A Finish!
I’ve been working on a smock type garment that I thought would be useful when I’m teaching. I’ve seen several other teachers use pop-over-your-clothing type of smocks to teach in. Since I regularly misplace my phone, pencil, Square, etc. it seemed like a good idea.
I’m not totally happy with it… yet. It may just need a few washes or different styling:
Okay, that is an incredibly unflattering photo, but beyond that, I am disappointed at how it kicks out at the hem. I’m going to walk through the construction and pattern and you’ll see why that happened. I really need to work on figuring out how to take better selfies.
I have quite a stash of high quality garment fabric. I need to use it! I started out with this gorgeous deep deep indigo Japanese waffle weave fabric from who-knows-where bought who-knows-when. It is a quality overkill for a smock, but why not use the good stuff? The fabric does drape a bit, but it’s pretty substantial.
I opted to face it with another fabric, just for fun. This is the inside of the garment. I looooove a beautiful garment interior.
This photo shows how the bottom and sides kick out. This is a combination of facings and fabric with a bit of heft.
Here you get a good idea of how much it kicks out.
Oh I had fun with the topstitching: 12 wt Aurifil cotton, triple stitched.
I love the look of the topstitching. I added the extra little compartment on the pocket for my ever-elusive pencil. See how huuuuge those pockets are? That is by design; it can hold a tablet!
That topstitching came at a cost. The French seams called for in the pattern finish the inside beautifully, but look at that – twelve layers of fabric (there’s some interfacing in there also) are almost 3/8″ thick.
On this piece, I did a lot of unpicking. Unpicking a triple stitch of 12 wt thread is no small task.
It took a village to make this garment. Even though it was a very simple garment, it required lots and lots of tools and notions to get the right finish. I used all THREE of those jumper thingys to go over those thick seams. At times one worked better than the other. That Wacker tool was a MUST. I whacked each one of those seams 20 times at those big intersections to get them manageable. I don’t like the shine that can come from pressing from the top so I used the silk organza on the left as a pressing cloth.
At one point, I sewed through the Jeanamajig! The triple stitch has a back stitch and I forgot where I was in the process and bam, punched a hole in my Jeanamjig!
The chopstick pushed out those corners and the pressing ham came in handy to steam the curves. I used 4 different feet; again, some worked better than others at times. The LAURASTAR ironing system is huuuuge for garment making. The “active board” can suck the fabric to the board to keep it in place while ironing, or it can puff it up when giving the garment a good pressing. I am so happy to have one.
The pattern called for finishing the edges of the facing by sewing the edge before assembly. I knew that didn’t sound right to be doing a lot of work with an unprotected bias edge! Good thing I knew to check. See how off the facing is from the original shape? Steaming the heck out of it with the LAURASTAR make quick work of putting it back into shape.
When I pull out these kind of tools, I ponder newer sewers who just don’t know of these things. There generally is no real education now about proper sewing, pressing and fitting techniques. It would have been impossible to sew over those seams on a $150 machine with a junky foot. It would have been a frustrating experience.
The pattern was from Sew Liberated, their Studio Tunic. It was well written and designed. I would not treat my facings that way again; I would have done another finishing method.
Sew, what went wrong? It was the combo of the heft of the fabric, the facings and the volume of the tunic on my body. Also, for a petite, those pockets need to be scaled back considerably. I get it though, one of the ideas of the pattern WAS to have pockets so big that you could put a tablet in them.
This same pattern in a looser weave of fabric would be entirely different. I would not use quilting cotton. This would be lovely in a Liberty of London Tana Lawn Cotton. I’m a little rusty on my garment sewing. I should have considered another fabric and scaled down those pockets. I would definitely not do my facings the way the pattern called for. That is not a slam on the pattern; it’s a difference in opinion.
Too bad this is a bust. That fabric is divine. The topstitching is awesome and quite a challenge. The function of the pockets would be cool. This much volume is waaaaay too much for me. I am not a fan of yardage on bodies.
They are not all wins. I’ll be linking up:
Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday
You look so cute in your smock! Love the hot pink top stitching! Okay, now looking critically at the things that bug you about this make… First, hard to tell in the selfie photo, but is it possible that the hem is not parallel to the floor, smock is hanging shorter in front than in back? That could be corrected by having a helper mark a hemline the same distance up from the floor all the way around and rehemming. But you probably already know that and have checked that. Here’s a different idea that I have for you: What about counteracting that flaring by weighting your hem like we’d do if it was a drapery panel instead of a dress? You might be able to thread a chain weight into the hem without taking it all apart, or at least baste a chain weight along the hem to assess whether that might be a viable solution. Alternatively, you could find some funky decorative beads with some weight to them and do a decorative beaded edge along the hem. Of course you’d need to factor these things in when deciding how to launder or dry clean the finished item. Another option, one I saw in RTW at Anthropologie a couple years ago — instead of trying to eliminate the flare from the hem of your dress, you could go in the opposite direction and stiffen the hemline with a horsehair braid on the inside to make it maintain an intentional bell shape when you’re wearing it instead of just sticking out in certain places. Your finishing is exquisite and you clearly put a lot of work into this garment. I hope you can come up with a solution that makes you love wearing it!
I’m just weary of it at this point. I am unsure as to what to do. The hem isn’t really uneven, I just didn’t take the time to square it in my shoulders since that’s the only point of contact with this garment. You have great ideas! I may pursue one of those ideas if i make another run at it.
Jenny, I bet it you removed the facing from the hem, and just folded up the garment fabric for the hem, the garment would hang more to your liking. I hope you do wear this—it seems like it would be very functional.
Maybe! At this point it is in time out. If it comes out I may try that. Good idea.
I laughed out loud when I read the bit about unpicking the Aurifil. You are the QUEEN of unpicking.
Lol, yes, I am! Not a distinction I sought!
Don’t give up on it. You have done a fantastic job with your sewing and top stitching. The fabric is beautiful. If you wear it, I know you will get compliments. Set it aside for awhile, then return with fresh ideas. It is a great fantastic smock. Do not give it away. Sell it if you must.
Thank you for the encouragement Linda! It’s in time out now, so I will revisit it at some point.