Sewing Emma's Reversible Jacket Part 2

At the Cutting Table

To make things easy I set the sleeves before sewing the side seams.

It is my practice to pin up to the gathers on both sides and then pull the gathering threads,

even the gathers and pin.I do all four sleeves.

At the machine

Sew in the sleeves and check them then sew the side seams and sleeve seams all in one seam.

At the Iron

Press the side  / sleeve seams open.

At the Cutting Table

Trim the arm scye seams.

Pin on the collar and skirts.

Machine

Sew on the collar and skirts.

Cutting Table

Trim the new seams.

With the jacket and lining inside out, roll up the sleeves and pin them.

Then  pin the two pieces right sides together aligning all the edges and encasing the collar and skirts.

Machine

Sew around the edges leaving an opening at the back neck of about 6".

Iron

Trim the edges and the corners, unroll the sleeves and turn right side out through the neck opening.

Press all the edges including the neck opening.

It's time for a break, besides I have to to find some buttons for this wee jacket.

Sewing Emma's reversible jacket part 1

Now the question is do I want  to have complete sewing tutorials  for patterns you don't have?

No, this time I will share how I organize my work into chunks to save time.

The  pattern companies  have you doing things one at a time, back and forth..it takes forever!

I like to prepare and as much as possible work on the whole garment at once.

Things do still need to go in an order specific to the pattern you're working with so read the instructions to see if anything is unusual.  

At the Cutting area

I cut out,  mark and align every thing for the first trip to the sewing machine.

At the machine

I sew every thing possible on both the outer and inner jacket fabrics.

The shoulder seams.

The collar

The skirt

Change to basting stitches and sew two rows of gathering stitches on all the sleeve caps.

Change back to regular stitch length.

At the cutting table

Clip and trim the jacket collar and skirt pieces.

Turn them right side out.

At the iron

Press the jacket shoulder seams open. 

Press the collar and skirt pieces nice and flat, working out any kinks in the edge.

Hopefully this is making sense, if not let me know in the comments.

I think it's time for lunch. Part 2 will come along some time next week.

Draft, design of Emma's jacket

First I drafted a girls jacket block, the bodice and sleeve.

I started on paper (I use that old fashioned paper tablecloth that comes in rolls)

Then I cut them out and pasted them to a piece of bristol board.

All the basic blocks I do will be used again and again to design off of.

I have 5/8" seam allowances already added.

This is the design I've come up with.

A lined girls jacket with turned up sleeve cuffs, a little skirt that is longer in the back. and a rounded collar.

I hope it looks cute when I get to sewing it up.

Here's the final pattern. I used the sleeve and back as is and added an overlap to the front bodice.

The collar and skirt part were drafted just for this coat.

While I drafted, the fabrics were being washed and dried. 

Oh my! This took the better part of the day

Looks like everything is ready to go!

What do you think of the design? 

Inspiration for Emma's spring wardrobe

It's a short post today.

 I have been looking for that aha moment,

that will get me going on my first pattern and sewing project to share.

After pondering and looking around  I've  decided.

I'll create a whole mix and match spring wardrobe for Emma..

I  love blue and white together.

 The combination reminds me of the beach.

It's  so fresh and airy.

I think Emma will like it.

After a successful fabric hunt I'm one step closer to starting.

The top two fabrics are quilting cottons, next down is a light weight cotton (for really hot days).

Then comes a nice striped twill. Great for a jacket, a jumper or cute pants.

All are 100% cotton.Do you think natural fibers are great?  I sure do. 

I like them crisply pressed or softly wrinkled.

They will be comfortable and look fabulous either way.

Maybe I'll start drafting the first piece tomorrow.

Spring Chicken Broth

I went outside this morning looking for spring

all I found was a whole lot of snow and this reminder of last summer.

Not much to entice me to stay outside so I think I'll go in and cook.

My Chicken Broth Method

I often buy chicken breasts with backs attached or whole wings on sale, so I  stock up.

When I get home I cut off the backs and or the wing tips and freeze them in a bunch for making broth.

1. Thaw and thoroughly wash the parts.

2. Place in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a full boil for 5 minutes.

3. While it's cooking rough cut  some celery, a big carrot and an onion.

 If you have them add some black and green peppercorns, a few bay leaves to the mix. No salt!

4. After the chicken bits have boiled  pour it all into a colander (yes down the sink) and rinse with cold water a few times.

Wash the pot. This step gets rid of most of the yicky bits and some of the fat.

5. Put the washed again chicken and all the veg etc. into the clean pot and cover with cold water.

Bring it to a boil, cover and reduce the heat to barely a simmer. Do not stir it. Check it once in a while to make sure everything is still under water. Add a small amount of water if needed.

Let simmer for at least 1 1/2 to even as long as 3 or 4 hours.

Here it is after 2 hours of simmering.

6. Strain it through a colander into a bowl by gently pouring. Still no stirring you don't want to shake up any nasty bits.If you really want to you can pick off the meat and feed it to the cat, taste it if you like it has almost no flavor. Otherwise discard  the nasty bits.

Great color! Smells yummy too.

I pour it into a pitcher and put it in the fridge, Then it is easy to lift the solid fat off the surface.

Tomorrow I'll freeze in small 1/2 cup containers to use in pan sauces or gravies. Or make soup!

If needed I add the salt when I use it.