Narrow hem work: I am not sponsored by WAWAK - cool hem marking toy division

I am back on my usual jobs and hobbies. Jobbies?

While looking for matching thread colors, I stumbled on 

I could probably make something like this from the box of scraps I keep in the cave. I have kluged similar, but this makes me deeply happy in a 'put your foot there - boom! process sewing measuring weird job site way.

 https://www.wawak.com/cutting-measuring/marking-chalk-pens/marking-tools/plastic-pants-marker-15/#sku=ta1009

But let's look at the project that brought me to this page

Pal is a bridesmaid in September. Dress needs hemming. Needs to hang out to be hemmed.

Side note: this is a dress that will get worn twice at most. The poly satin isn't nasty, it's cut on grain, but this dress at this length and color isn't going to hang long enough to deform that hem. So letting it hang out is relative overkill. But the dress form can't be adjusted taller, so it needs to be made taller. And let the shirt drape.

Nothing else worked.

After letting it hang for a day, a thing started happening.

One side of the center back skirt seam started puckering (helpful finger pointing it out so you cannot unsee it)(she doesn't read this blog)(it's going to be fine). NO, I am not undoing it as I know I would be unleashing the hounds of off grain hell and you can't put that back. It's not heavy enough satin.

Took that right off the mannequin. 

It was determined that the hem was consistent, so I went with the 'stitch the hem edge' plan. Marked the stitching line from the needle on the arm with blue tape and did my level best to be consistent.

I did double check to see if the curve was consistent with the floor, used the laser* picture framing level and it was a pleasing shape so I moved forward.

Folded almost a quarter inch from the stitching.

Sewed it and trimmed right up to it.

And folded it again on the stitching line.

And it's okay. I did have some tricky hand sewing work getting the lining to match up on the open seam at the side to the other side, and I left the hem open enough to fool around with it to make it hang straight. Putting a weight in it would be overkill.

Paynter Jacket of Theseus

Thanks to WandaVision, many more people have an idea what the Ship of Theseus is, and it's the best way I have of describing my version of the Paynter Jacket. How many changes can I make and still call it a Paynter?

I bought the pattern out of curiosity, I have been following the company and it's production/marketing strategy. 

https://erniekdesigns.blogspot.com/2024/09/good-morning-paynter-field-jacket-link.html

I bought the pattern in September of last year. At the same time, I need a work jacket. that is something to hold my radio and my phone and some pens and a b7 notepad....and look like I belong where I am.

I looked at a lot of jackets and Chanel jackets and chef coats and the shackets that the caterers wear at the hall where I work..... and then looked at the Paynter that I was toiling to write a totally different piece about the Paynter Company and...Reader, I Made One.

This took forever, but that is thanks to a lot of days coming home from work and thinking "I don't need a jacket for a job I'm not going to have". I have a lot of "Don't Get Comfortable" vibes in my office, so my motivation to finish, much less begin, has been very very low.

I am always sewing. I have hemmed a billion t-shirts.

And I made my sister a new vest from a pattern I drafted awhile ago.

The other part has been what we used to call frankenpatterning. You start with one pattern and a set of pieces and after while a couple other patterns have grafted themselves onto the project to the point where can you really call it a Paynter jacket?  (thus the title of this post) To be fair, I did not alter the basic fit that much, except for the usual making it four inches shorter. And I was pleased with the fit on me. I've made a lot of other work jackets that really did not fit me the way they should, so if this venture does nothing, it reminds me to begin again if the process is getting further into the weeds by overfitting.

And I really changed up the program after the toile.

I did play with the bellows pocket. I played with the paper model (aka the pattern piece) and sewed it up and played with that as well.  I worked on the Kelly anorak and that bellows pocket has a little offset stitching sauce that makes it easier to stitch. 

I have complicated thoughts about how to improve this pocket and its attachment to the jacket, but I also really don't like bellows pockets on me (I am wide enough) and I guess I don't love a teaching opportunity enough now. Some other time.

Even so, goofing around with that took a month or so. This post is going to run on, so you might want to take a break too. Make a little batch of cilantro sauce.

My next thought was to try out an on-seam pocket in the front. I created a midline seam, and inserted a side-entry pocket bag into it. 

Not  because I wanted the seam (it would be useful for FBA and SBA work, but I'm just a barrel shape now) as I wanted the unintended interior pocket this flap would create.

Chalk marked the seam line for stitching

You can see the lining side. I added binding to the top seam of the pocket bag. The far side of the bag will be caught in the stitching of the front facing, the bottom in the hem facing. It makes in interior pocket that will hold a radio or a phone in the other one.

Unfolded, this is the left interior.

I think it was the Helly Hansen rainslicker I discovered this on. I look for them in outerwear all the time. The Bathing Clown jacket from Sleepy Peach notes this as  a feature.

I use my Uniqlo down cardigan a lot at work, sticking that radio in the interior 'pocket' and running the earpiece up through the neck. As much as I love those Uniqlo pieces for their utilitarian navy and black looks, they are lightweight pieces, made well enough, but they are not work wear.

A toile was made. Sewed it, marked adjustments. Added a back yoke to get a little reinforcement, a place for some lining to make putting it on a little slippier, and a tad more fabric in the back to cover my big beautiful butt.

Yes, I burrrito'd the yoke. It works; it's worth the effort. It is a very lot of fabric to roll up in a yoke, and if this were made of heavier fabric, it would not work. I'd still add a yoke shaped lining piece.

Progress. More time passes.

After I attached one part of the jacket with the 'wrong' side out, I remembered to put the pin on the outside face. (shakes head. Every Dang Time)

two piece sleeve fits really well, 

Eh, we're going the right way

Pant legs getting really wonky below the knee though.

Adding homemade bias from lining bits to finish the armscye. it does make the thing easier to put on. I may add it to the Bathing Clown jacket; I still have more of the matching lining

Sewing black fabric in a dark room needs extra light.

It was a straightforward make, two piece sleeve fit well, markings are good. There are a lot of nice details I left off (waist tabs not necessary), interior patch pockets with stitching that is covered by largeThe front placket instructions are hard to follow as written. The short version: make a paper model first. You make the placket and the buttonholes, you sew the placket at the hem and then fold it up and stitch it over the cover placket. This makes a significant lump at the hem, which you fold over and stitch through again - a total of seven layers. Yes, I had to count that several times. The Paynter Company must use some impressive machines to construct these jackets if they use anything resembling chore coat duck. My workaround was using the selvage edge of the fabric on the interior placket edges so I would not have to fold them under. There are no good photos of very black fabric being sewn to other very black fabric.

The struggle for me was recalculating that placket piece with my very much shorter jacket. You finish it, sew it at the bottom and fold it up to stitch it to the underside of the front edge facing. I finally ignored the buttonhole markings, chose my own, and went for it. I did enjoy better results because of the disembodied placket to stitch them on. Also no useful photos.

Okay, you can see the selvedge use on the inside of the placket, but you can't see the buttonhole I redid about four hundred times. It's there.

I have worn the jacket to work and still have a job. They are not related activities, however.

And now I need to fix the pants pattern. So I am making a second Paynter.

Not the same black. This one has speckles.