Snailish

Why has it taken me so long to get this jacket cut out?

Well, first, I’m test running the clover gadget recommended by a fellow sewing blogger, when I whinged about Prym replacing their chalk marker with something not so brilliant. This should have made it quicker, but this is the carbon paper I used. For those who don’t know, the UK went decimal on 15th February 1971. That’s a pre-decimal price of three shillings on the front. I inherited it. The only thing my mother seemed to have used it for was to transfer this doll face. The lines are mine,  I went through several sheets trying to find sections which would still mark. Don’t bother saving your carbon then!

I bought a packet of the Burda version today. There has been a bit of a price hike in the sewing world since the seventies. The price in Euros converts to 5.51 pounds sterling. Pre-decimal there were twenty shillings to a pound. Also, the old Simplicity one had sheets of all colours in there, you need two packets of the Burda to get the full colour range.

This Guardian article on inflation gave the average wage as £2000 in 1971 and now around £25000. Is my math really flaky or doesn’t this make my packet of carbon paper super price inflated?

Next I hit dither mode. What to interline with? What interfacing to use? Much pulling of fabric out of boxes later I settled for interlining with a lightweight cotton.

I used the same cotton  on this summer jacket, made some time ago from a loose weave bouclé tweed, and it feels about right.

Close up of the weave on this jacket, and a section of the trim I made for it.I went for two different fusibles for the white twill I’m using now,  and one heavier cotton for interfacing – The back stay, shoulder stay and shoulder pads and sleeve head are still waiting – such a lot of cutting out to a jacket!

So finally the lining. My go to fabric store had none in white, cream, or offwhite when I passed it a couple of days ago. Not a problem, I thought, remembering some poly crepe in stash which would serve. I dug that out, and it was hint of peach, not whitish. I wasted half a day searching for anything I might repurpose in the right colour, before actually going to buy some satin lining at Self-Tissus. At least its a nice heavy one.

Whilst searching I came across this old friend. A jacket, also whitish, made in natural slubbed silk and lined with habotai . I made it when unstructured was the look. (So much less fuss!) I used a really old pattern then, found in pieces with no picture or instructions  and just had to see it come together.

I still like the pockets and the collar, and the crumple friendly look.

A little tip

In the top photo, that roll of black stuff at the top is some left-over DIY product from when we laid our wooden floors. Its a thin layer of tough foam on a strong plastic backing, and its jolly useful for protecting the table and providing just enough squishiness for a tracing wheel to mark through.

It also makes good bag bases for shoppers.

A big thank you for the comments on the toile. Its wonderfully helpful to get feedback when you’ve been looking at a collar and pocket flap pattern forever, trying to figure out if it needs any more tweaking.