Sew What Community Sewing Group September Project: Bias-Wrapped Jacket

Two days ago, our sewing group met for the September class to start a jacket project, "Bias-Wrapped Jacket," which is also called a "Fat Quarter Jacket."   With seven in attendance, and eventually three husbands stopping in to see what we do, we had a very good class!

This Bias-Wrapped Jacket is made in 100% cotton fabrics, with horse and horseshoe motifs and a plaid that color-coordinates with the prints.  I usually wear this jacket around Kentucky Derby time.  (I guess you know that since I live in Kentucky, we have a lot of Derby activities going on from Mid-April up to race day on the 1st Saturday of May!)

These jackets are so comfortable and easy to make, without much fitting necessary.  I have made several out of different types of fabrics, so they are truly versatile!

On this Derby jacket, bias binding was used for all of the edge finishes.  The plaid was used for the front/neck bindings and a wider bias band was used for the lower edge and cuffs.  I just realized the cuffs don't show up very well in this photo, but they are cut wide enough so they can be turned up on themselves.  Because they are cut on the bias, they turn nicely.

This Bias-Wrapped Jacket is made from rayon fabrics, which drapes so pretty.  I put a serger edge all around, using my Babylock self-threading serger.  It is a dream, by the way!

The stitch is called the Wave Stitch.  Two colors, black & white, were used on the front/neck edges and red/white were used on the lower and sleeve edges.  That makes the edges look like they have a separate trim sewn on.  The thread is a 40-weight rayon and seems to be holding up very well, even with all the wear I'm giving it.

This one is also very comfortable to wear and is easy-care.  I just wash it on gentle in cold water and hang to dry, which is how I wash most of our clothes.  I rarely use our dryer!  Maybe only two - three times a year.

This jacket is made from a suede-finished, hand-dyed, 100% cotton.  From a distance it looks like real suede cloth.  I put serger crochet on all the edges to finish it, using 12-weight cotton variegated thread.  The ruffle effect is quite nice, I think.  I do have to be a little cautious when wearing this jacket because of the loopy crochet edging, as it sometimes gets snagged.  But, when I take it off, the snags are easily pulled through with a tool called a "knit fixer," so I don't let that stop me from wearing it.

With all the muted colors, this jacket can be worn with many different outfits, so it's also very versatile.

This Bias-Wrapped Jacket is my favorite, but is the most delicate!  It's made of a lacy knit fabric that I just had to have when I first saw it, but had no idea what I'd do with it.  (Maybe you can relate to that?!)

Again, I put serger crochet on all the edges, but with this one the crochet edging is wider.  I believe it's eleven rows wide.  If you look closely at the bottom of the jacket, you'll see threads hanging down.  Well, that's where the ruffle snagged while wearing.  I really, really have to be careful when I wear this one!  But, it's good for dressy occasions and goes with almost everything in my color palette.

The flower is from Hope Yoder's Layered Flower In-The-Hoop design made from 100% cotton fabrics.  The center is an embroidered, covered button (flatback) from Hope's Borders and Frames design for her Button-Ups system.  I just glued it onto the fabric and then sewed a pinback onto the back side so I can switch it around to other garments.

I have also made two of these jackets for my mother out of upholstery fabric.  I don't have photos of them, but will take some and add them to a later post.  She loves wearing both of them and gets lots of compliments on both.  She says they really are warm.  We haven't tried to wash either of them, yet; but I'm going to try washing one of them, after washing some scraps and having success.  The other one has drapery trim on all the edges, so it will definitely have to be dry-cleaned.

All of these jackets were made on my serger, with some of the trims/bias bindings sewn on with a sewing machine.  There really is no reason this jacket cannot be made on a conventional sewing machine, so that's the way I taught it at our Sew What group this month.  When we have some more finished jackets, hopefully next month, I'll post photos of them.  This project is one of the more challenging projects we've worked on in our monthly group, so I'm hoping those who are making it are having success!

Kentucky State Fair Winners for 2014

After an extremely busy spring and summer, I have finally gotten back to a slower pace!  In early April I taught a "Linen and Lace" camisole class at the "It's Sew Fine" Sewing Expo, then in late April I went to a four-day sewing retreat with Londa Rohlfing where I learned how to take a high quality sweatshirt, cut it totally apart, embellish it with lots of silk & wool fabrics and scrumptous yarns, along with some quilting stitches for the fabric panels, then sewing all the pieces back together.  To finish the sweatshirt makeover, I used bias binding made from the wool fabric to bind the bottom edge and the sleeve edges.  The mandarin collar is made from the ribbing that was cut off the bottom of the shirt.  Bias binding was used at the top of the collar and is trimmed with some of the red yarn.  The colors in the beautiful handmade clay buttons were the inspiration for the jacket embellishment fabrics & yarns.

The jacket was only partially finished when I returned home from the retreat, and with several private sewing students lined up to teach during the next 10 days, I wasn't able to get back to it.  On top of that, I came down with Influenza B, pneumonia & bronchitis!  That kept me out of commission for about five weeks!  At almost the last minute, I was asked to teach a week-long summer camp for youth sewing students the first week of July and along with many more private sewing students, I found myself staying up very late at night to get the jacket finished.  I had submitted it as one of my entries in our State Fair and the deadline to turn it in was August 11.  By the grace of God, I got it finished and turned it in about an hour before the deadline!  When Lee & I went to the State Fair a few days later to check on awards, I was pleasantly surprised to find it had won a blue ribbon.  Yay!!!

I also entered a T-shirt makeover that is made from two cotton knit T-shirts.  I purchased two identical shirts and cut one up to make flounces for the second one.  This is another one of Londa's ideas from her Neckline Treatments Talking Patterns (see www.londas-sewing.com).   I thought it turned out really well.  It won a third place ribbon (white).  I'm pleased that it even placed, since it's an unusual design and has raw-edges on the flounces!




 


My third entry, a ribbon purse made from grosgrain ribbon, came in with an honorable mention.  For some reason, no one seems to realize the amount of time and workmanship that goes into making these ribbon purses.  I've had three of them in a gallery at the Galt House Hotel for sale, and none of them sold!  Oh, well, I think they're very unusual and pretty, so possibly I'll find buyers for the six remaining purses if I set up my online shop on Zibbet!

Please leave me a comment on what you think about the ribbon purse.  Maybe it'll help me decide what to do with the ones I have left - thank you!

This is the three-piece American Girl doll outfit one of my 11-year old students made for this year's State Fair entry.  I was so thrilled to see that first place blue ribbon attached to it.  When choosing her fabrics from Austin's Sewing Center, she said she wanted something with bright colors.  Well, I think she accomplished that goal!  She did an outstanding job on her creation, not only with her sewing skills but also following the pattern directions.  This was the first time she actually sewed on knit fabric, but she didn't let that stop her!  Congratulations on a job well-done, young lady!

Teaching "Sweatshirt Jacket Pizzazz" and "Purse Accessory Set" Classes at Austin's Sewing Center in September

I'm scheduled to teach "Sweatshirt Jacket Pizzazz" on the 6th, and "Purse Accessory Set" on the 8th.

SWEATSHIRT JACKET PIZZAZZ

 This is a project where I took a pullover sweatshirt and turned it into a jacket, with lots of embellishments, such as yo-yo flowers and rick-rack stem on the bouquet, a wide band at the bottom for added length, pockets from two different fabrics and rick-rack trim along with yo-yos and buttons, and lots of bias binding and trim along the front and sleeve edges and around the neck.  The yo-yos were more fun to make than I expected them to be.  I made some of them the "old-fashioned" way, and some with the new yo-yo makers from three different sizes.  The corsage group was made with the large oval yo-yo maker.

 This close-up shows the bias trim along the neck edge, with yo-yo embellishment and decorative stitching using rayon thread.  The large yo-yo is stitched on in an off-set direction so it looks off-center.  The button sewn onto the top of it makes it rather cute, I think.

PURSE ACCESSORY SET

 This three-piece set consists of a tissue holder, a quilted cosmetic/catch-all bag and a purse organizer.  The organizer contains numerous pockets that are stitched in sizes that can accommodate necessary items that we carry in our purses.  When it's desirable to change purses, one can just lift the organizer out of one purse as a unit and place it in the next purse - all without having to place each item individually from one purse to the other.  How easy is that! 


(See my post, titled "Purse Accessories and Organizer" for more photos of this project.)

Making the Bias Binding Using the Bias Tape Maker for the Tailored Baby Boys Serger Bib

I used the 3/4" bias tape maker to make the binding, then spray starched it and pressed it in half to make it easier to attach to the edges of the bib.

Tailored Boys Serger Bib Using Bias Binding and Cover Stitch

This closeup shows the bottom of the bib, with the bias binding attached, using a narrow cover stitch.  The binding can also be attached with twin needles on the sewing machine.  I used light blue rayon thread on all of the stitching that shows.

Tailored Boys Serger Bib

This project has been a real challenge, that is, as far as the binding goes!  The bib has gone together really well up to the binding.  The instructions say to use the binder attachment to attach the binding in one step.  Apparently, it means a double-fold binder.  Since I only have a single-fold binder attachment, I have decided to change direction: to use my 3/4" bias binding pressing tool to make a separate binding, instead of using the attachment on my serger.  Then, attach the binding using the cover stitch.  After realizing the single-fold binding will be left with a raw edge that will have to be trimmed off, I didn't think that would be a finished-looking edge.  When I finish the bib with the newly made double-fold binding, I'll post a photo of it here.  This class is scheduled for January 4, at Austin's Sewing Center.