At last I can show you my
finished jacket! I actually finished this on 21 June 2013 but have
only just got around to photographing it. Without further ado here
are some photos.
I have already done two
progress posts on the various changes I made to this jacket. In the first I talked mainly about the interlining. In the second I talked about a few other changes I was making.
I took detailed notes of
this make and took lots of progress photos. I've written up several
tutorials. I'll do an overview here and post the tutorials when they're finished. (Ha ha I just removed the word "brief" from that sentence!)
I started cutting this on 21
April and put on the last snap just before midnight on 21 June 2013!
I added a further step of waterproofing the jacket a month or so ago
but more on that below.
Planning and Cutting.
I cut all the pieces and
interlining over 3 days. I wrote above the interlining here.
The pattern only lines
the inside of one of the collar pieces, where the zip is, but I lined
both. When the hood hangs down the lining inside the collar is visible.
I lined the hood, which
isn't called for in the pattern. I made the hanging loop out of
lining rather than shell fabric. I interfaced one of the loop pieces to
give some body. I also interfaced both collar
pieces this time.
Pockets
I added lined patched
pockets to my first Minoru. I talked briefly here about the changes I was making to the pockets this time. Last time
I didn't interface the pockets save for the under flap. The lining I
used on my first Minoru was not good quality and has fluffed and
curled around the edges. I thought interfacing all the
pocket pieces would help keep them flat. I also made the pocket flap
slightly bigger. The biggest change was to make a proper bagged
lining for the pocket, so that your entire hand is encased in soft
lining when they are in the pockets! Here are some close ups of the
pocket and the lining.
Update: My step by step tutorial on how I did the pockets is available on this post.
Update: My step by step tutorial on how I did the pockets is available on this post.
Lengthening the Jacket
I mentioned in this post that I was lengthening the jacket. This change was forced on
me for reasons I can laugh about now but were minor heart attack
inducing at the time.
To explain the context you
have to understand that the lined pockets took ages to attach. On top
of the actual sewing I was taking photos and writing a tutorial. In one of the tutorial steps I dutifully tell everyone
to chalk the pocket placement lines and then sew your pockets within
those lines. When you eventually see the tutorial you will from the
photo of this step that I chalked both the finished hem line and the
pocket placement line. Guess which one I attached my first pocket
to? Yes I attached my pocket to the line indicating where my
finished hemline would be and noticed only after spending ages
attaching it!
Leaving it as is was not an
option as having no gap underneath the pockets before the hem line
would be crazy. Option 2 was to reduce the generous 3 inch hem on
the Minoru jacket. I wasn't keen on that idea so I went with option
3. I cut a hem facing for the jacket and attached it to the bottom
edge of the jacket with a 1 cm seam allowance. This had the effect
of lengthening the jacket. I actually like hem facings and they
turned out really well.
I didn't have to re-cut the
jacket lining pieces as I made the hem facing long enough to
comfortably attach the lining and allow for some ease. The
only pieces I had to re-cut were the plackets and I had to buy a
longer zip.
Update: My step by step tutorial on how I did the hem facing and finished the lining and corners on the jacket is available on this post.
All in all this was a good save! I did want a longer Minoru. The only change I would make if I was to make another in this length would be to move the pockets higher. I have long arms but even so they are fully extended when my hands are in the pockets.
Sewing the hood and lining
As others have pointed out,
one of the quirks of the Minoru jacket hood is that the seam
attaching the hood to the collar can be seen inside the collar when
the hood hangs down. I trimmed and finished that seam with a zig zag
stitch. I thought I would save time by zig zagging the bottom edges
of my hood and lining pieces before I started. This turned out to be
a complete waste of time as you really do need to trim and grade that
seam down so that you can topstitch along that edge.
I went over the trimmed seam
with a zig zag stitch and it's not too bad. I took this nifty extra
step to ensure that seam was as small as it could be and had less
scope to move about when worn. I topstitched the right side of the
hood at the lower edge, taking in the trimmed neckline seam of the
coat on the other side. I made sure the collar was folded away as I
didn't want to stitch onto that. Here's a couple of photos which I
hope explains what I did. The coloured headed pins sticking up show where the topstitching is.
Collar is folded down out of the way |
View from the other side |
Zip on the collar
I had a few problems with
this step. First, I noticed after inserting the zip (yes always
after) that I had the collar lining on upside down. The collar is
longer at the bottom than the top but I had the short edge of the
lining along the bottom. I thought: “Jeez I cut this really badly”
before realising my error! Duh!!
My second problem was
pressing that window for the zip once it is turned through (rather
like a welt pocket). The interfaced fabric meant it was hard to
press. I pressed for ages and got it to go as flat as I could.
The corners of the zip
window where you snip into? I had the same problem as last time with
a small amount of my lining peeking to the right side. Not as much
as last time though. I'm also not brave enough to snip right up to
the stitching and this adds to the problem.
My main problem was
attaching the zipper. The zipper window being slightly too big in
one place caused my topstitching to miss the zipper tape in one small
area measuring around an inch. I had to go back and fix this which
meant stitching over the previous stitching which is quite
noticeable.
I'm going to take extra care
if I make the jacket again to ensure the zipper window is not too big
and to make it uniform. I was lazy about transferring over the
zipper markings at the cutting stage. (Seriously the pieces take
ages to cut and the last thing I want to do is tailor tack the zipper
opening along with the the placement for the elasticated waist). The
zipper window only needs to expose the teeth so there's no need for
it expose the tape.
Storm flaps
I mentioned in this post that I was adding a front flap to the jacket as I couldn't
find a zip to match my fabric.
I'm really pleased with how
they look. There are two flaps covering the zip. The under flap is
cut smaller so the top one can lay flat. The top flap has a hidden
under flap which has the upper halves of snaps invisible from the
outside. The lower flap has the bottom halves of the snaps. I
worked out how to do this from a ready to wear jacket. I have hand
tacked the under flap to the top flap in between the upper snaps.
Here are some close ups of
the flaps which hopefully show how they work.
Update: My step by step tutorial on how I did the storm flaps is available on this post.
Update: My step by step tutorial on how I did the storm flaps is available on this post.
I've done a step by step
tutorial on how to do the storm flaps which I'll post once it's
finished.
I also did my first ever
snaps. I don't have any fancy equipment for this. The snaps came
with a small punching tool and a spreading tool which are used with a
hammer to pierce the fabric and attach the snaps. The pack also
came with a base tool which holds the snap in place while you hammer
it.
My test snaps came out
better than those on my finished jacket. Only one has come out
really well and they are a bit stiff to close. It was difficult to
hammer the snaps into the finished jacket, particularly the under
flap, as it was hard to keep the rest of the coat out of the way. I
now want fancy equipment for attaching snaps but I can't justify
the expense.
It is possible to remove
snaps with a hammer, chisel and some patience, as I found out when I
totally messed one up.
Inside phone pocket
As I mentioned in this post I devised an little pull tab to put my phone in. It's not
quite worked out as planned. It's great for inserting the phone,
where it sits upright. It also pulls out using the little
tab. The problem is that the phone doesn't pull out freely when it's in a rubber case like mine. It works better without the
case. Also it's a hassle putting the tab back in once you've pulled
out the phone. It would be easier if the top half of the tab was
stiffened, with cardboard hidden inside the tab or something similar.
It's pretty
neat and I do like it. It keeps the phone upright in the pocket.
It's probably not worth the hassle though unless it is stiffened with
cardboard or something.
The pocket is slightly
longer than on the Minoru jacket pattern, which was not big enough
for a smart phone.
Cuffs
I had a few minor problems
here. Firstly I cut out elastic for the cuff to fit my wrists,
which are very fine. However they were too much of a mismatch for the
size 14 cuff. I then went with the elastic recommendation
for a size 14 which was too big. I then made the elastic 2 cm
smaller which I was happy with.
I did the gathering stitches
on the raw edges of the cuff as recommended in the pattern. However
I tried to pull up the gathering with the thread tails and ended up
snapping the thread. The gathers wouldn't pull I think because of
the weight of the fabric. I removed the gathering and just eased and
pinned the cuff onto the sleeve. This worked fine. I spent ages
removing all the gathering afterwards so I'll be glad to avoid that
step next time. I also attached the cuff with a 1 cm seam allowance
as I like long sleeves.
Joining the hem facing to
the plackets
I adapted my own tutorial here to finish this. I prepared a tutorial for this which I'll post
when it's finished.
Stitching in the ditch
This is where the jacket and lining are joined at the collar. It turned out better
than on my first Minoru. For the most part the stitching is
not visible on the lining of the lining side. It's still impossible
I think to get the stitching exactly in the ditch on both sides. I
wasn't aiming for this, but I did spend a lot of time making sure the
stitching didn't stray too far into the collar part of the lining
side. There was one small section on one side of the lining that I
re-did twice on the machine. In the end I ended up doing that part
by hand. My hand stitching doesn't look great on the wrong side, but
that was mainly because I was impatient to get it finished. It
doesn't show on the right side which is the main thing.
Elastic casing
I marked the channels for
the elastic by pinning the side seams of the lining and shell
together starting from the under arm, seamline to seamline. I then
pinned the areas around the elastic channels knowing that the jacket
was properly aligned at the side seams. As in my last make I extended my elastic out to the front about 2 inches from the side
seam. (On the original pattern the elastic comes out much further.)
I did notice one thing though when aligning the shell and lining on
the jacket fronts. The lining was a bit tight on the side where the
inner pocket was. (I only made one inner pocket). I don't know why
this was. It wasn't a huge problem at all but it would be a good
idea next time to add a tiny bit of ease, widthways, to the front
lining piece.
Threading the elastic took a
ridiculously long time. I started doing it with a safety pin. The
safety pin kept getting caught on the basting lines which attached
the inter lining to the jacket. In the end it was easier to start
again and do it without a safety pin. I then tested the elastic
width with pins. I first tried somewhere just under the elastic
length recommended in the pattern. It was way too big. I then
pulled it tighter and it was then too tight. I then decided that my
elastic should come out slightly more from the side seams than 2
inches as mentioned above. I extended the channels to 2.5 inches out
from the side seams which looked better.
Waterproofing
My mother gave me
some fabric protector she had left over from making blinds (Scotgard
Protector for fabrics). The blurb says it: “forms an invisible
barrier which resists water and oil based liquids (eg, rain, wine,
salad dressing etc). It also provides dirt resistance so fabrics stay
looking cleaner for longer and are easier to clean. Does not change
the look, feel or breathability of fabrics. Ideal for clothes and
soft furnishings.”
As I hadn't yet properly
worn the jacket I decided to waterproof it a month or so ago. It's
best to do this on the washed fabric before making but it's equally
possible to spray a finished coat (which is one of the recommended
uses). My chap did the spraying while I held the coat. He sprayed
it really well, with extra on the collar, corners, the pockets and
along the stitching. He held the can about 20 cm away from the coat.
I then left it overnight.
Conclusion
I'm really happy with this
coat. It took a long time to make but was worth the effort. With the
storm flaps, lined pockets and interlining it's like a Minoru
deluxe! I wore my first one to death and I'm sure I'll do the same
with this one.
In other news (for anyone
still reading – thanks if you are!) I'm currently making a skater
dress based on the Renfrew pattern. I've also just finished a
pencil skirt for my mother. Before that I started the Hummingbird
peplum top from Cake patterns. My muslin didn't turn out well so I
didn't go any further with it. However I was still keen to make a
knit and something peplum related. It was then that I hit upon the
idea of making a skater dress with the Renfrew pattern! Happily this
has turned out much better and I'm looking forward to showing you
once it's finished!
Happy sewing.
Kathy, there's only one word to sum this all and that word is "WOW" :)
ReplyDeleteThe jacket looks great and one can see all the work that went into it. I guess that having already made a previous version of Minoru you knew exactly what to add to make it perfect for you. The storm flaps and the lined pockets are a really useful addition for winter!
I really appreciate the time you took for documenting it all! I'm not planing on making a Minoru any time soon but the techniques you described here will sure be useful to anyone who plans to sew a winter jacket. Actually I'm downloading the front flaps tutorial as I write this :)
So thank you for the tutorials and I hope your Minoru will survive many winters from now! :)
Mariana, thank you very much for your lovely comments! Do let me know if the tutorial doesn't download and I'll email it to you. The tutorial also refers to a snaps and hem tutorial that I've now finished and will be posting soon.
DeleteAs I was making the pockets I thought the principles could be easily adapted to make a bag which I would love to try at some point. I hope you enjoy the tutorials.