Quilting the pieces and one trick

The quilting is going ok despite every needle size and type I try pulling the silk lining occasionally.  Never mind because it's easy to gently stretch it back into position with no evidence. 

Instead of pulling the lining and outer fabric apart to tie-off and bury the tails, here's a better tip.  If your machine has a "knot on/knot off" function, engage it at the beginning and end of each line.  Then pull the lining's tail through to the outer side and snip them both off at the height of your fabric pile's height.  Like so ...

So beautifully neat, but it only works on fabric with some degree of pile.

The Silk Lining

To keep tradition, it will have a pure silk lining which I've never sewn before.  OMG it's slippery to the point where I had to sticky tape it to the timber loungeroom floor so it wouldn't move.  Very good idea also because the boards are perfectly lined and paralell to help with keeping the selvedge & grain straight. 

So we're supposed to thread trace the seamlines, huh?  Well after 10 minutes of that, realised it wasn't going to happen at all.  It was back breaking, shifting everywhere despite being pinned, making it inaccurate.  So I'm throwing this tradition away and got out a crude marking pencil.  It's a chinograph, and has a waxy chalky texture and will probably be horrible to remove later.  But look at this comparison between the thread and penncil marking with regards to accuracy:

Fabric & Marking

Here's the fabric.  It's a polyester which I don't like, but it was perfect in every other way.  This will be a small problem when easing the sleeve cap because unlike like wool, poly just doesn't like to mesh together as much when easing.

I just love the way small peices of black ribbon glint - very classy!  Also, because they're in the warp and weft, it makes a subtle grid making it easy to recognise grain line.

Getting Started

After reading Thread’s issue 121 I’ve been dreaming of sewing a Chanel style jacket but been too scared to because my sewing skills are pretty poor.  I just go by instinct and guess work.  A sewing friend said she thinks I’m jumping in the deep end  – however she also said, “but with those extra wide seam allowances, you really can’t go wrong”.  Well we’ll see about that.  Here’s the pattern and muslin that sewed up quite ok, even though it’s designed for polar fleece:

I converted the sleeve to 2 peice and brought the neckline up to a high round.  It has an armhole princess which is probably not the best for an beginner.  I should have chosen a shoulder princess, but didn't want to buy another pattern.  As you can see, it will need minor adjustments.