Day 2 of the assembly

The first piece to be sewn was the frog mouth pocket, this is also one of the hardest bit to sew due to the rounded bottom.  Lucky all of the notches matched up and due to the fact that I had done it a couple of times before. 

I finished the pocket off differently than before. I faced the top with the same fabric as the main body and the lines the rest. 


The rest of the body was fairly straight forward. 


The collar was harder than I expected it was straight forward in the calico. The fabric I am using is more difficult to handle than calico. After a couple of tries it was done.


The button holes would of been time consuming to do as I had never done them before.So my tutor did them for me.

The hardest part was the sleeves. The fabric was not fused and frayed really badly this caused e to loose some notches making it harder to ease and sew in. The fabric also did not handle well as it did not ease well.

I found pressing the jacket quite hard as I kept mailing creases as I was not handling the fabric correctly.

Preperation

There are certain things you have to prepare before you even cut.

-Pre shrink fabric by doing this will ensure the pattern pieces wont shrink when the fusing is put on. ( this will also get any creases out so the fabric is flat for when the cutting out process begins)

The fabric pressed well, it didn't pick up creases or shrink much.

-There was limited space in the work shop so cutting the fabric out was not in the best conditions, as the fabric was hanging off the edge of the table.

-Cutting out was good, however I did forget to mark the grain line on a couple of the pieces which I had to resolve at a later stage.

-I had to block fuse all of the pieces par my sleeves this is because the fabric is a medium light weight and frayed.

-The fusing tape went on well. 

Pattern alterations

 From the toile there were a few things that I had to change. 

These were

-the length of the pocket 

-width of the body

The pocket was ok to do but the notches HAD to be in the right place this was tricky as I had to match it up with several pattern pieces.

Taking the body in was slightly harder. Once I had measured the pinned new width I had to transfer it to patter. I took the measurement out of the middle of the pattern so it didn't effect the armhole or neckline.

Toile Fitting

Having a toile fitting was interesting and a learning experience. I definitely benefited from having one, as on a mannequin the jacket sits almost awkwardly yet on a body you can see what needs to be altered and what is working and it is easier to compare to the original deign. 

I do not have too many amendments. 

- I have to shorten my pocket so it is more like my illustration.

- I have to take in my jacket to give it a slim line look.

Toiling

Half toile


First I did a half toile for the right and side which features a frog mouth pocket integrated into a panelled front. Sewing the frog mouth pocket into the panel was the hardest part of the toile as I had to negotiate it around the curve of the pocket. I had to rely on my notches which were NOT accurate. So I had to go back to my pattern and alter it, which was harder than I anticipated.


My collar worked perfectly as did the rest of the pattern.




Full toile


The full toile was a little bit more difficult.


The notches again did not match up on my pocket so I have to re think my pattern. Notches did not match up in several places so I need to  look at the rest of the pattern and double check.


I had difficulty with my full collar. Though it fit my 1/2 toile it did not my full toil. So I checked my pattern and my collar was 2cm too big so I amended it and carried on. The problem was that I didn't do a facing on my half toile I just added 5cm on to the raw edge of my front. My notches again need to be looked at due to the fact of me changing the length. 


The sleeves I could not fit in so I ended up with a tuck at the top of each sleeve, this is because calico is not the easiest fabric to manipulate and due to the time scale before the fitting I left it as that however in my final jacket I will not cut any corners.

Pattterns

Over all I have had little problems with the patterns. I found modelling the patterns on the stand minimised difficulties as you can follow your design in a 3D form like you have drawn it.


I started with the right hand side of my jacket due to the fact that it is asymmetric. I could not use the same pattern for both sides. Which I am glad of as I have learnt more techniques from doing this. 


I found doing the pattern for the left hand front more complicated as it features a panelled concealed front which I have never done before. I confused myself as I was not putting the centre front in the correct place making it much more difficult as the centre front is vital for the concealed front. But once I got this under control everything was fine.

10/05

Doing the pattern for my final design is interesting. My design features some design details I have not used before such as a frog mouth collar,back vent and conceal front fastening. So pattern cutting and toiling is going to be a learning curve.