So far I have discussed my preparation and the first 4 days of the class, now to continue.

Next up were the sleeves, as I used Susan’s pattern I already had the 3 piece sleeve and Susan pins one of the toile sleeve to my jacket which got a nod of approval so I could cut out my sleeves in fabric, quilt the lining, and finished the sleeve placket.

I then basted the under am sleeve seam together for a final check by Susan.  This is where there was a huge difference between the calico and the final fabric as Susan took out 1cm to 2cm off the underarm seam.

Once this seam was machined, pressed open, trimmed and the lining seam fell stitched in place the sleeves are then pinned in place by Susan and this is where my fitting challenge arose!

Can you see how the fabric is collapsing on my left hand side where the fabric is sitting very nicely on the right hand side?

It appears I am rather hollow there and it was very obvious in the soft structure of this jacket.

Luckily I had taken some slim shoulder pads to class and Susan took one of them and reshaped it it to look like this,

which when pinned in place filled out the fabric very nicely.

Oh and disregard the extra fabric I have at my under arms, this is not pinned in, you just can’t do it so it is left up to me to fit the fabric in the armsyce that “is left” after Susan has pinned in the sleeve cap.

Now back to the hollow in my back, I have covered the shoulder pad that Susan had put together and here it is in the lining fabric,

and it will be hand sewn in place at the shoulder seam and this will let the edge of it sit beside the armsyce curve.

Once the sleeves are pinned in place, I then had to sew the sleeve in by hand, which feels quite insufficient but it is very solid and the drape of the sleeve is so much nicer.

The next challenge was to attach the sleeve lining to the bodice of the jacket without getting yourself into a mess.  This is where the wooden sleeve head padded block that I purchased from Bernina Chatswood came in very handy.

It is the last few hours of our course and a final try on

Yes, finding trim was proving to be elusive in Sydney so I sent a piece of fabric to my sister in Brisbane who took it to Sckafs Fabric and I was absolutely blown away by what they chose for my fabric

which consists of

So at this stage my jacket is looking like this

To finish the jacket I still have to handsew:

• all the jacket hems
• sew on the hooks & eyes
• sew the trim on, 3 layers so 6 rounds of sewing
• finish the lining around the edges of the jacket
• sew the chain to the back hem
• find the buttons and sew them on
• make the pockets and sew them in place

Further to my post here on the preparation, here is what happened over the next 4 days.

Again a few more changes were made to my jacket, only slight and this is where I was thankful that I had different coloured Japanese cotton basting thread as it made it much easier to see what the new markings were.

Next the 7 vertical seams are sewn by machine, pressed open, reduce the width of the seam allowances (not by much) of the main fabric.  I then placed my seams over my sleeve board so I could pin the lining in place and trim if necessary and fell stitch the lining seams together.

This is where the jacket is really starting to take shape and the weight of it and the amazing fit still brings a smile to my face.

There is still quite a bit more I want to document, the sleeves and a fitting challenge that I didn’t expect so I will be back next week with more.

See you soon.