Navy Suit Part 2 - Vogue 1707

I'm at that stage where I seem to have spent a long time working on this project but don't have much to show for it!

Cutting out took a while, when I've got more than 2 metres of fabric I can't really use the dining table so have to lay everything out on the floor. I find it interesting that on vintage vogue suit patterns you only get yardage and cutting layouts for the entire ensemble but on current patterns only separately. I took 3.2 metres of 60" wide fabric to cut out views B and D in a size 12/14 if you are interested, with little waste. I did have 4.5 metres so there is plenty left to make something else.

This is a realistic picture of what I look like at this stage, everyone on Instagram seems to have a beautiful cutting table. In the background you can see all the work stuff I had to bring home to get me through teaching during lockdown.

I'm not a fan of cutting out, my knees and hands hurt by the end if there's a lot to do but I do like getting everything ready. At the end of the toiling and cutting out stages my sewing room looked a little messy.

I do like things to be tidy but I just can't keep it that way! I'm very privileged to have a room that I can just close the door on, Mr B wouldn't be able to cope otherwise. I sorted it out ready to to start though, pinned the instructions up, threaded the machine, changed the needle and did some stitching tests ready to sew the next day.

I'm mainly including these pictures because I'm so nosey about other people's homes it only seems fair to reciprocate!

This afternoon I did the first few steps of the vest, I thought I'd record how I put the collar in because I've recently had more success due to a few tweaks in the method.

Firstly I like to use very lightweight interfacing to stabilise the corner that gets clipped, it also means I can draw the stitching line on. I've pinked the edges to soften the line and also tested, on a scrap, that it wouldn't change the drape too much before I did it.

This is the first sewing step for this pattern and it instructs you to clip the corner as well, I don't think this is a good idea as you are just making the fabric less stable for no reason so I now wait until later.

When instructed to I pin the longest seam to be sewn, in this case around the neck edge with the piece that will have the clipped corners on top.

I make sure the markings are aligned by pinning them first, then everything in between, this is what it looks like underneath

Once I've sewn the long edge, making sure I start and stop exactly at the corners and keeping the stay stitching just inside the seam allowance, I then clip the corners using a small pair of scissors. You need to be brave and go right into the corner, I use a really short stitch length for the stay stitching so this is less worrying.

You can then gently pull the short edge round to match the short edge of the collar.

Again I like to have the clipped piece on top so I can see the corner more easily. You need to sew through this point exactly but you don't need to start/stop there, you can run straight past it into the seam allowance.

Give it a press and you're done.

The other side isn't quite as perfect, I think its a rule that one side always works better than the other, but nobody is going to inspect it that closely (one of the shoulder seams is about a 1/8th inch out too whilst I'm in full confession mode).

I hope this has been helpful or interesting, I know dark navy probably isn't the best for seeing details on.

I love seeing how people go about things differently - ever since a colleague excitedly told me that she'd discovered her machine 'had reverse' after using it for weeks, I realised that I take a lot of sewing knowledge for granted!