Mark Two, Part Three

I'm too tired to think up a clever title for this post so the utilitarian, Part Three, will have to do.

The jacket is coming along quite well. The tabs have their lining sewn on and the gap closed up behind them. The back of the in seam buttonhole at the waist is completed and ready to be sewn down by hand after the lining has gone in. The lining is cut out but not marked. The hems are hand sewn down in preparation for the lining, and of course the sleeves have been put in since I last posted here. I did a sleeve wrap on this version, because I had an odd sort of collapsed area at the back of the sleeve. I am told its not very noticable, but of course since I sewed it, and I know its there, and I know its not perfect, it does annoy me. So I put in a sleeve wrap to try and support the sleeve cap seam and hoped it would remove the collapsed area. It does look better, but its not perfect. The last jacket looked much better once the lining was in, so hopefully this one will be the same. However, I am starting to wonder if I messed up when I did the sleeve cap alterations so I will need to check that very carefully when I start work on my next Marfy jacket muslin.

And for Becki, here is a photo of my secret weapon for even hand stitched top stitching.... quilters tiger tape. Its sticky and one eighth inch wide, marked with lines. I stick it to the garment with one edge butted up to the seam I want to top stitch, then use the marks to guide my stitches on the other side of it. It is easier on some fabrics than others. Smooth fabrics work best and black fabrics are, as is the case with all hand sewing, the worst to do under artificial light. That is my excuse for the odd slanted stitch anyway. This is the flexible version, which can go around curves and I think you can get two stitch counts, 12 stitches to the inch is what I have here.