Photos and updates
I'm not really going to get anything sewn tonight, so I might as well post some photos and updates.
To get an idea of what this thing feels like, imagine a giant hot-pad. The quilting and padding make it a bit stiff like that. It's not particularly heavy (yet), it just feels substantial.
I "finished" the body quilting over the weekend. I put it in quotes, since I left an inch between the end of the quilting and the seams, and didn't quilt up near the shoulders, where I'll be putting in additional layers later on. But still getting all of that quilted was an accomplishment.
I seem to go faster when I can just crank on one thing, and don't really need to think about what I'm doing. I can really get in the zone with quilting.
Anyway, the reason I'm leaving an inch of unquilted space between the seams, is that fitting is really going to be critical. Sure, I did the mockup in linen. But once I added the layers and quilting, even though I cut the outer layer a bit bigger, it could significantly change the fit. To that end, I ordered the silk for the eyelets (yes, I should have done that a while ago), and finished the front opening. I want to fit this thing as soon as possible. But if it's too small? Well, the original has a narrow panel of fabric in each side seam. Hm. That'd be a perfect way to enlarge it if necessary! That's going to be my answer for anything that doesn't fit together right - add a little piece of fabric. It's crazy-pieced already - why not?
For the front opening, I did what I always do on a woman's garment, I faced it with an on-grain strip of silk. I cut away the padding about 3/4 of an inch away from the ultimate seam line, so when I go back to add eyelets I won't be sewing through so many damned layers. I've made eyelets in a quilted garment before, and I have no intention of doing it again. If Jeff needs extra protection or padding down the center front, I'll sew a long narrow panel in there. If you want more details of this technique (or the other finishing techniques I'm using), they're in the construction articles at my website. One of these days I'll break them up so each technique is its own page. As if I have time...
(I thought this pic better showed how I trimmed away more of the padding. But you get the idea...)
Once that was done, I sewed the main body pieces together, the back assembly to each of the sides. When I sewed the back pieces together, I sewed the outer layers first, then whipped the lining shut. But that seam will likely never change, and I'm almost expecting to do adjustments on the side seams. If not now, then maybe someday down the line, if Jeff loses or gains any weight. Not that he ever does, that... man! So, I decided that for that particular seam, I'd sew it like I was flat lining it, catching the outer fabric and the lining all in one stitch. I'll go back once it fits like it should and fold the seam down to one side to completely finish it off. I also trimmed the padding back a bit from where I expect the seam to be. The seam allowance will help pad it out a bit, and I don't want it getting in the way for minor adjustments.
The padding trimmed back from the seam:
The last few nights, I've been piecing the sleeves together. Each upper sleeve has six parts. I decided to hand sew this entire thing. I'm starting to think that I'm a real idiot. I'm assembling the upper sleeve, flat, and then the upper lining, flat. I'll then cut the paddings, without the seam allowance, and quilt the whole thing together. Only once it's quilted will I actually form it into a tube. I think. I still have to consider this, because forming it into a tube will change how all of the layers fit to each other. On the flare, it's not such a big deal, but when it fits tight to the arm it sure will be.
Oy. This thing is never simple.
While piecing together the upper sleeves, I was bluntly reminded how important seam allowances are. The back gore is cut into two pieces. Normally, when I'm sewing together gores and triangles, I let the seam get pretty close at the tip. It's just habit. When I did that on this two piece gore, it ended up changing the shape of the gore. Because it's the tip of a long, narrow, triangle, a quarter inch difference on a seam allowance can mean an inch difference in where the end of the gore hits the other piece of fabric.
I don't know if any of that makes any sense. But because I did it twice, while attaching two gores to each other, and then attaching that set to the smaller of the two upper arm pieces, it was 1.5 inches too short to sew onto the other upper arm piece. The pictures explain better, they might not. Suffice it to say, seam allowance is important, especially with triangles!
The two small side, laid out on the big enough side:
Because the side of the gore that attached to the panel was longer, the amount of panel that stuck out beyond the gore was shorter, thus shortening the whole piece:
The offending gore point. I shrunk the seam allowance towards the tip:
The upper sleeve:
See that lovely gore tip? :-D
The front, all quilted out. The quilting lines are every two inches right now. Later, I'll go back and quilt every inch:
The back:
To get an idea of what this thing feels like, imagine a giant hot-pad. The quilting and padding make it a bit stiff like that. It's not particularly heavy (yet), it just feels substantial.
I "finished" the body quilting over the weekend. I put it in quotes, since I left an inch between the end of the quilting and the seams, and didn't quilt up near the shoulders, where I'll be putting in additional layers later on. But still getting all of that quilted was an accomplishment.
I seem to go faster when I can just crank on one thing, and don't really need to think about what I'm doing. I can really get in the zone with quilting.
Anyway, the reason I'm leaving an inch of unquilted space between the seams, is that fitting is really going to be critical. Sure, I did the mockup in linen. But once I added the layers and quilting, even though I cut the outer layer a bit bigger, it could significantly change the fit. To that end, I ordered the silk for the eyelets (yes, I should have done that a while ago), and finished the front opening. I want to fit this thing as soon as possible. But if it's too small? Well, the original has a narrow panel of fabric in each side seam. Hm. That'd be a perfect way to enlarge it if necessary! That's going to be my answer for anything that doesn't fit together right - add a little piece of fabric. It's crazy-pieced already - why not?
For the front opening, I did what I always do on a woman's garment, I faced it with an on-grain strip of silk. I cut away the padding about 3/4 of an inch away from the ultimate seam line, so when I go back to add eyelets I won't be sewing through so many damned layers. I've made eyelets in a quilted garment before, and I have no intention of doing it again. If Jeff needs extra protection or padding down the center front, I'll sew a long narrow panel in there. If you want more details of this technique (or the other finishing techniques I'm using), they're in the construction articles at my website. One of these days I'll break them up so each technique is its own page. As if I have time...
(I thought this pic better showed how I trimmed away more of the padding. But you get the idea...)
Once that was done, I sewed the main body pieces together, the back assembly to each of the sides. When I sewed the back pieces together, I sewed the outer layers first, then whipped the lining shut. But that seam will likely never change, and I'm almost expecting to do adjustments on the side seams. If not now, then maybe someday down the line, if Jeff loses or gains any weight. Not that he ever does, that... man! So, I decided that for that particular seam, I'd sew it like I was flat lining it, catching the outer fabric and the lining all in one stitch. I'll go back once it fits like it should and fold the seam down to one side to completely finish it off. I also trimmed the padding back a bit from where I expect the seam to be. The seam allowance will help pad it out a bit, and I don't want it getting in the way for minor adjustments.
The padding trimmed back from the seam:
The last few nights, I've been piecing the sleeves together. Each upper sleeve has six parts. I decided to hand sew this entire thing. I'm starting to think that I'm a real idiot. I'm assembling the upper sleeve, flat, and then the upper lining, flat. I'll then cut the paddings, without the seam allowance, and quilt the whole thing together. Only once it's quilted will I actually form it into a tube. I think. I still have to consider this, because forming it into a tube will change how all of the layers fit to each other. On the flare, it's not such a big deal, but when it fits tight to the arm it sure will be.
Oy. This thing is never simple.
While piecing together the upper sleeves, I was bluntly reminded how important seam allowances are. The back gore is cut into two pieces. Normally, when I'm sewing together gores and triangles, I let the seam get pretty close at the tip. It's just habit. When I did that on this two piece gore, it ended up changing the shape of the gore. Because it's the tip of a long, narrow, triangle, a quarter inch difference on a seam allowance can mean an inch difference in where the end of the gore hits the other piece of fabric.
I don't know if any of that makes any sense. But because I did it twice, while attaching two gores to each other, and then attaching that set to the smaller of the two upper arm pieces, it was 1.5 inches too short to sew onto the other upper arm piece. The pictures explain better, they might not. Suffice it to say, seam allowance is important, especially with triangles!
The two small side, laid out on the big enough side:
Because the side of the gore that attached to the panel was longer, the amount of panel that stuck out beyond the gore was shorter, thus shortening the whole piece:
The offending gore point. I shrunk the seam allowance towards the tip:
The upper sleeve:
See that lovely gore tip? :-D
The front, all quilted out. The quilting lines are every two inches right now. Later, I'll go back and quilt every inch:
The back: