A closer look at my Sew For Victory suit...

Hello there my lovely readers! Let me start by saying thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my suit for Sew For Victory, I'm so glad you all like it! When you've spent such a long time on a project it's really nice to see it being appreciated, especially seeing as it's still a bit too cold in the UK for me to wear it out!

Anyways, my post today is for all you tailoring buffs who want a bit of a closer look at my creation. Now this jacket fairly simple by tailoring standards as it doesn't have a collar - so no roll lines or pad stitching to think about - or any pockets, so it definitely didn't feel as involved as my cape, but it has some extra little twists that I added to challenge myself. Take a closer look...

What you can sort or see sandwiched in the top of my sleeve there is one of my very own homemade shoulder pads! These were a really cute touch and I love that they're in the same fabric as the jacket (even though you can't see them now the jacket is finished!). The instructions for these shoulder pads were included as a part of the pattern, and they basically involve making a sort of fabric taco and filling it with stuffing - simple! When tacked into the sleeve it gives just as much support as a shop-bought shoulder pad, only I got to control the size and shape of my shoulder pads exactly. It was a nice touch and I love how they make my jacket feel more authentic, even though I'm the only one who will know that they're there!

Yes I really am that much of a glutton for punishment that I made all the bias binding for the jacket myself in the same fabric as the skirt, and I also stitched it on entirely by hand. Clearly I need my head examining because it took a LONG time! I just wanted to make sure it was perfect positioned along the edge of the jacket and didn't become too bulky - sewing a wool bias binding to a wool jacket creates a lot of extra bulk I can tell you! - so the precision of hand sewing seemed like the best option. 

If you read my blog regularly you've probably noticed that I have an obsession with perfectly matched plaid, and this jacket was no exception! Every single piece of fabric was pinned (using this method) before cutting and I basted every seam before sewing just to check that the alignment was perfect. This did mean that some seams were re-sewn quite a few times, but the finished look is worth it I think. There's nothing that bugs me more than a spot of non-matching plaid in an otherwise perfect project! I really think I need to take a break from plaid for a while...

Speaking of hand stitching, I also inserted the lining entirely by hand, something that I've never tried before, and I really like the finished look! I think that sometimes hand stitching can give a much more delicate couture look to sewing and I love that. Plus I find hand work incredibly relaxing :)

 And I just had to share my sleeve insertion with you. I cannot tell you how proud I am of these sleeves, not a pleat or a pucker in sight! I usually use gathered stitches to ease in a sleeve, but this time I used this method of Gertie's involving strips of bias but fabric and it worked like a dream. It was the easiest and most stress free setting in of a sleeve ever, I throughly recommend this technique to anyone who struggles with sleeves. Plus the bias strip gives extra support to the sleeve so there's no need to add an extra sleeve head either. Bonus!

And that's about it for the closer look at my jacket, other than that it's all pretty basic, so I won't bore you. But for one last bit of fun here's the fancy finish to the hem of the skirt. It just makes my think of the uniform I wore to Brownies as a child!

Bye for now!

Katie xxx