Springy coat---now with collar!
So yesterday I took the opportunity afforded by my kids’ last day off school to sew shamelessly. I caught up on the RTW Tailoring sewalong. I washed most of my new finds. I played with my buttonholer, and I traced out Simplicity 6023.
Springy Coat---cuff
It is by dint of great restraint that I am not showing you full, modeled shots of my springy coat, as I am loving it. But I am determined to retain some elements of surprise, so you will have to subsist on teasers for the moment. The sleeves went in well, although my princess seams don’t line up with the sleeve seams as well as I’d hoped (sniffle). There was a bit more ease to the sleeve cap than I might have liked, although it wasn’t a problem with this particular fabric. Denim would be another story, I’m sure. I love my buttons, too. I forgot to add a hanging-loop and my label before sewing in the facing, maybe I will just have to do that by hand…
The buttonholer is fun to play with. I sat down and read through the manual. I oiled in the spots that said “oil”. I twiddled with the adjustment knob until I figured out how to crank the template around (not without some moments where I was convinced it was broken and/or seized. But, with much reference to the manual and a little bit of blind faith—it works! Gorgeously.
Buttonholes
Now I want more templates. 😉 The keyhole template is 1 1/4″ long and I stitched it at the widest available width. The little tiny buttonhole on the right is 1cm long (the smallest template that came with) and stitched on the narrowest option. Both of these are stitched along the seam of a scrap of denim left from some child’s pants that became shorts; they’re stitched along the seam, so through four layers of denim plus serging. For some reason I really want the eyelet template, now. There’s a video of the same sort of thing on youtube here, by the inimitable BrianSews. You can see the Greist starting about 1:00 in. I initially thought the stitch-length was a bit long for my liking, but you just keep going around and around your buttonhole until it looks the way you want. Fun!
Dress!
I decided, after much wringing of hands, that Simplicity 6023 would be next up (it’s still a little too cold to think about wearing the runner-up, McCall’s 3415.) Unfortunately, when I started trying to lay out my pattern, I realized that my fabric is only 45″ wide—which means I’m about a metre short (especially since I’d been wanting to do some of the plaid on the bias). D’oh! I think I can do it by using a contrast fabric for the collar, yoke, and cuffs. I have some black stretch linen that’s about the right weight and stretch (the plaid has stretch, too) but it’s earmarked for a shirt for the ungrateful hubby, and I don’t think I have enough to do both. So I’ll check at Fabricland to see if I can get any more. If only I’d realized this last weekend during the 50% off sale… I also need a zipper and dark knit interfacing.
As to the pattern itself, I pulled out the pieces from Simplicity 5728 (apparently 1973 was a good year for Simplicity—both these patterns are from it), which, as you may recall, fit me remarkably well for being a size 11 Junior Petite. Now, 11JP has the same bust measurement as Misses’ 12 (and is a measurement I can reach with a good, padded bra), but is drafted for someone considerably shorter. Despite that, it fit me amazingly well through the upper body, although I added a generous amount of length to the sleeves and skirt.
More Jacket fun!
Upon comparing the tweaked 5728 pieces to the Misses’ 12 6023, I think I can get much the same fit just by reducing the length through the armscye by about 2cm. I also did the same little swayback adjustment. If these are my “standard” Simplicity adjustments, I’m excited, as it will give me more confidence going forward with, say, Simplicity 66o2, which also walked home with me from the thrift store on the weekend. Doesn’t that look like fun? (my camera ate the photo I took of my envelope, so I nabbed this one from the Vintage Pattern Wiki entry—my pattern is in fact a size 12. I have some robin’s egg blue stretch corduroy that I think strongly wants to become this jacket—and possibly the entire ensemble.
It is just possible that I might be a jacketoholic.
Oh, in other good news, the missing fabrics I was moaning about have re-surfaced. They were stuffed in various boxes in the kids’ playroom (which is adjacent to my “sewing room”). The fact that my children, who had tidied the playroom days before I discovered the absences, denied any knowledge of the contents of their toyboxes continues to rankle.
Tanit-Isis Sews 
now I’m obsessed with buttonholes!! Also – the buttons you’re using are almost identical to ones that i almost got for my coat – they were in my cart and everything before I put them back to go the covered button route! Your cuffs look very awesome! Yay coat!
Yay! I think they are perfect (not that yours aren’t, but let’s face it, I wasn’t up to that much work.)
How cool that your buttonholer works without any hitches (phew!) . Q: Is it tricky to attach to the machine (I know there’s a few tutes on them out there, but I wanted to know if it requires some arm wrestling to get the thing on LOL!)?
Re: eyelet template – do you mean the plain circular one – kinda like the effect on cotton eyelet fabric?
And, how fortuitus that the 70’s Simplicty 11 Junior patterns seem such a good fit out of the envelope (with only straightforward tweaks required) – now I have my fingers crossed for you that more 50 cent bargain appear in the thrift stores in your size 🙂
Getting it on was not terribly tough. It’s similar to attaching a ruffler foot (if you have ever used one of them) in that one part goes around the shank and the other part goes over the screw that tightens the needle. As a result you need to tilt it a bit to get it in—once you get the tilt right it’s quite easy, though. There is a certain amount of screwing and unscrewing that needs to be done. Yeah, the circular one. Also a shorter keyhole would be nice (for jeans). I was cruising eBay a bit yesterday but nothing threw itself at me (at least at a reasonable price 😉 )
I will certainly keep looking for those thrift-store bargains ;)… Though, I think I’m good for a while.
Loving the linen jacket “teasers” as you call them. Why didn’t the sleeve seams line up with the princess seams?
so I have a great idea for you…Start a 3 ring binder with pages for your fabric collection, divided (to begin with) by color and log those resurfaced fabrics, under their appropriate heading.
at least it’s a start…to become organized, then when you at least ‘touch’ another piece for consideration for a project, you can measure, snip a corner and log it too!
What dya think?
When I first started drafting the two-piece sleeve, I measured the distance under-arm on the bodice between the seams to get my under sleeve width. However, I think I did a bit of tweaking of those princess seams AFTER, resulting in a slightly shorter underarm, throwing the seams off and contributing to the ample sleeve-cap ease. My bad.
Hehe—I think you overestimate my organizational abilities ;). Seriously, if I could get some shelving and a few more tubs into my “sewing” room to organize fabrics (and patterns for that matter) I’d be more than content. A binder is an awesome idea, I just know myself too well—it would kick around and never get updated. I might ALMOST manage a spreadsheet with photos… But I doubt even that :p. So yes, I am my own worst enemy.
Most of my favorite patterns (all years and companies included) are Simplicity from 1973. I don’t know why, but I’m really crazy in love with those, both for the pattern illustrations and for the designs, which remind both of Biba and Cacharel. I’m super-envious of your 6023, by the way! I would love to make it in Liberty lawn, but it’ll surely look lovely with plaid and contrasted pieces.
Also : first time I ever find buttonholes pretty. That’s saying something!
Well, I’d be happy to make it again if any Liberty Lawn happens to throw itself into my stash 😉 now I want to go look up the rest of that year…
your two buck buttonholer is ridonkulous.
perhaps the chilluns are stealing fabric because they’ve caught the sewing bug? you should be proud!
Thank you!
Oh, they do steal fabric, all the time. They have free run of the scrap bin, too (which mostly results in the scraps getting REALLY SMALL). We can hope about the sewing bug… There a certainly a lot Teddy-bear clothes being made, anyway. Although Tyo’s tendency to use Syo as a human dress-form does cause a certain amount of tension…
I love making jackets to. They are a lot of work but you feel the biggest sense of satisfaction when you are done.
I think I might have a jacket problem.
Springy coat is lookin’ good, I’m especially fond of the buttons.
LOVE those cuffs and looking forward to the big reveal. The S6602 jacket is fabulous! The rounded collar reminds me of a couple of recent burda jackets. I can totally see it in cord – so fun!
I use my Singer buttonhole attachment all the time, it makes the best buttonholes. I have 5 templates, one is the large keyhole. there are a few photos on my blog using the attachment. the buttonholes never unravel.
also – you can go around once with a small width and then 2 x with a wider width for a stronger buttonhole on ravely fabrics. lastly, I use the smallest one to make the holes on fabric belts. even though they are not round, I don’t care and no one will notice. plus don’t you love the clackety clack noise it makes?
Souds like we have the same templates :). Thanks for the tips—I love the idea for the ravelly fabrics. And yes, it makes a GREAT noise!
The buttonholes are fabulous 🙂 You’ve made a lot of progress!
Everyone wants the eyelet template, so beware of trying to find one! I came to the same conclusion as Beth, that the 3/8″ template is a fine substitute.
I think you should take some pictures of the buttonholer in action. I’m totally clueless to how it works. I’ve only every done the four step buttonholes.
L-J, you should take a look at the youtube video I linked to, the machine it shows (1 minute in) works exactly like mine; and he talks about the different kinds and their pros and cons. Really much more in-depth than I would ever be 🙂 (I know, I never watch video links either…)
Oh I loove the collar on S6602! and I would love to find a buttonholer with keyhole-template for my industrial straight-stitch, cuz it will sew through anything. I remember that noise from my mother’s old Singer attachment. Until you find a shorter keyhole template, you can try slicing a shorter opening-
Beautiful coat!