Welcome to your December 2021 Dream Wardrobe.
UK SIZES 6-18
If you are wondering why we have moved to a digital version of the Newsletter, there are a number of reasons.
Firstly, it will save paper and ultimately that is a good thing.
Also, it means I can include colour pictures of the garments made up, which means you have some visual sewing inspiration without having to wait for me to do the Instagram reveal. It also means I can link directly to the fabric and pattern suggestions, again helping to inspire you with what to do with this month’s box.
I do hope that you have planned in a little ‘me time’ over the holidays to do some sewing. This month’s box could be the perfect project. Quilted jackets are such a fabulous make (and when the fabric has been pre quilted they are also a pretty quick project). I love the idea of making one you can layer up over a big jumper with a midi skirt to keep you warm, then in the spring it would be the perfect lightweight jacket.
About the fabric:
This pretty cotton is utterly adorable. It’s pre quilted and reversible, I love the different scale of the florals!
You’ve received 1.8m of this quilted fabric. Perfectly suited to simple jacket, but I’ll share some other ideas of things you could make with this fabric.
- Merchant & Mills Sidney Sweatshirt
- Grainline Stowe bag
- Cushion or blanket
I always recommend that you pre-wash your fabric. This is especially important with fabrics that are made from natural fibres (cotton, linen, viscose etc) as these have more of a tendency to shrink. Also, they are more likely to have a dressing added at the factory that can change the feel and handle of the fabric once washed.
Make sure the fabric is unfolded, place in the drum and wash at 30c. Once finished, take the fabric out of the machine straight away and hang it up to dry.
About the pattern:
There are quite a few simple jacket patterns around at the moment, however there are a couple of details about the Absolu that caught my eye.
Firstly, I love the raglan sleeves. They are easier to fit so great if this is your first coat or jacket project. I also thought they really lent themselves to using both sides of the fabric by having contrast sleeves. I also love the roomy big pockets, which were also made in the contrast side of the fabric.
This pattern also offers lots of options in length and necklines so there are many different versions.
Once you’ve made a quilted version of this jacket why not make one in one of the following fabrics…
Notions required:
About your gift:
I thought popping to the shops over Christmas to find the perfect bias binding to match may take up valuable sewing time. So this month we have given you 10m of co-ordinating bias binding to complete your project.
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Absolu Jacket Sewing Tips
Fabric
I didn’t pre-wash this fabric.
Ironing
This fabric irons beautifully and easily although ironing does compress the wadding (batting) slightly. I used almost the maximum heat setting on my iron and a little steam.
When pressing the seams, I also used plenty of steam and a wooden clapper, particularly over the side seams where the addition of the pockets adds a little bulk.
Cutting Out
There is plenty of sizing information for body measurements and finished garment measurements so the correct size can be easily selected. I didn’t make any alterations to the pattern.
Take care when cutting out the sleeve and front pattern pieces to ensure that you select the correct cutting line for a collared or collarless jacket. The images on the pattern piece show which line to select for each style.
If you’ve chosen to cut out the paper pattern instead of tracing this off you’ll need to trace off the pocket piece since this is in the centre of the sleeve pattern.
Transferring pattern markings
Transfer the notches from the pattern to the fabric, particularly around the sleeve and armholes so these can be correctly inserted.
Don’t forget to trace the stitching line for the dart. I used a combination of tailor’s tacks and a loose loopy tacking line to transfer the line from the pattern to the fabric. I show how to do this on my blog post about this make.
Making up the garment
I used a size 90/14 universal needle as the fabric is medium weight.
I also used a walking foot for a lot of the construction to help feed the fabric through the machine evenly.
There is a really good instructional video that can be found via YouTube or the Atelier Scammit website. The video has a voice over in French but if this isn’t a language that you understand, on YouTube you can select subtitles and choose your preferred language for a written translation.
After cutting out all of your fabric pieces I would advise staystitching 6mm from the raw edge around each of the pieces, this will stop the quilting stitches on the fabric from coming undone at the ends.
The instructions suggest applying tape interfacing or fusible seam tape around all the fabric pieces on the wrong side of the fabric. I don’t think this is necessary and I don’t like the way it can be seen on the wrong side after the binding is attached. Stay-stitching serves the same purpose to stop the edges of the fabric stretching out of shape as you construct so I have used this instead. It’s also a lot quicker to do than ironing on tape.
The seam allowance is included on the pattern – the initial instructions state that this is 1.5cm on the side seams and armhole, 1cm on the collar and no seam allowance around the jacket’s circumference. However, I think there is an error. There is 1.5cm seam allowance on the side seam of the main body and the sleeve seam but only 1cm of seam allowance on the armhole. When you come to insert the sleeve, use a 1cm seam allowance.
Bias Binding
The pattern suggests the use of 20mm bias binding or wider. I’ve used 18mm binding and you’ll find this included in the Dream Wardrobe box. This width of binding is ideal but anything narrower would prove too difficult to cover the bulk of the fabric sufficiently.
As suggested in the instructions, I marked the seam lines and then applied the binding to all the raw edges before sewing the seams – it’s much easier this way before you have too much bulk to contend with.
To apply the binding, open out one edge of the binding and apply the binding first to the wrong side of the fabric, matching the raw edge of the binding to the raw edge of the fabric. Stitch along the groove of the binding, approximately 9mm from the raw edge. Trim 2-3mm off the seam allowance before folding the binding over the raw edge to the right side of the fabric. Allow the fold of the binding to just cover your first stitching line and then pin the binding in place. Stitch close to the fold. Don’t worry about where the stitching line sits on the wrong side of the fabric as this won’t be seen unless you’re inspecting the insides very closely. I show these steps with images on my blog.
You can find more tips and videos of various sewing techniques on my YouTube channel ‘House of Miss Sew’ or on my blog.
I’ve put together a blog post on how I made this garment which can be found at www.houseofmisssew.com.