Tailoring and interfacing
Nov. 7th, 2015 02:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzI come bearing pictures (again).
The winter coat is progressing, but oh so slowly. I'd have a much higher sewing speed if only this were like any other coat. It isn't (and I am a little annoyed at my speed, can you tell?). There's so many pieces, so many seams, and then I insisted on tailoring the thing.
It's not just padstitching the collar -- that is something to look forward to, I'm not nearly that far. I've chosen a sew-in interfacing and it has be basted in and then sewn in by hand.
There's several ways to tackle this. During my time at the Rotterdam school (Rotterdamse Snijschool, a tailoring school) we learned to sew the darts and seams of the front panel first, and sew the interfacing in second.
In Arnhem they teach to suspend the interfacing between the seams of your panels. It's much easier to do, because you can baste the interfacing in when your panels are still very flat and nothing is sewn together yet. Only after sewing the seams by machine can you flat-fell the seam allowances to your interfacing. And that is exactly what I am doing in above picture.
My sew-in interfacing is 100% wool and will add a lot of extra warmth to this coat, both because it's wool and because there will extra air to insulate the coat between the outside fabric and the interfacing. Because I love warm winter coats in stead of the drafty cold kind, I'll use the interfacing on front and back panels, and top sleeve as well. It extends a little past my waist, into the "waistband" of the coat. The skirt pieces will be un-interfaced. (The whole coat will have a lining, of course.)
Interfacing will extend the life of your garment and sew-in interfacing will allow the coat to fit to your body, making it fit like a glove.
The other measure of durability you see is seam-tape ("neggeband" in Dutch), which is also sew-in. I've basted it onto the stitch lines of neck, front shoulder and armscye and it will prevent the fabric from stretching out of shape, and it will be sewn down when those seams are stitched.
This isn't to say regular glue-in interfacing isn't good. It will also extend the life of a garment, but has some tricky parts. It has to be pressed and glued well, and with age (and washing) might come loose. It is a lot faster to use though. And from the outside you can't tell which kind of interfacing was used unless you know what to look for or your tailor has made mistakes.
This coat is a wonderful school project: I am learning tons and tons of things. It's great practice, and I hope, I very much hope, that I will have a wonderful coat for life!
The winter coat is progressing, but oh so slowly. I'd have a much higher sewing speed if only this were like any other coat. It isn't (and I am a little annoyed at my speed, can you tell?). There's so many pieces, so many seams, and then I insisted on tailoring the thing. It's not just padstitching the collar -- that is something to look forward to, I'm not nearly that far. I've chosen a sew-in interfacing and it has be basted in and then sewn in by hand.
There's several ways to tackle this. During my time at the Rotterdam school (Rotterdamse Snijschool, a tailoring school) we learned to sew the darts and seams of the front panel first, and sew the interfacing in second.
In Arnhem they teach to suspend the interfacing between the seams of your panels. It's much easier to do, because you can baste the interfacing in when your panels are still very flat and nothing is sewn together yet. Only after sewing the seams by machine can you flat-fell the seam allowances to your interfacing. And that is exactly what I am doing in above picture.
My sew-in interfacing is 100% wool and will add a lot of extra warmth to this coat, both because it's wool and because there will extra air to insulate the coat between the outside fabric and the interfacing. Because I love warm winter coats in stead of the drafty cold kind, I'll use the interfacing on front and back panels, and top sleeve as well. It extends a little past my waist, into the "waistband" of the coat. The skirt pieces will be un-interfaced. (The whole coat will have a lining, of course.)
Interfacing will extend the life of your garment and sew-in interfacing will allow the coat to fit to your body, making it fit like a glove.
The other measure of durability you see is seam-tape ("neggeband" in Dutch), which is also sew-in. I've basted it onto the stitch lines of neck, front shoulder and armscye and it will prevent the fabric from stretching out of shape, and it will be sewn down when those seams are stitched.
This isn't to say regular glue-in interfacing isn't good. It will also extend the life of a garment, but has some tricky parts. It has to be pressed and glued well, and with age (and washing) might come loose. It is a lot faster to use though. And from the outside you can't tell which kind of interfacing was used unless you know what to look for or your tailor has made mistakes.
This coat is a wonderful school project: I am learning tons and tons of things. It's great practice, and I hope, I very much hope, that I will have a wonderful coat for life!
