About Time for a Runabout Update

Even though it’s been two weeks since I finished the muslin of my Runabout Jacket and I haven’t posted about it, I have been working on it.  The weekend after I finished up my muslin was so busy that I didn’t get a chance to take it apart until sewing class, and I spent most of the class plucking out the basting stitches.  I had to be very careful not to remove the stitch guide lines that marked where the pieces get sewn together.  It helped a lot that I used two different colored threads: black for the guide lines and blue to sew the pieces together. 

Since then I’ve been cutting out the fabric for my finished jacket.  I’m using Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern Fresh Poppies Fuchsia as the outside fabric and Amy Butler’s Solid Pink for the lining.  To make the jacket easier to put on and take off, I’m going to cut the sleeve lining in, you guessed it, lining fabric.  I found an exact match to the other pink lining fabric at Joann.  Can you believe my luck?

Image from Fabric.com

Image from Fabric.com

Of course, my good luck didn’t carry me through this entire task and I ran into a couple of snags.  It’s a good thing that (most of the time) I can laugh about it and move on.  First, I ran out of fabric when I was cutting out the outer fabric.  I had one sleeve left to cut out, and the remaining fabric just wasn’t long enough.  My instructor asked if I had laid everything out before I started cutting, and of course I didn’t.  Another lesson learned!  Because I used my muslin pieces to cut out the fashion fabric, I had to place them face up while the fashion fabric was face up.  It's a little different than usual, but once I got over the weirdness the cutting went smoothly.

Second, in a moment of frugality/insanity, I only picked up ½ yard of lining fabric for the sleeves instead of a full yard, thinking that I wouldn’t need that big of a piece since it is 58” wide.  Note to self: check how the pattern piece should be laid out on the fabric before you go to the store.  My sleeve needed to be lined up parallel to the straight of grain and I only had enough fabric to line it up perpendicularly.  I briefly considered just using what I had since the fabric didn’t have much give, but then decided that since I’m spending all of this time to make the jacket then I shouldn’t cut corners.  There is no use being lazy after spending months making a garment!  I made a trip to Joann on Saturday and I learned another valuable lesson.

Because I’m using cotton, I was afraid that my jacket wouldn’t hang quite right due to the lightness of the fabric and that after 5 minutes of wearing it I would be a wrinkled mess.  To remedy these issues, my instructor suggested that I apply interfacing to the wrong side of the outer fabric.  It will add a nice stability to the cotton and make it less apt to wrinkle easily.  My instructor hates Pellon interfacing and instead uses Palmer Pletsch PerfectFuse interfacing.  I’m going to be honest: I have trouble liking anything Palmer Pletsch because of the crazy 80s styling on all of their products, especially their logo.  Is this shallow of me?  Of course.  But in a world of Lisette, Colette, and Sewaholic patterns, can you blame me?

Regardless of my own issues, I used the PerfectFuse interfacing and I have to say that my instructor has a point.  I used PerfectFuse Light for my cotton and it provides just the right amount of structure without being rigid.  It was really nice to work with too.  

With all of my outer and lining fabric pieces cut out, I’m all ready to start assembling the jacket for real.  Look at all of fabric pieces.  I made sure to pin the muslin pattern piece to each fashion fabric and lining piece so I can keep track of what everything is.

 I’m not sure how to go about transferring the markings onto my fabric, so I’m going to stop here until sewing class next Wednesday (we’re off this week while our instructor is away for business).  With all of this free sewing time, it looks like I’ll finally get a chance to work on my Crepe dress.  Hurrah!