Saturday 7 March 2015

To Pad-stitch or Not To Pad-stitch

I'm still working away on the Sybil Connolly coat. Last week I finished sewing the pockets, side to the front seams and the back to the front facing. It is starting to take the shape of a coat.


The upper back part of the coat is has interfacing where I had to deal with a neckline dart.


Instead of stitching the dart as I did with the fashion fabric, the pattern instructions suggest slashing down the middle of the dart and then folding the edges over each other and stitching the dart in place.


I love how it turned up with less bulk. Since I am working with a medium weight sew-in interfacing I hand basted it to my fashion fabric to later be held into place permanently by the seam allowances.

I came to the point of the under collar which calls for pad stitching the interfacing to the under collar. And here we have another new-to-me technique.  

I am familiar with what padstitching looks like. When taking apart men's tailored jackets, I uncover this advance tailoring technique in the inner workings of menswear. However, I have never padstiched, ever.   

Padstitching is used to hold the canvas to the fashion fabric. That I know. I have already held portions of canvas to the fashion fabric by sewing invisibly but this is something completely different as it covers a much larger surface with hand stitching. And it helps to roll the collar into shape.  

Usually, padstitching is found in projects made in thicker wool where the stitches are hidden in the thickness of the fabric. But, right now I'm making this project out of a cotton sateen with a wee bit of stretch.  

To padstitch or not to padstitch, that is the question.  

I decided not to pad stitch. It is the first time in this project that I strayed away from the instructions. It could be done with my fabric choice I guess. If I used silk thread to help it guide easily through the medium weight interfacing and cotton fabric. Instead, I interfaced the under collar with fusible interfacing and I'm good with it. When I make a winter coat version I will for sure pad stitch the under collar.

Slowly and surely, the coat is taking shape. I'm starting to feel better and I'm not coughing as much as earlier this week so I hope to put a good chunk of work into it this weekend. The next step is to hand-stitch the under collar to the upper collar under the facing, tackle the sleeves and then the lining. There is a lot of hand-stitching in this project but I will admit that it does make a difference. Fingers crossed that I'll have a finished project to show you by the end of the weekend.   

Happy Sewing!  


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