Finished baby jean jacket

And this is how the collar from my previous post looks attached to the jacket. The light is better on the jacket's left side, but you get the idea - no pointy collar points. The difference in size between under collar and upper collar isn't big - just enough that the upper collar fits over the under collar smoothly.

The topstitching tends to sink into the corduroy's nap and can look distorted in places, but it is actually pretty straight. I'm kind of anal about my topstitching. If I can see slightly wonky topstitching, it comes out. And I LOOK!

No snow today. Just a soggy back yard.

Snow Day!

We woke this morning to this in our back yard. Considering that we live very close to sea level this is impressive! All the kids' schools were closed so they promptly went out to play in the snow with the neighbours. I think they're watching a movie next door at the moment. I love our lovely neighbourhood!

So, since my plans to do a couple of errands in town followed by a visist to my parents came to a screeching halt, I figured I could SEW! I've been working on the jean jacket draft, but I'll leave that for another post, when I've made the next toile. Meantime today I worked on a corduroy jean jacket (from the same pattern as Nicholas' one) for my nephew. I thought I'd show how I do collars to ensure that they sit nicely.

In order to sit well, the upper collar needs to be slightly bigger than the under collar. To achieve this, when pinning the two together I make sure that the edge of the under collar just peeks out. You can see the upper collar is sort of wrinkling because it's a little bigger.

Then after clipping the corners, turning and topstitching, I sew along the neck edge. To ensure room for turn-of-cloth (ie, the upper collar sitting smoothly over the undercollar) I fold the collar to create the room it needs. This edge is then pinned.

When I sew it I fold it as well, which helps keep it even.

The finished collar looks like this. You can just make out that it appears to have a wrinkle along it's length. When sewn to the jacket it will fold over nicely and sit flat against the jacket rather than have points which stick up.

Easy! It's one of those techniques I had to learn the hard way, and it makes a big difference to the appearance of a finished garment.

Corduroy jean jacket for Nicholas

I actually made this jacket a couple (or four) weeks ago, and it sat on my desk waiting for the domes. I couldn't put them in because my dome setting thing-y was at my parent's place, having been used to attach domes to the boat cover I'm making for Dad's boat. I FINALLY remembered to get it when we went there for lunch last week. (Along with my sister. Between us we had six kids with us - kind of like how it was growing up, only this time my parents got to send all the kids home!)

Anyway, being the procrastinator that I am, I only got around to setting the domes today while the twins were napping. I don't think they'd have liked the hammering.

The jacket fabric is a nice thick textured corduroy with a heavy cotton lining. It'll be warm enough for most of our outings, since I wrap snug blankets over the twins in their buggy when it's really cold. The pattern is from the Burda Baby Boutique magazine from autumn/winter 1992. (Given that I had my first child in 1993 I think I must have got it either when I was first pregnant or as an old issue from somewhere!) I'm not sure exactly when this magazine stopped being published, but I think it was mid nineties.) It's design #320, and came in sizes 68-80-92. This one is a size 68 (Nicholas isn't very big). Over the years I've also graded it to a 62 and a 104, and it's been much commented upon when my boys have worn them. So, like my old Topkids magazines, I will likewise never get rid of my old Burda Baby Boutique magazines.

It's great to reduce the "to do" pile. So of course I immediately added another item to it - I cut a jersey for Isabella from the same fabric as Nicholas' one from yesterday. It's a totally different style, but I'm still mulling over how to girlify it and really distinguish it from his. I don't like them to look like they match. And there are two pairs of corduroy jeans on the pile too. Isabella's need one more line of topstitching around the hems and waist. (I ran out, but wanted to get one line of each done to see how it'd look.) Nicholas' are cut out, but I need to buy topstitching thread before I can start. I'm off to the Multiple Birth Club play group tomorrow, so I can whip into Anne's before I go. (HA! - who am I kidding - nobody with small twins just "whips into" anywhere!)