New Neighborhood Group - Pattern Works

 Jacket 6 – Lining

Now it is time to tackle the facing, lining and creating the inside pocket, and collar.  The inside pocket is a welt pocket usually on the right-hand front.  When using a full lining, the front lining is joined to the front/lapel facing.  After joining the facing and lining, I marked and then thread traced the pocket placement.  The thread tracing adds a step but simplifies the creation of the pocket opening.  With the placement lines thread traced on both the facing/lining and on the pocket piece, it was very easy to line up the pocket.  Once I was satisfied with the placement, I basted the stitching lines.  Basting may seem unnecessary, but it meant I stitched a nice even box for the welt.  At this point, I took a deep breath and paused for a couple of days while contemplating slashing the pocket open.  Up to this point, mistakes were reversible – just a little ripping out of stitches.  An error here meant the front would need to be recut. 

After a day or so (and 10 inches of snow) I was sure I had the pocket correctly placed and stitched.  Scissors in hand, I slashed the pocket open.  It folded to the wrong side nicely and the welt folds lined up at the middle of the opening.  Some basting, then stitching and a lot of steam, and I have a completed pocket (Picture 6-1).

I am now ready to assemble the lining:  sew the back seam and press the pleat; sew the side seams;  insert the sleeves.  Most instructions for lining a jacket tell you to attach the facings; then sew the back and side seams; and finally, to hand stitch the sleeves into the armhole.  I don’t trust the strength of my hand sewing.  I set the lining sleeves as I did the outer sleeves by machine.  This means that the steps to finishing the front and collar are in a different order than in my book or in the pattern instructions.

For the upper collar, the seam allowances are pressed under (lots and lots of steam) to get nice points.  The upper collar is then sewn to the jacket, right side of collar to wrong side of the jacket neckline.  I basted again and the collar fit perfectly between the end points for the lapel. (Picture 6-2) I also marked the shoulder points (not something I usually do) and the collar matched up.  Stitched the collar to the jacket and now it is truth time.  Will the lining fit the jacket?  I have tried to be very careful and keep my seam allowances accurate because small deviation in the lining or the jacket seam allowances can mean seams don’t line up and the lining can be too big (easier to fix) or too small (not so easy to fix). 

The front facing is stitched to the lapel and around to the lower hem; seams are graded; pressed flat and then the whole is turned. It’s time for lots of steam.  The front facing is pressed so the seam at the lapel rolls under to the outer side of the jacket because the facing shows here.  Below the lapel the front facing seam is press to the inside so it doesn’t show.  After lots and lots of steam to the seam, the roll line is pressed again.  .  Now the moment of truth, will the lining fit?  It all fits!!  The lining and facing shoulder seam just roll over and fit across the neck and shoulders.  These will be slip stitched later.  The lapel points are sharp (that’s what seam trimming will do for you) and the round corner at the lower edge is round without lumps.  I rarely, like never, snip wedges out of seams.  I will clip them but that still leaves the bulk.  Sniping out wedges around the curve makes all the difference.  I also graded the collar seam by trimming the collar seam allowance, giving me a smaller seam allowance on top and a larger jacket neck edge seam allowance on the bottom.  This will become a problem at the next step.

In the next post, I will finish the jacket collar, slip stitch the remaining neck seam, complete the hems, buttonholes, and attach the buttons.  And I will have a jacket.

*This is the 6th post in a series by Sandy Herman about sewing a man's tailored jacket.