The Jacket Part One - Interfacing and Underlining

The jacket is made from a very fine silk dupion. Like the dress, the silk is not of great quality and so is quite fragile. I decided to underline the whole thing in silk organza (which incidentally cost more than the dupion!). Normally I avoid this kind of process because, let’s be honest, I’m really lazy and underlining can be fraught with difficulties such as buckling, and pulling. Anyway, there was no option here so it had to be done.

I cut each jacket piece from silk organza and basted the layers together by machine (I’m on a schedule so no time for hand basting). On the larger pieces I left one edge un-basted to allow for any discrepancies to sort themselves out.

On the pieces with interfacing I basted a lightweight shapewell to the organza along the seamline and cut away the seam allowances before applying the organza to the fabric. I generally use fusible interfacings where possible as I like the look better but, again, there was no option but to use sew-in on this project. In addition to the interfacing pieces given in the pattern, I also cut the upper collar and a brace for the back which I applied after I sewed the centre back seam.

For the under collar I sewed the centre seam in the underlined fabric then overlapped the interfacing seam, trimming out the seam allowance and sewed it flat (I’m not sure that makes sense!). I hand basted the roll line then pad stitched by machine, up and down in the stand and across on the main section.

Next step is construction – the bit I like best!