Hello and welcome back, hope you’ve all had a great week and ready to progress even further with your Eden. As always there is the Instagram TV piece to aid you as well as the blog here
After such amazing progress from last week we are going to focus on finishing any tweaks or mop ups from last week. We are aiming to have the outer shell of the coat complete with storm flaps and pockets in situ. The ladies attending the workshop have pretty much got one pocket and flap to finish off and then we will concentrate on constructing the hood ( which is always a fun element) and the lining.
So first off, referring back to week two on adding your storm flaps and pockets. Once these are all complete we can now attach the coat fronts to the front raglan arm shaping, same as you did for the back. We then need to undercut the sleeves! – sounds a bit scary but i promise you its so not. Layering by cutting/ grading down the seam allowances to reduce the bulk in the seam areas.
The general rule is to leave the seam that is closest to the outer body of the coat and layer the inner layers.
We then have two really easy seams to sew; pin the inside sleeve and sides together then stitch. Voila an outer shell!
Feeling pleased? You certainly should be, take a moment to do a little happy dance, stroke your coat and admire…
Okay that’s enough ? on to the fun bit, the hood. You will need your central hood section and main outer hood sections, match each side sections either side of the central section. NB make sure you are aware and note the front (wider) and nape (narrower)! believe me …it is possible to get this upside down !
Stitch both hood side panels to the central section, trim the seam allowances using the notch/pinking shear method-Here you have the option of top stitching the central hood section if you fancy. :Tip remember that top stitch looks much nicer if lengthen to a 3 or 3.5 mm stitch length. mm
Hood turned right side through … go on I know you dying to put it on !
I did ! ???????
Next up is the hood lining- here you will notice there is just the side sections an no central – this is correct as the front facing will make up the shortfall of depth
Go ahead and sew these two pieces together RST (right sides together),
The hood facing ( that should have interfacing fused to it )will then be attached to the lining.
Match the notches on straight edge of the facing to the rim of the hood-lining then stitch together.
We’re going off piste a bit here – the pattern doesn’t say but I like to under stitch the facing. Press the seams towards the hood lining and stitch through all three layers approx 3 mm away from the seam line Tip: nudge your stitch length up a little I used a 2.6
Doesn’t that look pretty and practical too – it will stabilise your facings.
The final assembly part – Insert the outer hood into the hood lining so that right sides are together; match the outer raw edges matching the notches as always. Tip: mark the inside of what will be the left side when wearing right side out
This is because you need to stitch from the notch ( circled in blue) pivot at each corner ..all the way around the edge and finish on the other side at the bottom ( yellow dashed line)
Using a good sharp pair of scissors, clip to the blue circled notch. trim the corners and then layer the seam edges back to approx 1/4 ” 6mm turn through to the right side out.
Turn right-side out
Here you can see that when turned through the left side has the chin strap shaped that will sit behind the right-hand side when done up
Again we’re going off piste ( what rebels we are) ?
This time its Under-stitching around the edge – Tip: remember seams allowance presses towards the lining and stitch through the facing and seams; now you wont be able to get all the way round so work from as far as you can from each shaped corners.
Baste together the open bottom edge – you have a gorgeous hood – go on try it on again !
well done for yet more great progress – if you wish we will be putting the lining together through the raglan shaping just as we did on the main outer coat – stitch together one sleeve and side seam
. The other side needs a good 8 ” gap leaving open through the middle of the sleeve – this will be turning through the coat right at the end.
There we go all done for this week. I really hope you have a great week.
what ever your up to happy sewing
Amanda xx