditch stitching/topstitching of the seam. Well, I am here to tell you that you do. Without the ditch stitching the binding gets all ripply, particularly after the first wash. Now you may say that it doesn't matter and no one will see that. This is a technique to add beauty to your finished inside of the garment while protecting the SAs from unravelling. It takes a fair amount of extra time. If extra effort is being taken to beautify the inside of the garment, I don't want it to be all wrinkled and nasty after washing. My vote goes with following the entire method for the best results.
The next blogpost I found interesting was in a blog by an historical seamstress. It was her tutorial on flat lining a gown she was currently making. I have a lot of respect for these sewists who make clothing for re-enactments, historical events, etc. They go to a great deal of effort to used the techniques of the time of their portrayal and that takes a lot of research and effort. I haven't met one yet who wasn't trying their best to do quality sewing which they took very seriously. While I was studying her tutorial, it became evident that what she was calling flat lining was nothing like the process described above. It was what mosts sewists I know would call underlining, treating both layers of the garment as one. Seams were not bound but all pieces were "underlined", my word for what she calls flat lining. Since this sewist seamed to really have her sewing chops, I felt I needed to do a bit more research. And she is right! I came across some information about civil war garments and what I call underlining clearly called flat lining. Moral of the story, words and sayings do change meaning over time and because of that often a word can have more than one meaning. I find this fascinating bit of trivia and it's really interesting how this term changed.
Not to long ago, Kenneth King, if I am not mistaken, had an article in Threads about the differences in the terms lining, underlining, and interlining.If memory serves me right, he made the point that these terms can be and are often used interchangeably, again, that changing meaning! After waxing poetically over these terms I am wondering if maybe flatlining as I use it should be called something else. The term "bound lining" hit me during my evening table clearing. What do you think? I'm ready to change the name as it seams more specific to the technique. Opinions??????
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We have only one thrift store close to home up here and I swear someone out there beats me to everything. I never find anything useable. That was until last week. There were clothes outside with signs that said "Free". Finally I scored! This garment has lots of wooly type lace that I just fell in love, very Alabama Chanin, don't you think? I also scored some sweaters to felt in really nice colors, not the usual burgundy and grey. I will have to let this wooly lace age a bit before I know what to do with it but I do love it. It may be my first winter garment!....Bunny
Bound lining is a great term or wrapped lining as that is what it is. Flat lining was always to me treated as one flat piece like your historical blogger describes.Bunny, I had to laugh at your title this week as "flat lining" just means someone's heart monitor has registered someone's demise...get the paddles and zap them time!
ReplyDeleteI didn't pick that up in the title until you pointed it out to me. So two votes for bound lining, wrapped lining. Thanks for your 2 cents, Ms. M.
DeleteI prefer bound lining too and flat line is what my Mother did when she left this world! I love your blog and enjoy it each time, don't always comment but always seem to learn something.
ReplyDeleteThat's very sweet, Jenny. So for now it's 3 for 0 on the vote. thanks.
DeleteI'm no expert, and had never heard of flat lining (in sewing) before your post last year. I have since noticed that the costumers tend to use the term when
ReplyDeleteOops, my had slipped, to continue: when referring to something I would call underlining or sometimes interlining. How fun that this can be a new term coined by you!
DeleteJust found another definition from the Urban Dictionary: "the act of naked planking. ... naked planking. He took his clothes off and was flatlining on the kitchen table." Who knew?
DeleteI like bound lining also, it makes sense. I also finally scored at a thrift store a little while back and bought a beautiful pair of brand new leather pants for 50 cents and a suede jacket for 50 cents. They are both the wrong size, but I will use them for projects or trim.
ReplyDeleteGreat score!
DeleteI love that you did research when you found an re-enactment sewist using your term to mean something else, and didn't automatically assume she was wrong. I, too, prefer bound lining as I had a silly mental picture of your garment being pronounced dead.
ReplyDeleteThese visions of my garment being hooked to a monitor flat lining are a hoot and definitely show the need to re name the technique!
DeleteInteresting post. Bound lining is an apt name. Since the result looks like a Hong Kong seam finish, maybe Hong Kong lining works?
ReplyDeleteVery neat and clean finish. I agree that stitching in the ditch or topstitching is the way to go. I vote for calling this treatment "bound lining."
ReplyDeleteThanks for your vote, Tomasa!
ReplyDeleteI'm about to start on a jacket and would like to try this bound lining technique. The front and back of the jacket are one piece each, no yoke. Can I bind the shoulder seams as well as the side seams? Everything I've read says to only do vertical seams but I can't see why I couldn't do the shoulder seams. What do you think?
ReplyDelete