Remember back in the good old days before the Selfish Seamstress decided that knitting was somehow a reasonable use of her time and she actually used to sew? Remember the leopard print coat project?
Well, this is as far as I got before I put it aside. I had basted it all together, edited the fit to my liking (fitted!) and done what I thought was the final stitching and some very meticulous topstitching. All it needed was the collar, lining, finishing:
The material is so soft and lovely, the fit was looking good, and did I mention that the topstitching is meticulous? Because it is:
It’s my beloved triple straight stitch in dark brown thread. And how about this pocket?
Well, say goodbye to all of it, girls, because I’m taking the whole thing apart. Yep, I was all satisfied and on the brink of having a nice, soft, new leopard jacket, when I stumbled upon my old inspiration photo for this garment:
Sigh. It has such body to it, such crispness. I’ve decided that I have to at least aim for a little more crispness, and soft simply won’t do. I had already lined the front with Armo-Weft. For some reason a salesperson in Germany (where I first started sewing for real) recommended Armo-Weft as a good interfacing for coats and jackets and as a result I use it often, but I think I’m going to stop as it really doesn’t seem to offer any body at all. The plan now is to interface the whole body of the coat with a heavyweight sew-in interfacing, the sleeves maybe in muslin. The Selfish Seamstress is never satisfied.
Of course, my local fabric store, which gets away with ridiculous prices and “eh” quality because it’s practically the only game in town, doesn’t sell interfacing that is wider than 22″. Seriously! So I had to buy six yards of it for an above-the-knee jacket! And of course, narrow as it is, it’s still not 1/3 the price of 60″ interfacing either. The salesperson explained, “Well, people only use interfacing for collars, so you don’t need it to be wide.” Whatever. How’s that polyester glitter organza bridesmaid dress coming along? What’s that you say? You finished it and now you’re working on homemade Snuggies? How fun!
But don’t think my snobby contempt for the store kept me from a couple of fun new acquisitions. The Selfish Seamstress doesn’t really have principles and isn’t above hypocrisy.
The one on the left is another (!) leopard print, this in a very matte slightly stretch satin in a silvery shade (not metallic). I want to do something very va-va-voomy with it, or at least as close to va-va-voom as one can get without much natural va or voom. Wiggle skirt or perhaps I’ll finally get around to Vogue 1117. The one on the right is an oversize navy and white polka dot (with a quarter there for comparison.) It’s on the heavy side, like duck, and it’s all cotton with a nifty rib texture:
This one is definitely destined for a skirt, maybe a pencil or a BurdaStyle Marie, though I suspect that shape would have a foreshortening effect on me. But I love the idea of a skirt with giant navy polka dots, paired with a dainty white blouse and red accessories.
Oh, and in blocking news, Sasa has now discovered the left side of the Swallowtail Shawl:
The Selfish Seamstress 
21 comments
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June 14, 2010 at 8:59 am
SewSister
Oh thank gawd you’re back, I thought I was going to die of Male Pattern Boringness!
June 14, 2010 at 9:01 am
selfishseamstress
OMG I love you!
June 14, 2010 at 1:40 pm
Nikole
I second this, I would check your blog even when there was no new post.
June 14, 2010 at 9:38 am
Tasia
LOVE the big dots! I’d make a full skirt and I love the idea of red accessories with the crisp navy and white.
I can’t believe you’re going to unpick all that lovely topstitching! Hope your seam ripper is nice and sharp..
June 14, 2010 at 9:39 am
Elizabeth
Wow, I can’t believe you’re taking the coat all apart. That is dedication!!!! I don’t think I would do that. I would just buy more fabric and make it all over again. I can’t wait to see it finished again. ;)
June 14, 2010 at 9:58 am
Nicole
Your description of your local fabric store made me laugh out loud. The only local sewing store that caters at all to garment sewers in my town is definitely going for the glitter prom dress market segment, too. I don’t know what I’d do without the internet.
What kind of sew-in interfacing did you use? I’m going to try to make a men’s jacket sometime soon, and am looking for something hair-free to replace the hair canvas that that pattern calls for.
June 14, 2010 at 9:58 am
Meredith P
She’s ba…ak! And back to her old unsatisfied, snarky self. ;-)
Seriously, I can’t believe you’re taking that coat apart. Don’t do anything rash. Why not just start over?
But to salvage this one:
How about just adding something with more crispness to the interfacing you already applied? Fuse it on top? I’m not sure what you want to stiffen up, but it seems to me the lapels? Just slap some crisper interfacing on and fuse away.
June 14, 2010 at 10:40 am
Ruth
What’s the reason for choosing sew-in interfacing as opposed to fusible? Seems like a P.I.T.A.
P.S. I’m also glad that you’re back! Don’t let these fools dissuade you from making your coat perfect. What’s the point if every time you put it on you think “man, I wish that I had stiffened this up a bit.”
June 14, 2010 at 2:01 pm
selfishseamstress
I generally don’t use fusible if I’m doing large sections, like an entire coat front or an entire coat for that matter. I tend to use fusible for smaller pieces like collars and cuffs and facings. I know that there are very high quality fusibles available, but I don’t have ready access to them, and I don’t like the idea of the entire garment with a layer of glue on it. Also for some fabrics, the fusibles don’t fuse very well- I find that I sometimes have a hard time getting fusibles to stick to fabrics with a high synthetic content or slippery wrong side. I don’t know what this leopard fabric is, but it’s definitely got a lot of synthetic in it.
As for sew-in being a PITA, that’s what I used to think until I started using it a lot. Again, I think it depends on the size of the piece. I actually find that for large pieces, sew-in is quicker than fusible. When interfacing a big piece of fabric with fusible you have to put the iron down on one spot, wait 10 seconds, then move it over slightly, wait another ten seconds, and so on and so on until you’ve covered the whole piece. And the interfacing can also slip out of place or leave bubbles. With sew-in, I just set my machine to the longest stitch length and zip, zip, zip around the edges. The stitching doesn’t even have to be neat as long as you’re stitching within the seam allowance because the garment seams will ultimately hold everything in place.
I don’t know enough to know when fusibles are recommended and when sew-in is recommended or if one is really better than the other. I just kind of go with my gut :)
June 14, 2010 at 10:48 am
lakaribane
I’m with Meredith and Ruth. Pam Erny of Sew Exciting advises in the instructions to add layers, fusing progressively, until the desired stiffness is obtained.
why not do that, instead? Seems like a lot of work to un-topstich this coat…
June 14, 2010 at 12:56 pm
Angela
Wow, I’m impressed that you would do all the ripping.. good luck!! I love your fabric purchases!
June 14, 2010 at 1:06 pm
Sigrid
Won’t ripping out that top stitching sort of ruin the integrity of the fabric?
I have some gorgeous crisp jackets my mom made in the 1960’s and she used an interlining of silk organza (not fused of course, just tacked at the seams). . . would something like that work?
June 14, 2010 at 1:52 pm
selfishseamstress
Oooh. You are smart. I was worried about the topstitching scarring the fabric, and since I bought this in Montreal getting more and starting from scratch isn’t an option. I did considering doing an interlining, but wasn’t sure how to handle it with the pockets, since they’d be in between the fabric and the interlining, which would sort of defeat the purpose of the interlining. But *tacking at the seams*- what a great solution! I can just leave slits in the interlining for the pockets and pull them through. Thanks!!
June 14, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Stephanie
“How’s that polyester glitter organza bridesmaid dress coming along? What’s that you say? You finished it and now you’re working on homemade Snuggies? How fun!”
*gasp* gaaaaaaah hhaaaa ahahaaaaahaaaa! (the sound of me choking on my coffee with glee)
I also dislike fusibles for the same reason you do. Have you tried a layer or double layer of armo-weft? (I’m assuming that is the same as haircloth. I use haircloth like there’s no tomorrow and it gives adequate body. Are you pad-stitching or just sewing it in the seams? That makes a difference, too…)
June 14, 2010 at 2:29 pm
selfishseamstress
Armo-weft isn’t really like hair canvas (and wouldn’t you know it, the local sewing place doesn’t carry hair canvas, probably because the Snuggie pattern doesn’t call for it). It’s fusible and much more drapey, almost like a knit interfacing but without any stretch to it. I’m not sure one could really padstitch it as it really is just too drapey.
The new sew-in interfacing I picked up yesterday (which thanks to Sigrid’s suggestion I will now treat as an interlining rather than an interfacing) is not Armo-Weft, but rather a more conventional woven. It could be padstitched, and I may give it a shot, but I’ll to do some research as I’ve never actually padstitched before :)
June 14, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Handmade
Love those oversized dots!
June 14, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Gail
Why? Must perfection be had at such a high cost. Why not two coats?
June 15, 2010 at 1:43 am
Marie-Christine
I think the deal is that ArmoWeft is more a late-80s kind of interfacing. It was great when we were trying to do fluid, Armani-inspired stuff. Better at that time than hair canvas which instantly gave a 50s crispness. But you’ve got to know what effect you’re going for.
And I realize that the original picture was crisp, yes. But you were quite happy enough with your coat when you weren’t looking at that picture. So are you certain you want to do all that work (and possibly loathe the thing over it when you’re done) because you’ve now remembered the original? Can you set it aside a minute and look at it with fresh eyes, not just hate yourself over getting texture-sidetracked?
I’ve been a lot happier with my sewing since I have started considering first and foremost the crispness vs drapeyness of fabrics before I get started with something. You can dork with interfacing, underlining, all that stuff afterwards, but you cannot really disguise the intrinsic qualities of a fabric. Much better for everyone concerned (you, the fabric, the time..) to go with what it wants to do, along with its very nature.. Think of it as a Japanese crafty thing, going -with- the material is important. And accessorily starting a specific project with the correct material.
June 17, 2010 at 2:47 pm
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August 10, 2011 at 10:03 am
lladybird
amazing – i am making a leopard print jacket too :) well, on a smaller scale, more like a fitted blazer with a peplum. even with ripping yours apart (which, ahhh i can’t believe you have that kind of dedication!), you’ll likely finish before i do. sadly, life has been getting in the way of my sewing.