Steps involved in making a Waistcoat Jacket

A) Required Items: 1) Sewing machine, with cotton line (different colours grey and black used here). 2) Sewing pattern. 3) Jacket material (pure cotton, silk cotton, wool cotton) for front and back of jacket. 4) Inner lining can be satin material. Think of complementary colours for lining and front of jacket as well. 5) Interfacing material for front side of jacket. Choose approporiate colour. 6) Buttons. 7) Scissors, needles, pins, unpicker, marking pen, rotary cutter, cutting board, marking roller, thimble, cotton wheels. 8) Material carbon copy transfer paper 9) Steam iron and ironing board 10) Measuring tape

B) Glossary:

1) Under stitch - used to sew the folds on seam lines to one side, this gives the seam a more defined shape. 2) Stay stitch used to create a temporary stitch line that is easily removable. 3) Back stitch this should be used at the start and end of any standard stitch. 4) Baste stitch -

C) Sequence:

Photo 1 Measure chest, choose correct size from pattern supplied and cut out pattern for back and front, including jacket front material (x2), jacket back material (x2), interfacing for front piece (x2) which is cut 1cm smaller, and the lining (x2).

Photo 2 Fold material for front of jacket piece and pin along the line of grain. If material is poorly cut, then approximate the line. Line up edges when pinning as the idea is to cut two pieces at the same time. Ensure that you are cutting the correct side of the material.

Line of material grain direction

Line up pattern piece to be parallel with edge of material

Photo 3 Material and pattern for jacket Front piece. Pin the cut-out pattern to the material, taking account of the out grain direction of the material in your positioning. Position pattern piece so that grain line is parallel with edge of the material (as pinned in Photo 2).

Photo 4 Material and pattern for jacket back piece. Pin pattern to material, fold double, as per Photo 2. Align pattern according to grain line as per Photo 3.

Photo 5 Use rotary cutter to cut out material along pattern edges. Position cutting board underneath before using rotary cutter.

Photo 6 Back (left side of photo) and front (right side of photo) pieces of material as cut-out. Use as cut-out pattern/rotary cutter to cut lining, interfacing and primary material all at the same time.

Photo 7 Fold lining material in half, line up hems (as per Photo 2) and position front/back pattern pieces so that grain line is parallel with material edge.

Photo 8 Use rotary cutter to cut out lining pieces.

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Photo 9 Jacket Front pieces (x2). Cut interfacing to a size 1cm smaller than front material. Use steam iron to attach interfacing to jacket Front material. Note that black coloured interfacing has only one glue side which can be used, so check that interfacing is on correct side before using steam iron. Steam iron to be applied carefully to interfacing material.

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Dart lines

Photo 10 Re-attach paper pattern to front/back material (by pinning). Use marking roller and carbon copy transfer paper to transfer dart lines (as shown) to material.

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Dart lines transferred to back of material

Photo 11 Install material carbon copy transfer paper between back sides of jacket front material.

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Photo 12 Mark out lines of welts onto Front jacket piece.

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Photo 13 Move material carbon copy transfer paper as required to correct position.

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Photo 14 Mark out darts with marking roller for jacket Back piece (with transfer paper installed).

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Photo 15 Insert material carbon copy transfer paper in-between lining and transfer dart lines to back of lining.

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Start (apply backstitch)

End (leave loose and tie by hand)

Photo 16 Fold material along line midway in-between the two dart lines and pin. Insert perpendicular pin at end of the two dart lines.

Photo 17 Use straight stitch with Tension = 4, Stitch length = 2.5, Stitch width = 0 to stitch from start till finish of the dart line. At the start, apply backstitch, at the end, bring stitching as close as possible to the edge and leave loose for tying off by hand (see Photo 16).

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Photo 18 Completed dart line.

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Photo 19 Repeat for all 8 pieces of material.

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Photo 20 Use steam iron to fold inside pleat out, towards centre back position.

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Photo 21 Pin the two straight sides of the lining and the jacket Back material.

Photo 22 Use straight stitch backstitching for lining and sew along line which is 1.5cm from material edge to join the two pieces. Use similar sewing machine requirements as per Photo 17. 22

Photo 23 Use same stitching as per Photo 22 for jacket Back pieces.

Photo 24 Pin the shoulder seams of the Jacket back to the Jacket front. Important to pin the correct sides to each other.

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Photo 25 Use straight stitching to sew back jacket piece to front jacket piece.

Photo 26 Use same stitching as per Photo 22 for jacket Back pieces. 24

Photo 27 Use same stitching as per Photo 22 for jacket Back pieces.

Photo 28 Use iron to fold all seams open.

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Fold welt along this line and pin the two sides together

Photo 29 Cut out 2x welt pieces and fold back.

Photo 30 Pin both welts.

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Photo 31 Sew closure lines on both short edges of welt.

Photo 32 Re-pin welts and use iron to go over permanent fold lines. 27

Pin points

Welt line

Photo 33 Turn over jacket to the inside where welt positions are marked out.

Photo 34 Use pins and pin through jacket to opposite side at welt line. 28

Photo 35 Pin welt to jacket front.

Photo 36 Pin both welts to jacket front. Separate the lining from the jacket material.

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Photo 37 Sew welts onto the jacket, using a single stitch, 5mm from the welt line. Use backstitching on ends.

Photo 38 Use iron to press welt onto jacket front. 30

Photo 39 Positioning of the two welts.

Cut-outs for arms

Photo 40 Pin entire length of jacket lining to jacket front, except at arm cut-outs. 31

Photo 41 Stitch entire length of jacket using straight stitch, 1.5cm from material edge. Leave out the arm cut-outs.

Photo 42 Layout jacket in front of you (inside out), remove all pins, ready for next step.

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Triangular cut-outs, spaced at approx 3cm c/c

Photo 43 Cut out triangle shapes along arm edges on both sides of jacket as shown.

Triangular cut-outs along neck line, spaced at approx 3cm c/c

Photo 44 Cut out triangular shapes along neck line from start of curve to end of curve. 33

Photo 45 Turn jacket inside out by putting hand inside open end and drawing material through.

Photo 46 Draw material through until jacket has been completely turned inside out. 34

Photo 47 Change cotton material to grey colour, setup material along seam lines and do Understitching to all seams and inside folds. Ensure that all understitched lines are on the inside of the jacket and that the stitching goes through to the inside fold. Ensure that the inside fold is towards the inside of the jacket. Existing seam line

Outside jacket piece

Understitch line

Inside lining

Photo 48 Position of all understitched lines should be on the inside of the jacket and should be as close as possible to the existing seamline. 35

Understitch lines

Photo 49 There will be some parts of the jacket that you simply cannot get to, but you should be able to put in understitch lines to at least 80% of the seam lines.

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