A Tale of Two Stitches

Even though I’ve been researching for my Silhouette Project, I’ve been sewing my Wool Jacket. I have new calluses on my fingers from all the hand stitching!

Now this is the first project where I’ve used catchstitiching, and it is so effective!  As you can see here, my side seam stands up even after pressing thanks to the firm underlining/interlining.

All those naughty seam allowances were tamed by the stitching.  I am very pleased to be adding this stitch to my toolkit. (I learned this stitch from the Couture Dress class on Craftsy, but I’m sure there are plenty of others tutorials out there. Vogue’s Sewing Handbook also has it.)

Then I turned to the lapels. Note: Whenever Burda’s directions say:

Build a little extra fullness into x

they are asking you to padstitch. In this jacket’s instructions, and apparently in all tailored notched collars as far as my research uncovered, they ask you to build a little extra fullness into the corners of the lapel facing and the top collar.

Again, this is my first time doing this stitch. This is a gigantic failure that even ironing couldn’t save. I followed a tutorial online that said rows should be 1/2″ apart, which turned out way too big. I also had trouble maintaining even tension, so some areas ridge sharply while others lay flat. The tutorial also mentioned that “some stitches” might show on the outside, but not to worry because it wouldn’t be a big deal. LIARS! Every stitch showed and really stood out because the rows were so wide. I also tried ‘the twill tape on the roll line” step, using grograin ribbon instead, but that turned out too wide.

Needless to say, I put this thing away and worked on a muslin for my party dress (coming soon). I also searched for a better padstitching tutorial. At the moment this entire mess has been undone, and I plan to start over soon. I really hope I finish this before the end of winter. It has taken more time than I anticipated.