Readers,
I’m sewing a wearable test from stash fabrics before I cut into the leopard print velveteen and the wool-cashmere blend for the final version. I bought the orange fabric, which I’m guessing is a wool blend, at the Textile Center’s annual World’s Largest Fabric Garage Sale a few years back for two or three dollars. It has a nap and is soft and malleable like my final fabric but a little thinner.
This lined jacket is sewn in two units: the jacket-under collar unit and the lining-upper collar unit.
I finished the first unit at 5 pm and raced to my very makeshift photo space in our little sunroom to take advantage of the last remnants of natural light on this cloudy day.
This wearable test is going together swimmingly. I’ve never had an easier time with a vintage pattern. I’ve gotten so used to the mysterious directions in older patterns that my easy sewing day came as a welcome surprise.
I’m always puzzled about what interfacings to use and where. The right choices can help ensure the success of a garment while the wrong ones can make your garment too floppy or stiff. One of the advantages of taking the time to make a wearable test is trying interfacings without losing sleep over them.
I tested a fusible interfacing on a big scrap of the orange wool. The steam and pressure from the iron crushed the pile that was visible to me but too difficult to capture in a photo. I’m using all sew-in interfacings in this test and in the final version.
Well, the photos speak for themselves. Even though this is far from done, it’s still gives a sense of the result. I like where this is going.
