Am experiencing end stages of project fatigue with #TheLinenRidingJacket and can't be bothered to start sewing the bodice lining closed because it's so annoying to hold what with all the sleeve seam allowance having to be shoved onto one side while sewing it on by hand...

I suppose I do have the over six metres of hem tape to put on #TheLinenWalkingSkirt, still, so I guess I could do just a day of chill mindless straight stitch and hem stitch

I got home and immediately put some tulle in the sleeves to bulk them up. Shit works!

You just take a random length of it, fold it in half, sew the ends closed with a bit of a curve, turn inside out to not have the sharp edges poking out, then gather. Slip it between the sleeve and sleeve lining, baste in place... And there is suddenly *even more sleeve* for next to no work or cost!

#TheLinenRidingJacket #sewing

I set the sleeves yesterday but the little clip I saved of it was kind of terrible, so here they are in daylight. 😄​ Large sleeves are large! They're not as big as they could be but definitely larger than what is now normal. Oh 1890s, you silly fashion era.

They're quite heavy so I was worried about the weight of them pulling the back, but apparently it's mostly fine.

#TheLinenRidingJacket #Sewing #HistoryBounding

The sleeves are tentatively on!
They're only basted in for now and I will ponder them and see if some divine inspiration makes me see how to still improve on them, but there they are.

#TheLinenRidingJacket looks even more like a jacket! Ideally I'd finish the hem sometime soon, but I also haven't decided yet if I want to make and add shoulder padding, sleeve head padding or perhaps tulle inside the sleeve. Perhaps later!

#sewing #HistoryBounding #HistoricalFashion

The Sleevening begins.
Just basted on, first go, it fits nice enough 75% of the way, which is not bad.

I also attached the other lapel facing and then the lining around the collar and neck hole, ladder stitching it. Here pictured before pulling the thread to make the seam closed.
The finished lapels are not perfect but are quite nice! And enormous. 😄​ Having the lining on makes the sleeve fitting feel so much nicer.

#sewing #TheLinenRidingJacket

Finished attaching one lapel to #TheLinenRidingJacket, marginally wonky, and of course it's the one that will go on top! It soothes my brain wrinkles that the buttonholes would have made it warp, anyway. 😂​

I'm using the decidedly 18th century method of finishing edges: iron both sides, but the lower part 2-3 millimetres narrower, so that you can fell it down from the reverse. The very edge only has two layers of fabric, not four, which makes it much flatter.

I also attached the hooks to the side that will button under, before closing the front edge. One of the things about hand #sewing is that you can do extremely fiddly things like this very prettily.

Today I have taught myself how to mitre corners, both by machine and by hand. This is a good skill to have and surprisingly simple.

I also made the lining and basted that and the lapel facing on. This viscose lining fabric isn't as horrible as the polyester kind but I still vastly prefer linen or polished cotton. But I got it specifically for this, to try it. Conclusion: I still don't like it!

Pictured here my nice mitred corners from earlier today and a terrible photo of #TheLinenRidingJacket as it stands.

By the fucking stars, it's actually going to be a jacket??

Put on the collar on #TheLinenRidingJacket and spent a good long while coming up with creative ways to flatten the seam allowances: A combination of felling by hand and bias slivers of fusible interfacing. Some tailoring crimes may have been committed. But it worked out!

I'm going to attach the lapel facing entirely by hand, but later. It's barely pinned closed and I'm not wearing any of the under layers, and yet!

#sewing #tailoring #HistoryBounding

Having done a lot of slightly fiddly work, I have managed to achieve some pleasingly sharp corners to #TheLinenRidingJacket collar. Here as the first pic because I'm the proudest of it. I turned the short edges by hand using an 18th century construction method! 😄​

Also pictured the understitching, grading and clipping of the collar seam. A lot of little things that make the end result marginally better, plus the high tech solution to ironing open the collar seam right before. A rolled up, thread bound towel, doubled over. Shit works.

Earlier today I also attached the bones to 3 out of 4 boning locations. This cotton voile was very thin but very stiff and thus ideal in qualities if not colour. It will be covered by the lining, anyway.

#sewing #HistoricalMethods

Somehow it's over two hours later and I don't feel rested. But! Look at the patterns for #TheLinenRidingJacket

Starting with the front, the side seams are just a bit different and I let out the second dart. This is fine.
Then we get to the shoulder! Sure, I have scoliosis and like many people my right shoulder is much lower. This is fine, means Things for the sleeve setting but ehh.
Then we get to the irritating part! The narrowest point of my waist is higher on one side and the shape of my ribs is different. This is just plain annoying to accommodate for and different in every single fabric and on every garment.

#PatternDrafting #sewing

I have fitted #TheLinenRidingJacket and it took AN AGE 😂​

I was half way down the fitting process when I remembered that in addition to my scoliosis, my hip bones are super wonky and barely match? This would have been good data to remember *before* devising a jacket this exactly fitted to the hips!
But, good enough. The slight droop at the side back will get fixed when I lower the arm hole and affix the sleeve on that side, but I don't want the linen to unravel so I'm leaving it for now.

#sewing #tailoring #HistoricalSewing

After making fitting modifications for my scoliosis to #TheLinenRidingJacket, all day long... I would advise you that if you have scoliosis, it's *extremely* inconvenient to also have perfectionism. Would not recommend!

I feel like I'm pretty much ready to start setting the sleeves in order to relax a bit.
(This is a joke, for you non-sewing people. Setting the sleeves is usually the most fiddly and irritating part of any bodice and it's a sign of my utter despair that I'd rather try that, than continue this part.)

First try on of #TheLinenRidingJacket! Conclusion: it's way too big on top of my cardigan. And very very warm. I am going to fit it on top of a linen blend vest I made earlier, but will have to take a lot in, I think.

Here you can also see the quite shapely back seams and the most eagle eyed of you may just spot where I ran out of the fabric I used for flatlining and had to use a similar weight fabric. 😄​
You can also see how curved the front shoulder seam is. It's a bizarre shape, but suits me.

#sewing

Final padstitching for #TheLinenRidingJacket done. I finished both of the lapels as well.
Ideally I'd cover the outer edge of the canvas (after trimming it) with a thin tape, but don't actually have enough of it and the linen canvas is a lot softer than horsehair, so I'm fairly confident it will be fine.

As a side note, the stitches don't need to be that tightly spaced or even touch. In fact it would probably be better if they were more spaced! But it would have taken twice as long to tell my brain to space every stitch every time, so here we are. Fun zigzag patterns.

#sewing #tailoring

Today I have accomplished... almost an entire lapel. I've been taking breaks to rest my elbow, but it's still so much work!

Being self taught in tailoring I never quite know what's the best, but today I decided I'd padstitch the lapel like this. It seems to work! I didn't quite remember why it was very important to put the tape over the edge of the horsehair here, but then remembered it's so I can trim back the canvas and hide it without it unravelling. It will also make it easier to finish the lapel facing by hand? Who knows, it looks good and feels more sturdy.

#sewing #tailoring #TheLinenRidingJacket

Basted on the horsehair canvas to the fronts and was amused and gratified how much the fronts already want to retain their shape. 😄​ This is modern horsehair so doesn't actually contain horse at all but it works pretty much the same.
I'm slightly half-arsing the process because it's for me, but ideally you'd cover every single (later trimmed) edge of the canvas with linen tape, which I'm out of. Just going to do so very much catch stitching and hope for the best.

#sewing #tailoring #TheLinenRidingJacket

#TheLinenRidingJacket is meant to be a casual, bohemian garment (it's literally made from Bohemian/Czech linen, which amuses me) and am thus using some faster modern methods that don't take quite as much hand sewing as fully historical tailoring.

I've even ironed on some interfacing to the cuffs of the sleeves! I dislike how iron-on interfacing stops the movement of fabric, but it's fine if you iron it to the flatlining only. I clipped the sleeve seams in a staggered way, it prevents knobbly seams.
I've also been reminded of why I dislike modern lining fabric, viscose here, it's slippery as heck! Luckily I am used to basting everything

#sewing #tailoring

That moment pad stitching the collar to the canvas interlining when the flat pieces of fabric start to stand up on their own

(This is how you get the nice soft but sturdy turn and fall of collar in nicer tailored jackets, coats etc. and most historical suits. I'm doing historical and prefer the heaviness of linen canvas, though will be using light horsehair canvas for the rest of #TheLinenRidingJacket because I'm out of the plain linen!)

#sewing #tailoring