More "Sewing with Jalie"

Since I've been working with knits more, lately, I've been trying to fill in some of the "gaps" in my wardrobe that I wasn't bold enough to face with my own sewing in the past. I have been needing some camisoles to pair with my tops, and since I liked the Jalie pattern that I used to make my scarf-collar top, I figured it couldn't hurt to try using 2564. This pattern calls for fold-over elastic to bind the top edges and make the straps, with the option of stitching it in place with a zig-zag stitch or a cover-stitch. The serger that I have cannot do cover-stitiching (it's a four thread), so near the end of last year I purchased a separate machine devoted to this purpose. Most of the work on these tops has to do with attaching the elastic, so this project has given me quite an opportunity to use my "new" cover-stitch machine and learn how to adjust the tensions and troubleshoot some threading issues.

Below are two tops I've made so far. The first one I left unlined and basically used to test the fit. Afterward, I made a second casmisole with a few revisions.





When making my first camisole, I cut it to the size that matched my bust measurement, as directed, though I made the top edge about half and inch higher to suit my preferences. The fit was okay, but the elastic was a bit snug at the underarm and the neckline needed a little tweaking to achieve the shape I wanted.
To be truthful, I think these two issues may be tied to my being somewhat smallish compared to average upper body sizes, so on a fuller busted person, this top would likely be filled out so that the neckline and elastic would fit more like the pattern photo. In other words, I don't think these are flaws in the pattern or its chart for elastic lengths; these are my own fitting quirks.



For camisole #2, I tried the lining, which worked nicely. I also made the neckline a little higher and the slightest bit more rounded. The changes in the neckline shape really aren't apparent when modeled by my dress form, but it does make a difference in the way they fit me ;-)
I did also allow for a little more slack in the fit of the elastic by increasing the cutting length and made the garment an inch longer, as well. Here's a peek at the lining:



I used fold-over elastic to finish the bottom edge of the lining, rather than regular elastic. When I first tried to attach it, it started to stretch out because it wasn't any shorter than the perimeter of the lining's edge, so I took in the elastic a little.

Below is my third camisole, waiting to be sewn. If you look closely, you can see my modifications to the front of the pattern.



For materials, I used a cotton/spandex blend from Spandex World and found the fold-over elastic and the bra slides at Sew Sassy Fabrics.

I'll try to keep things updated here as often as I can. I've been a bit busier now since I've been taking on sewing projects for other peolple. So even if I'm not posting here much, I am still sewing and hope to share a few pictures of a knit dress that I made sometime soon.

Simplicity 2492 - Bird Apron

Just thought I'd share a few photos of an apron that I made for my sister. Admittedly, this a project that I worked on in December, so these pictures are a little belated (better late than never, right?).





This design comes from Simpicity 2492, and I used quilter's cotton in coordinating prints. The pattern worked well, and I basically made the apron by the instructions, although I did cut the center back of the neckband on the fold, rather than cutting it in two pieces as the pattern suggests. This way, the apron slips over the head instead of having ties at the nape of the neck.



When sewing, I simply enclosed the edges with binding and skipped the reference to extending the binding to make the neck ties.



I made a second apron with this pattern, as well. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few pictures of it soon.

My first Jalie pattern

This is a top that I made over the holiday season and was my last "finished object" of this passing year. I've been wanting to get more practice with sewing knits on my serger, and since Jalie 2921 has earned many positive reviews, I though I'd give it a try. Here are my photos:



There is a scarf that is connected to the neckline that offers several tying options. Here I have it threaded through a slit in the front, and then knotted into a faux "gentleman's tie."





I used a cotton/polyester knit from JoAnn's . . . to be honest it was a little cheap, and as I found when cutting it out, the "horizontal" stripe was not perpendicular to the selvedge. Oh, well. It worked well enough to test this pattern; I cut the garment so that the stripes would be straight, and it still worked out in the end. The photos make the lighter stripe look blue, but it's actually a mint green color.

The pattern is fairly simple to put together, though I had a few tricky moments stitching the center front seam on the serger, since it has a slit left in it for the ties. Aside from this, though, it went together well and I really like this pattern. For those who are interested, I've included more information in my review for this top at PatternReview.com.

Happy New Year!

Just thought I'd put in one last blog entry before this new year (I've been having computer issues lately, so my posts have been few!). This is a dress I made to give as a Christmas gift this year. It's from a pattern called "Felicity's Pretty Clothes"; it was originally published by Pleasant Company for their 18-inch dolls, but now that it's been discontinued, it's available for free download at American Girl Playthings.



The pattern recommends taffeta, but it also worked for my dull-finish satin.



Instructions are included for making an alternate "stomacher" for the bodice, as well.



I love the pattern's dropped shoulder seams and shaped waist detail:



I even made one in pink!



The dress consists of three pieces (not including the alternate stomacher): dress, overskirt, and stomacher. The underskirt sits at the waist, and the dress fastens at the front where the stomacher piece snaps in place.



It's a neat little pattern, although the sleeve trim, skirt pleats and center back waist line can be somewhat tricky. The ribbon trim that goes around the neckline and down the front is pleated and sewn in place by hand, so it is a bit time consuming. One thing I wanted to mention, though, is that the doll for whom the dress is intended needs to be carefully measured and compared to the pattern's waist circumference. The amount of tummy fluff varies from doll to doll, and these patterns have basically no ease (even a doll needs a little wiggle room!) Overall, I really like this design. Aside from a few notions, I was able to make these dresses almost entirely out of scraps of leftover material.

Another Knit Top

Here's my second version of Simplicity 4076. This one has the same cut as my first top, in respect to the neckline and lengthened hem (see the details here), except this time around, I allowed a for bit more ease and tried a sleeve variation.





The fabric is a bright orange, cotton/lycra jersey knit from Fashion Fabrics Club. It actually has a bit more stretch than the material for the last top, and it's also "slinkier" than the other because it stretches in both lengthwise and crosswise directions. I pretreated it by machine washing and drying it twice to eliminate any significant shrinkage.

To construct the top, I followed the same basic steps as I did for the last one, but I wanted to have a little more wearing ease in the armhole and side seams, so I stitched using a 1/2" seam allowance instead of 5/8." Also, to stabilize the shoulder seams, I used clear elastic instead of seam binding.



When I altered the pattern for the sleeve, my original intent was to gather only the top part of the sleeve. I altered the pattern as pictured below:



My plans changed after I'd hemmed and set the sleeves; their fit was looser than I'd hoped, and they were a little droopy. :-( I decided to pick out the hem stitches and gather the lower edge to a band, similar to the finish of the neckline. In a way, I'm kind of glad it ended up happening as it did because I actually like the sleeve bands better.

Brown Knit Top

This is a brown and tan printed top, which I completed early last week, using Simplicity 4076 (view D) and a length of polyester jersey. As evidenced by the other projects I've posted, I haven't sewn much with knit materials in the past, mostly due to negative experiences in which my machine stretched them beyond recovery. Late last year, however, I was able to acquire a four-thread serger/overlock machine, which, coupled with a need for more tops and blouses, has given me a bit of incentive to try knit fabrics once again.



Pattern Changes
Since this top basically fits like a T-shirt, I didn't really need to make any fitting adjustments; my focus was more on learning to construct a garment with knit fabric. I did lengthen it by nearly three inches at the hemline, though, as well as bringing up the front of the neckline slightly. To raise it, I cut the neckline along the line for the largest size at the center front and blended it with the lines of the size ten, as shown below.



This caused the neckline opening to become slightly smaller, so I trimmed the neckband piece by about 1.5" to 2" to compensate for the loss of length.


Construction
When constructing the top, I followed the instructions provided with the pattern, except for the portion on setting the sleeves. The pattern recommends assembling the sleeves and main part of the garment separately, then setting the sleeve "in the round," but I found it easier to hem the sleeve, set it into the armhole, and then stitch the underarm and the garment's side in one continuous seam. When the seams were complete, I pressed them toward the back of the garment and topstitched them in place at the hems of the sleeves, as often seen in ready-to-wear (the topstitching is barely visible in the photo below).



Working with the Fabric
Prior to stitching into the actual garment pieces, I spent some time testing scraps of the fabric on both machines to become more familiar with the knit material and adjust the stitches and settings. Once everything was finally ready, assembling this top was fairly simple.

When sewing all of the seams, I used a four-thread overlock stitch on the serger. With some of the seams, such as the neckline and armholes, I found it helpful to set the differential feed at 0.3 to slightly ease in the fabric. The easing didn't show in the finished garment because the fabric was only being eased enough to counteract the stretching that would have been caused by the feed dogs, had they been at the normal setting.

When working with the sewing machine, I used the straight-stitch foot for the basting and topstitching; the foot's narrow hole for the needle helped prevent the needle from pulling the fabric up and down. In order to prevent the fabric from stretching too much, it also helped to reduce the the pressure of the presser foot. The hems were sewn with a twin needle, using a stretch stitch - not the triple-stitch type, but one that greatly resembles a zigzag stitch, where the needle doubles back with each stitch it takes forward. Finally, I also hand-wound a bobbin with wooly nylon thread to lend the hems a bit of stretch.

In Conclusion, I think I actually had a bit of fun experimenting with knits. It seems that once the stitching and construction issues are resolved, this type of material can be somewhat forgiving in the way it fits the body. Aside from preferring just a tiny bit more "wiggle room" at the side seams, I'm pleased with the outcome of the pattern. And since it never hurts to get more practice, I might just find myself using knits again in near the future. :-)

Simplicity 4233 . . . a Skirt "Refashioned"

I can't believe it's been over six months since I've last posted any updates here! Things have been a bit busy for me, as other aspects of my life have been consuming my time, making my sewing projects somewhat sparse. Within the past month, however, my pace has started to pick up a bit, with efforts toward using my ever-increasing pile of scraps, experimenting with alterations on ready-to-wear clothing, and remaking old items to be more wearable. This particular project is a skirt that I recently remade using Simplicity 4233 (which is now out of print).



The original skirt (pictured above) was one that I purchased at a consignment shop a few years ago, thinking that it might be cute to wear, but after trying it on, I found it to be less than flattering; the heavy gathering and wide sash only seemed to create bulk in the hip area. It had quite a bit of fabric in it, though, making me wonder if I couldn't possibly turn it into something else - especially since the Simplicity pattern had been waiting in my "stash" for some time and offered a way to use the embroidery at the fabric's border. After dismantling the skirt, I found enough material for the pattern pieces, and this is what it looks like now:



The pattern went together easily, though I have to confess I didn't really follow the instructions much. I needed to insert a lining, an invisible zipper, and a hem facing, which changed the construction process considerably. For the interfacing, I actually basted a scrap of woven shirting fabric to the yolk pieces. Even though the color of the interfacing is a little lighter than the the fashion fabric, it doesn't show through when the skirt is being worn. . . yet strangely enough, looks like it must have been illuminated by the flash of the camera ;-)





The original skirt was lined, so I reused the lining by cutting the top of it to fit the bottom of the yolk pieces. With all of this re-cutting, however, the skirt panels actually ended up being slightly longer and the lining panels slightly shorter, so I tried to make the lining hem as narrow as possible. The pictures above and below also show the hem facing that covers the embroidery on the interior. This was salvaged from the original, too, as it conceals and protects the wrong side of the embroidery while providing a nice finish for the hem. In addition, I understitched the seam that attaches the the facing to the lower edge of the skirt to make the seam roll slightly inward and prevent it from showing on the outside of the garment.



For the most part, this project was rather enjoyable - it can be interesting to take a garment that would not have otherwise been worn and use the fabric to make something wearable, not to mention being able to try a new pattern, as well.

Rust Orange Fall Jacket

Well, I suppose it's about time that I've posted this, since I made this garment in September and have had the photos floating around on my computer's "desktop" for quite some time now! I needed a jacket to wear this past fall, and PatternReview.com just happened to have a jacket-making contest in progress at the time, so I decided to enter with this project. Even though I didn't win the end, I really enjoyed being part of it because it motivated me to actually finish the jacket in time to wear it in the fall, and it was fun to watch what the other contestants made, as well. Anyhow, here are the pictures:






Here's a copy of the review I wrote for this project at Pattern Review (for a link to the original, click here):

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Pattern Description:
"Semi-fitted, double-breasted jackets A, B with princess seams, notched collar and lapel, sleeve variations and belt." I made view B, which is entirely lined.

Pattern Sizing:
Misses' 6-8-10-12-14. My measurements correspond with those of size ten, but after comparing them with the finished garment measurements printed on the tissue, I cut a size six. This pattern seems to have a generous amount of ease in the main jacket body, so I'd recommend checking the amount of ease to help determine the correct size.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
Yes, I believe it did.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Yes, they were very comprehensive. I followed them loosely for the main construction of the jacket body, but I followed separate instructions for making and inserting the lining (more about this below).

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
First of all, I like the style lines of the jacket. I also like that the under collar is cut from two pieces on the bias and that the under collar and lapel facing pieces have already been adjusted for the turn-of-cloth. Perhaps these features aren't too uncommon among jacket patterns, but it's helpful when this work has already been done.

One thing that bothered me, however, was the sleeve, as it did not fit in as smoothly as I would have liked it to. Even when testing the pattern in muslin, it was difficult to smooth out all the puckers in the sleeve cap. Before cutting into the fashion fabric, I measured the seam lines of the sleeve and armhole to see if the amount of ease might be reduced, but after finding only about 1-inch of ease, I decided to leave it be and make the best of it in the construction process.
The back notches also did not align on the sleeve and armhole pieces, and in the sleeve there was not quite enough length of seam line to fit the armhole at the back underarm. As a "quick fix" for this issue, I let out the top of the sleeve's seam by about 3/16" to 1/4" in the back only. Other than this issue, however, the rest pattern fit together beautifully.

Fabric Used:
A tightly woven cotton/nylon blend with a "peach skin" finish on the right side; it was somewhat difficult to penetrate when sewing by hand, and it was easily marred by pinholes, making minimal hand sewing ideal for this project. The lining is a "silky" polyester fabric with a coordinating print.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made:
Fitting Changes:
As mentioned above, I cut the jacket body two sizes smaller due to the generous amount of ease, but after making a test garment, I found that I still needed the larger sized armholes and sleeves. To correct this, I used the size 10 pattern lines (still intact) to trace a larger armhole into the size 6 jacket body.

In addition, I reduced the amount of fullness in the darted princess seams (SBA), made my typical short waist adjustment, and added 3/8" shoulder pads to improve the fit of the shoulders and sleeves. The pattern doesn't call for shoulder pads, but my garment needed them to correct some "drooping" at the back underarm.

Design and construction changes:
To start, I interfaced the front of the jacket with batiste, rather than using a fusible interfacing on the front facing as the pattern says. For added structural shaping, I also fused interfacings to several areas of the batiste. This is repeated in the under collar pieces, as well (click here for a photo).

For further structural support, I made a back stay from broadcloth, fused the sleeve caps with a knit interfacing cut on the bias, and inserted sleeve heads and shoulder pads.

After seaming the jacket front to the side front panel, I also taped the lapel roll line to prevent stretching and help the lapels roll smoothly.

For the lining, I followed the instructions in Claire Shaeffer's High Fashion Sewing Secrets From the World's Best Designers to alter the pieces for "bagging." In addition to instructions for creating a back neck facing, the book shows how to alter the shoulder slope and sleeve cap to accommodate shoulder pads, as well as how to make the lining's armhole sit slightly higher so that it won't bunch up inside the garment's armhole. The result is a lining that fits smoothly inside the jacket (this information can be found on pages 140-142 and was very helpful, so I definitely recommend it). At this time, I also took the opportunity to change the lining sleeve from two pieces to once piece. The second seam is only an ornamental feature for this pattern, so eliminating it simplified the construction.

To attach the lining, I also used the Shaeffer book's instructions for bagging a jacket, which involves sewing the lining into the garment almost entirely by machine and turning the jacket right side out through the sleeve seams, which are left partially open for that purpose. Afterward, the openings are edgestitched closed to completely finish the inside of the garment.

Finally, I finished all the hems by machine-topstitching them in place, rather than stitching them by hand. As a finishing touch, I used small buttons against the front facing to reinforce the outer buttons.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
Even though I like this jacket, I probably won't be making another one in the near future, as I don't really need two of them. I would recommend it to others, though, along with making a muslin to fine-tune the fit.

Conclusion:
Overall, I'm happy with the way that this pattern turned out, and aside from the little issue with the sleeves, the construction was fairly straightforward. The design is very cute, and with a belt to cinch in the waist, it would look wonderful paired with a full skirt :-)

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Dotted Blue Dress

It's been so long since the last update to this blog, but finally, here is another finished dress project. I have to admit I actually finished it sometime this past April or May, so this post is long overdue! Things have been somewhat busy lately, making my projects almost as sparse as my blog updates, but here's to hoping things will soon "pick-up" again :-)



The design for this dress comes from New Look 6824 and is a combination of the pattern's options for a full skirt, a square neckline, cap sleeves, and a broad sash (views H, A, F, and J, respectively). The fabric is a border-printed cotton from JoAnn's.

Details. . .
Fit alterations/design changes
I made a "muslin" test garment for fitting purposes and found that I actually didn't need to make too many dramatic changes. I made my typical short waist adjustment, did an SBA on the princess seams, and added a little hip room by widening the skirt panels a bit.

I also redrew the neckline to be slightly higher, at the same time giving the corners a more rounded shape. Since the skirt is cut with the border along the hemline, I used the fitting stage to determine the dress's length, as well. I made it slightly shorter by removing 1-inch from the bottom of the skirt panels.

Fabric/layout
The cut of fashion-fabric was about three to three and half yards long and 50+ inches wide, with the border printed along both of the selvages. It turned out to be just about the right amount, though I did need to spend some time spreading the pieces over the material and adjusting the layout, in order to fit in all of the pieces and match the border print at the center back skirt seam. Having a border along both of the outside edges made it necessary to squeeze all of the bodice, sleeve, and sash pieces into the middle of the yardage, so a single-bordered material might require less length (but even then, the layout can be affected by the fabric's width, nap, or the distance between repeats in the border pattern).

Other details
The entire dress is lined, rather than having only a bodice lining as directed by the pattern. I did this by drafting A-line shaped panels for the skirt and seaming them to the bodice lining at the waist. Additionally, I made swing tacks to connect the hem of the lining to the hem of the dress.

Conclusion
What I love most about this pattern is the full, pleated skirt and the big bow at the waist! It also offers many design options and is fairly simple to construct. I really enjoyed making it and find that it's fun to wear, as well.

Brown "Trumpet" Skirt

This post is really about more than one skirt, as this skirt design didn't come from a commercial pattern, but is a copy from a ready-to-wear garment. It all started when I bought this skirt I found on a sale rack about four years ago. . .



It has eight identical panels that are trumpet shaped - starting very narrow at the waist and curving out to form a flared hemline. I liked the way that the skirt fit so much that I wanted a second one. I decided that it couldn't be too hard to take a pattern off the skirt and make it myself, especially after I'd met a girl a week or two before who had described to me a method for doing it.

I didn't take any pictures at the time, but I'll describe it the best I can: I found a piece of corrugated cardboard that was at least as big as one of the skirt's panels and placed it inside the skirt. Smoothing one of the panels out to be completely flat and centering it over the cardboard, I inserted sewing pins in all of the seam lines along the edges of the panel. Pushing the pins into the cardboard created a series of holes that outlined the shape of the panel. I then removed the pins, pulled out the cardboard, and used a marker to "connect the dots" preschool-style with the marks the pins had left. After that, all I had to do was re-trace the shape onto pattern paper and add seam and hem allowances.

It was very easy to do because I only had to copy one panel and there were no darts in it. Eager to test my new pattern, I made this skirt:



This brown skirt is the most recent garment I made with this pattern, when I needed a basic brown skirt this past February/March. The construction is super simple! Seam eight panels, add a waistband and a zipper, hem the lower edge, and it's finished.




I finished the inside of the waistband with a cotton print to add a bit of color.

Cross-hatch Denim Jumper

This is a jumper from Simplicity 4097, made using a cross-hatch denim with a slight stretch.

Materials:
-Denim (cotton/spandex)
-Cotton lining
-Interfacing
-Invisible zipper
-Thread

Fitting Alterations
I made a muslin to test the fit of the garment and took a tuck in each of the skirt panels when cutting it out, on account of my short waist.

The first fitting issue was that the entire bodice was hanging too low, with the lowest part of the front neckline running along the bust line. To fix it, I took up the shoulder seams until the bodice was centered over the bust line, as it fits in the photo on the pattern envelope. Afterward, I lowered the back neckline and armholes back to their proper positions, since taking in the shoulder seams had pulled them up too high. I eventually lowered the pocket stitching lines on the skirt, as well.

The next adjustment involved an excessive amount of fabric in the back, where the jumper was very baggy from shoulder blade to . . . um. . . well, never mind. I eliminated most of it by taking a small amount out of the empire waist seam in back. The only alteration after this was to add a bit of room in the hip area.

Construction
The denim I used had a bit of stretch along the cross-grain, so the horizontal seams had a tendency to stretch out of shape under the pressure of the machine's presser foot. To prevent this from happening at the "waist" seam, I basted a strip of bias-cut broadcloth (with all of the elasticity pressed and stretched out of it) along the seam line before seaming the bodice to the skirt.

Also, when lining the bodice, I kept the lining free from the zipper and waistline seams, rather than including it as the instructions say. This way, I could turn under the seam allowances and slip-stitch it over those seams later on.



As mentioned above, I did use a bit of interfacing, even though the pattern didn't call for it. I fused it to the upper pocket edges to prevent stretching and the zipper area for a bit of stabilization.



Overall, this jumper was fairly simple to assemble, and I love it when I get a chance to add a bit of color to the interior of a garment with a contrasting floral print. . .

Chocolate Corduroy Jacket

Here are a few pictures of a chocolate colored jacket made of pinwale corduroy, using Butterick 5253. I made view B, but substituted the collar from view D, rather than making a mandarin collar.





Materials Used
-Pinwale corduroy (the photos represent the actual color but are somewhat dark; here is a better picture)
-Cotton broadcloth
-Fusible interfacing
-Champagne colored polyester lining
-Thread
-Self-covered buttons
-Shoulder pads (1/4")

Fitting Alterations
I didn't make a test garment for this jacket, but I had anticipated needing to make an SBA, so I altered the pattern for it before cutting into the fabric. I typically take a tuck in the pattern for my short waist, but since this jacket is not particularly fitted in that area, I didn't need to make any adjustments for it this time.

The jacket was much too loose when I tried it on after sewing the side and shoulder seams, so I took it in at the back princess seams. I actually had to remove quite a bit, but it seemed to do the trick ;)

Cutting and Construction
When cutting out the under-collar, I placed the pattern on the bias and added 3/8" to the center back edge to allow for a seam. I didn't actually intend to do this when I started cutting, but I ran short of fabric and it was the only way it would fit. Funny that it should work out that way!
Also, when cutting the sleeve ruffles, I wasn't sure that I wanted make them quite as gathered as in the illustration, so I reduced the length of the pattern piece by a slight amount. It ended up fitting on the layout perfectly, without an inch to spare (I was literally "cutting it close" with this garment!).

For the construction process, I basically followed the pattern directions to the end, except for a few slight detours. The first was using broadcloth for interfacing rather than a fusible, since I was working with corduroy. I wanted it to have additional support in the button/loop area, though, so I fused a strip of lightweight interfacing to the broadcloth along the center front edges. After that, I basted the broadcloth to the corresponding corduroy panels.
The second "detour" was trimming the under collar by 1/8" at the outer edges before seaming it to the upper collar to pull the seam under slightly. Finally, I did a bit of hand under-stitching at the center front edge, on the under collar seam, and at the back neckline, where the lining joins the collar.

Overall, this pattern worked pretty well for me. It probably would have been helpful if I had made a "muslin" to determine the necessary fitting changes before starting to sew, but I was able to adjust it during construction. Other than that, it's a relatively straightforward pattern, I'm satisfied with the results, and I'd recommend it to others as well.

Black Gabardine Skirt

I've finally got a few pictures of a black wool skirt that I had worked on and completed in December of '08. I meant to post about it sooner but hadn't taken photos until just now. At any rate, here's a view of the front:





For the pattern, I used Simplicity 9825; I've used it once before to make a denim skirt and pulled it out again to use up a generous scrap of black gabardine left over from another project. I modified its design this time by adding hip pockets and flaring the hemline. Here's a side picture; if you look closely, you can see the pocket opening:



To make the pockets, I drafted a simple pattern by using the dimensions of a pocket on a ready-to-wear skirt. The hemline of each panel has been flared by 4 to 5 inches at the side seam. I would have liked to flare them even wider, but I was somewhat limited by the size of the fabric scrap ;)



Other modifications include an added lining, an invisible zipper instead of a lapped zipper, and swing tacks connecting the skirt and lining hems. The construction was fairly simple, but the wool gabardine did not hold creases especially well, so I catch-stitched some of the seam allowances in place when working on the yolk. I also recommend this blog post by Dawn of Secret Pocket; I found her hemming tip very helpful when stitching the hem into place =)