San Diego Jacket

Let's see. Where was I?

Oh, yes. I was panicing about my Stations of the Cross piece.

And I was learning how to design a foundation pieced pattern for the set of complex shapes I created for this piece. I learned how to foundation piece to a degree, but I'm still a rank novice when it comes to designing this thing with this technique.

Yeah. What's this?

Late one night I decided that most of this piece is better managed with needle-turn applique and strip piecing, something where I have better skills. I was tired and making mistakes. My sewing area had devolved to this:

I ended up with one salvageable piece that may/may not go into the final piece.

Time to switch gears, at least for a while. The next day, I took time to tidy up and decided to finish another WIP,  a San Diego jacket from the Sewing Workshop.

I had cut the face fabric and the lining but was deciding if I wanted to add an interlining. I had also decided to use a precious piece of black leather for the facing to keep that scratchy wool away from my neck.

The lining is a medium weight silk from Gail K. It seems to be more manageable than silk charmeuse for sewing purposes and still a nice weight for a lining on this jacket.

The face fabric is a fairly hefty wool, a bit scratchy. A piece of super soft leather was lanquishing in stash and so I decided it might make a good facing for the jacket. This will protect my neck from the wool. The jacket pattern includes a cut-on facing so I had to measure and measure again before cutting the leather facing. I was very careful.

I used cotton flannel to interline the face fabric, using vertical quilting to attach the interlining. I got a bit confused and made some mistakes with the leather facing and its quilting. Dang.

After creating some new seams, I'm OK with the result. Too bad I did not trust my original cutting and think more carefully before sewing the leather facings. As you probably know, leather is as unforgiving a fabric as ever there was. I won't use real leather again - my conscience won't let me.

Sigh.

I've finished inserting sleeves and sewing side seams. The fit looks great for a fairly heavy jacket. Now I'm excited to finish. Next I have to fine tune the lining pieces to make it easier to attach to the leather facings.

Tremont Flight

In the late 50's my family moved into a rental house on Tremont Street in Dallas. Daddy had just taken a new job and we lived there during one summer season. By the time school started, my parents had found a permanent home in the suburbs where I lived until high school graduation.

As I made the Tremont jacket from the Sewing Workshop for the third time, I thought about its name. Tremont. I have no idea about the origin of its name but I have my own memories of Tremont. Tremont Street.

It was a wide street with trees. I was unused to trees, coming from a very flat, very dusty Texas panhandle town. There were sidewalks where I could ride my bike. And the house was huge of course.

But I did not know how to ride a bike. That I learned on Tremont Street. We fought about how to learn, with training wheels or not. But eventually Daddy wore me down and I learned to fly. When you ride a bike, for the first time, anytime, you are flying. I still love that feeling of flight.

And the house. Oh yes, two bedrooms, one bath. Google Earth shows Tremont Street to contain sweet little craftsman bungalows. I'll never know which one. It must have been cozy, the five of us there. And it must have been hot. I do not remember.

All of this has nothing to do with the lovely Tremont jacket pattern, But I do like that too. This third time I made no changes to it. It folds right over left as it should, creating an asymmetric closure. It has sleeves that fold back to make a shallow cuff.

I did alter the fabric, a black woven wool with texture in the form of wale-like stripes. I interlined it with a fabric called radiance - a blend of silk and cotton with a satin side and a flat side. I quilted the two layers together in vertical lines about 1.5 inches apart prior to sewing the pieces together. This added more texture and so it does not have the drape that is probably best for this pattern. But it feels lovely on my shoulders.

For closure, I sewed a short bias tube to the inside of the right front, creating a flat loop for a button. I tried a button on the left side but finally chose to tack a long bias tube to the other side. It slides through the loop on the right and can be tied together.

I am still hand-finishing the interior by pressing each seam open, folding the raw edges under and slip-stitching in place. This may be my last Tremont. I have some other patterns I'm anxious to try out. And some other ideas.

So what are you sewing now?