Tailored Jacket -- Simplicity Pattern 2150 View B

So I started to teach classes at my local Jo-Ann store for some extra cash and just to have a sewing outlet.  I was asked to teach the Sewing 301: Out and About class.  I got the pattern looked at the instructions and decided, that I better run through this first before I try to teach someone how to make this jacket.  The directions aren't hard, but I get confused easily... or maybe that's the result of trying to sew between the hours of 9 pm and 1 am after work in for 8 hours and trying to fight to get 2 or your 3 kids to bed starting at 6:30.

Anyway... So here is my review of:

Simplicity Pattern 2150- View B

Time to complete from cutting pattern to final seam: approx 8 hours so actual sewing and cutting time
Time it took to figure out some of the pattern: 2 hours
Time it took ripping out what I did when I wasn't that awake:  Lost track after the  4th seam
Cost to make: $1 not including materials I already had at home, I already had fabric

Materials
Materials per the envelope:

• Fabric:
• Microsuede, Denim, Corduroy, Damask, Pique, Poplin, lace, and it goes on and on, so pretty much anything will work.
• 3/8 yard light weight interfacing of 20" to 25"


• Notions
• Thread

• Materials that I used.
• Fabric:
• Maybe 2.5 yards of micro suede that I had left over from a back seat car cover
• a 6" by maybe 8" if that piece of light weight interfacing
• Notions:
• Thread
• Tools
• Topaz 30 sewing machine
• Brother 1034D Serger (Started on there b/c my machine was getting serviced)
• Chalk pen/Air soluble pen
• Seam ripper (I made a few mistakes)
• Spray adhesive
• Straight pins, if using micro suede make sure that they are crazy sharp other wise it will snag the fabric

Let the construction begin....

       But not too fast.....

           Things to figure out before you start:

• Pattern Size:
• Figure out what size you need. Unlike many Simplicity patterns, this jacket is very form fitting.  I usually will use a combination of bust size,waist size and finished pattern size.  Since my bust was one size and my waist was another I measured all of the pattern pieces at the waist to make sure that it would be big enough.  Then remembered that it's not that important since it's an open jacket.  Something that I forgot to check was how long the jacket was from neck to waist line.  I have a long torso so this jacket fits me funny so I will probably give it away or sell it.
• Seam finishing:
• This is an unlined jacket so you will need to finish your edges.  I chose to use a french seam.  I will create another blog on various was to finish seams.
• How you want to sew on the arms
• This may seem like an odd thing to say but if you choose to follow the pattern you will sew them on using the round method (you sew around the arm hole) or the flat method (you sew the side seams last).  I will do a blog on both of these methods.  Each has it's benefits and disadvantages.  If you choose to do the flat method you will skip steps in Step 4 until the end.

The Pattern:

This pattern is fairly well explained and I"m being lazy so I don't feel like doing a step by step, so I'll just highlight my complaints/quirks/helpful hints.

Construction:

As stated in the pattern this is an unfinished jacket.  So you will need to determine how to want to finish your edges.  This is important to figure out before you start because if you decide to do a French Seam you will construct the jacket inside out then go back to put the seams on the inside.  I'll do another blog after this one to go through all of the various ways to finish a seam.  Note to self put link to seam finishing blog here. 

I did mine with a french seam.

Ok... now that all of my side notes are done lets start sewing....

So first 2 steps pretty simple (Step 1 and 2a).  Stay stitching.... I can handle that.

Then I got lost (1st set of seam ripping).

So you have 4 of piece #10, the flap thing... they decided to call 2 of them together the "Front and Collar" and the other two as the "Front and Collar Facings"... great... something so similar that when I don't do a good job reading b/c I'm not really awake I"ll get confused.

So to translate for us sleep deprived people.  You will stay stitch the notches.  Then however you cut the 4 pieces of this out you will sew the top part together so that you wind up with the pictures below:

Front and Collar Facing (Step 2)

Front and Collar with Front Sides attached (Step 3)

Not a hard concept, but it took me a while to figure that one out... Like I said I sewed this half asleep.

Then you jump to View A Steps 4 to 6, which is attaching the "mini belt" to the center back and sewing the back panels on.

Step 4:  Piecing the Front and Collar with Front Sides attached (Step 4) to the back.

This was way easier said than done.  Mostly because of the odd way that Simplicity had to "notch" the flap parts to contort it around the collar.  So after my glazed starring at the pattern, then my fabric, then the pattern, then a scratch on the head, then the pattern, I figure out that the easiest thing to do is to start in 3 different sections.  Start at one of the arm holes, pin unit I hit the notch.  Then start in the middle of the neck and go to one side until I get to the notch, lining up the two ends as I go along.  Then repeat on the other side.  My seam notches that I cut in the fabric weren't lining up b/c I didn't take in enough fabric when I sewed the Front and Collar together I had to make another seam on both the Front and Collar and Front and Collar Facing to take up some of the slack.

How to put in Grommets/Eyelets into Fabric

Grommets or eyelets are often used as either decoration or as a well to tie things together.  It could be something fancy like a corset or something simple like a curtain.  I was talking to someone and they were unsure how to put one in, so I decided to do a blog on it.  It is really simple to put a grommet or eyelet into fabric. I extracted out this out of my Rapunzel dress posting.

Tools needed:

• Hammer
• Seam Ripper
• Air Soluble Pen/Chalk
• Eyelets
• Eyelet tool
• Hard surface (and something to protect it if using table)

 1) Determine where the Eyelet needs to go.  I took my pattern and put it on my ironing board w/o the cover on.  I used a ball point pen to poke holes in the center of all of the circles on the pattern to indicate where the eyelets need to go.







2) Transfer all of the marking by putting either a chalk mark or an air soluble pen  by lining up the pattern onto the front of the bodice and draw the mark onto the garment.








3) Use a seam ripper to carefully make a small tear through all of the layers that is just big enough to put the eyelet in.  If your not sure enough how big to make the slits, line up the center markings on the side of the ring part.  Use chalk or an air soluble marker to trace the inside of the ring.  Make sure that your cuts are small than the ring.
 I recommend making the slit vertical (neckline to waist) to prevent the fabric from running.  If it's a larger grommet make an "X" pattern so that it's easier to get through.  Since this is a 1/4" grommet only one direction was done.
If you want you could apply fray check to the fabric before you put the eyelet through the bodice to make sure that the fabric won't run/fray or get bigger.  This is esp important if you are using a fabric that is known to run like this satin that I was using.

4) Put eyelet through the hole that you just made.  Make sure that you put the side that has the high side through the fabric, not the ring.

5) Put eyelet tool onto a hard surface.  I used my kitchen table, with a magazine under neath it so that I wouldn't dent my table.

6) Put the ring onto the eyelet and place the long part of the eyelet tool onto the eyelet.











 7) Hit the long part of the eyelet tool with a hammer until the tube part of the eyelet has folded over onto the ring.

8) Repeat as needed.  When you are done you will get something that looks like this.  I was using a satin, so mine puckered a little because I did not make the slits large enough on some of the holes.  I just left it b/c it would be stretched out a bit.  Cottons will not pull like the Satin did.  Just the nature of the beast.







And that is all it took....to put in grommets or eyelets into fabric

Clutch...well sorta-Simplicity Pattern 2166

So I decided to teach sewing classes at Joann's for some extra cash and for some sanity and purposeful, mandatory sewing.  I already taught my first class.  I think that it went OK.  It was a knit top on a straight stitch machine (I prefer to serge knits, so much easier) that came out... well I'll just use the word interesting.  The pattern had all sorts of issues.

Anyway so on the November/December class schedule, one of the classes is to make a clutch using Simplicity Pattern 2166 view D.  The Education Direction wanted me to make a sample clutch and snowman blanket up so I did.  This is my review of the Clutch Pattern.

Finished Clutch.  It's actually a slate blue.  The photo grays it out.

Simplicity Pattern 2166 View D

Overall it's an easy pattern, pretty straight forward.  After making this one there many many things that I would do different to make it cuter and nicer.  I'll point those out as I go along in GREEN.  and little tips and tricks of mine in purple.  The bag came out WAY bigger than any clutch should ever be.  Mine is smaller than what the pattern says at 7.5" high by 11" long and I could fit a note book in there.  If I make it again I would shrink the pattern down by about 75%

Just a few things before we start.  
Time to complete from cutting pattern to final seam: approx 2 hours.
Time it took to figure out trims: about an hour (what can I say I can't make a decision)
Time staring at the pattern trying to figure out how to make it easier: approx 2 hours
Cost to make: $10 not including materials I already had at home



Materials

• Materials per the envelope:
• Bag (i.e. Clutch)
• 5/8 yard 45" or 60" fabric
• 1 yard Heavy Weight Fusible Interfacing
• Lining:
• 5/8 yard 45" or 60" wide fabric
• 1 3/8 yard 20" to 25" light weight interfacing
• Notions:
• Ribbon 3/8 yard of 3.25" and 2.25" wide ribbon
• Magnetic snap
• Thread

• Materials that I used.
• Bag
• 5/8 yard polyester taffeta
• 1 yard of Ultra Weight fusible interfacing (not a good idea... I'll get into that below)
• Lining:
• 1 yard of satin remnant I found for 50% off, have some left, so didn't use full amount
• don't know how much interfacing.  I have a giant wad of 60" wide that I got for $1 a yard in downtown LA a few years ago.
• Notions:
• 3/8 yard of Project Runway Sequins Trim
• 1 magnetic snap
• thread
• Tools
• Topaz 30 sewing machine
• Brother 1034D Serger (Started on there b/c my machine was getting serviced)
• Chalk pen/Air soluble pen
• Exact-o knife
• Pinking shears
• Seam ripper (I made a few mistakes)
• Cutting mat
• Spray adhesive
• Straight pins
• fabric glue
• pen/pencil/marker
• Things that I should have used to make my life easier:
• Fray Check

Let the construction begin....

The Pattern:

- It was easy enough to figure out my piece and to cut out the fabric.  I use spray adhesive to put my pattern pieces down for a number of reason, but on satin fabrics, esp, the spray adhesive is great b/c you don't get pulls in your fabric from the pin holes from tacking down the pattern. 

- Transfer all pattern marks onto fabric.  Normally I'm not one to do this, but for this project it helped so much to take this time because you have to align all of the interfacing, pocket folds and clasps.


- I cut the pattern out per the direction but I did a few things different.
  - I cut the Ultra Weight Interface 5/8 inch small, which is basically the seam line that is outline on the pattern.  This made it easier to "wrap" the fabric around the interfacing when it came time for assembly and removed the bulk of the interfacing from the seams.
I also cut about 1.5 inches off the top part of the interfacing for the flap, because since the interfacing that I choose was so stiff it would not lie nicely if there was interfacing all the way to the edge.  Also, I only cut out 1 Interface for the flap of the bag, b/c I felt that 2 layers would be too rigid and too hard to flip inside out.  I was right...
  - Next time I would cut out and apply light weight interfacing to the top/front flap.  It would make adding the ribbon easier.  Otherwise you may get the ripple pattern like I did.  If you like the ripple pattern than add about an extra inch to the bottom of the front flap so that you have enough fabric for a good seam allowance when you sew both sides together.

Pre-Assembly:
- Apply Fray check to one side of the Lining and the top of both pieces of the flap and to the bottom of one of the pieces of the flap.  These areas will fray and become a pain in the tail
-  Apply all of the interfacing per the manufactures directions.  Usually use iron on cotton setting with damp towel applied to interfacing size for 15-20 seconds until glue melts.  Then use dry iron to remove excess moisture. (Simplicity Steps 1, 6, and 25)
If I were to make this next time I would try to find Heavy weight interfacing for the bag b/c it will be easier to sew in the long run.  The Ultra weight is nice b/c it give the bag some shape, but a pain to work with and I'll point that out as I go along.  If you want a more rigid bag, than cut the ultra heavy interfacing into a rectangle so that it is not on the sides of the bag.
- Apply the snap to the dot per manufactures directions.(Simplicity Steps 2 and 28)
This is a great video that I found for the magnetic snaps (EverythingMary.com) on how to put them onto your bag.  I also added a drop of glue over the cuts that you make in the fabric b/c I know that satin type fabric are known to pull and make runs, so a little drop of glue takes care of that.

Assembly:

I started out on my serger b/c my Topaz was in the shop getting serviced.  It wasn't bad to sew on the serger until it came time to have to sew the flap onto the bag.  So I had to wait to get my Topaz back.

Anyway....

Inside of bag

Assembly is pretty straight forward...so you think.  Just follow the directions per Simplicity for the first few steps.  

1. Sew the side seams of the bag, then make the box seam along the bottom. (Simplicity Steps 3, 4, and 5) 

2. Then sew the pocket onto the lining, then sew the lining the same way you did the bag. (Simplicity Steps 7,8,9) 

Since I forgot to sew the pocket into the lining and since I didn't have a straight stitch machine I did it by hand.  The down side was that it took forever (not counted in my time it took), on the plus side I was able to hide all of my hand stitches.  The pocket in the back is split, but you don't see the seam on the outside.

The Simplicity directions then say to attach the lining to the bag, turn inside out and hand stitch closed.  Then make the flap.

****This is where I would deviate if I were to make the bag again.****

Based on the Simplicity directions when you attach the flap to the bag you will get two seams showing on the inside of the bag so I would. (see black thread in picture).  So to avoid that this is what I would do

1. Sew the trim onto the top flap (Simplicity step 26/27)

(see another section below about that one)

2. Sew the top/front flat to the bottom/back flap (right sides together) per directions (Simplicity step 28)

3. Flip inside right side out (Simplicity step 29)

4. Attach to bag per Simplicity Steps 39 and 40

5. Attach lining to bag per Simplicity Steps 9 and 10.  You'll have to do some major crumpling of the bag and front flap to get it all to fit but it will be worth it not to have those pesky lines around the inside of your bag.
(this is why you want to fray check your lining edge.  My lining un-raveled about 1/4")

6. Whip or ladder stitch the seam closed per Simplicity Steps 10 

At this point you should be done.  YOU DID IT!!! YAY!!!!!!

.... but don't celebrate too soon.  

I found that my lining kept popping out so I ran a straight stitch around the edge about 1/8" down from the top to hold it in place.

Now your DONE.  YAY!!!! 

****So a side note on the front trim.*****

I came across a happy accident.  I had to tack down the trim that I bought and didn't want to just use a small zig zag to hold it on.  The edge of the trim was pretty blah.  So I looked at the decorative stitches built into my machine and found a cute crows feet so I decided to use that.  Well since I didn't stabilize my fabric and it's just cheap polyester it bunched and got all nasty.  I was going to rip it out but didn't feel like it so I just did the other side.  Well it make this super cute ruching on both sides!!!!  Unfortunately, you can't see it that well any more b/c I really had to stretch my top layer to meet the seam allowances, but if I made this bag again I'd do it the same way but leave about 2 inches of extra fabric on the bottom so that I could have the ruching on the front.

and that is all it took... to make a satin clutch!!!

You can also find a truncated review here.