RTW Tailoring Sew Along - Bound Buttonholes

Following my buttonhole nightmare with Vogue 8604 I decide to learn how to do bound buttonholes and use them for my jacket.  I followed Tasia from Sewaholic tutorial and was pleasantly surprised to find out how easy they were. Sherry and Gertie also have brilliant tutorials. In fact it is dead easy when you doing isolated bound buttonholes, but when you need to do five, perfectly lined up the story is completely different.
I thought I had marked the placement lines carefully:

But somehow along the line, I ended up with two different buttonholes, so wonky that the only way to cover would be to get huge buttons. I was frustrated and only managed a lousy photo on my phone to share with my twitter followers.
CarmencitaB came to my rescue (as she always does, thank you!) and shared this link (from a blog that I now follow), which shows more complex bound buttonhole marking techniques. I didn't follow it by the letter but took what I needed which was mark, mark, mark!! I can only hope all those markings will disappear easily. I also basted all buttonhole lips before I started poking holes, to make sure they all aligned.

And the results were much better!

I have attached the outer jacket shell (minus sleeves) and inserted the fake flap pockets. Sherry shared a tutorial for jet pockets and I was determined to try them. But I confess, poking more holes in this jacket made me nervous so I stuck with the fake ones!

The Interfacing Tale - RTW Tailoring Sew Along

I have certainly not forgotten this brilliant sew along and now that I can be sure to have a dress to wear for the wedding in a couple of weeks time, it's time to tackle my summer jacket. It's not a standard tailored look so not all posts by the brilliant Sherry will apply but I'm learning lots nonetheless and definitely bookmarking posts for the future.
One of the brilliant things I have learned is blockfusing. After reading about it I thought: "Oh my, it's so simple but it makes perfect sense. Why haven't I thought of it". There's beauty in the simplest of things! Unfortunately for me, I couldn't do this with my jacket. Because I knew I would be busy with My Sabrina Dress, I cut the pattern pieces a long time before Sherry posted about blockfusing.

So I've cut and fused all pieces and learned (or relearned) a couple of things on the way. One is about how to buy and store interfacing. I have bought several weights and qualities depending on what patterns ask. I usually buy more than the pattern asks for as I reckon I will end up using it. But (and this is a big but) after I use it I "shove it" on my cabinet with the other interfacings without labelling or marking. Duh! For someone who still can't recognise weights and types of fabric and interfacing just by touch this is a tad silly. So now, everytime I need to interface something I fuse all types on scraps. Pretty silly no?
The second thing that keeps happening (and I keep repeating) is illustrated in the two photos below:

Can you see what happened there? The first photo shows my lovely front piece with accurate markings made using my favourite method, carbon paper and tracing wheel. Seconds later we have a beautifully fused front piece but where the heck are the markings? Gone with the fuse! I end up pinning the pattern tissue again and re-marking. And always forget about it.
I'm interested to hear form you. How do you deal with pattern marking and notches on pieces to be interfaced?

*Apologies for the weird colour in photos. I love sewing at night but I pay the price with lousy photos.

My Sewing List

I have been procrastinating lately and have done very little sewing. My latest buttonhole nightmare plus failed attempts at transfering pattern alterations on My Sabrina Dress (simple maths but I'm crap at it) have send me into a idle state. I have however, managed to buy a few more patterns and add a few more projects to my to sew list. To hopefully keep me on track and sewing, I'll share what's coming with you, more or less in the order I intend to do them.

My Sabrina Dress: I have figured out the fitting alteration I need doing, helped by Alexandra comment (thank you!) and now in process of transfering to pattern pieces. I'm hoping to get this cracked soon. I love the fabric but still unsure how it will look.

I love sew alongs! They help me keep focused and force me to stop and wait for further instructions or advice, before I go and cock up something. Sherry from Pattern~Scissors~Cloth is leading a Tailoring Sew along and I initially shied away from it, as I had to many projects on the go. But after buying some gabardine fabric for trousers and realising the fabric is too heavy for that, I decided to join in. I had to choose a pattern that asked for less than 2mtrs, and quite liked the red illustration from McCalls below (not keen on the photo version). It doesn't have many elements from a tailored jacket, but I'm sure I'll pick up good tips and advice. Need to whip up muslin and fitting issues soon.

Next on the list another vintage pattern, this time for a wrap shirt. I will be using a lovely lightweight cotton I bought months ago. In an effort to wear more skirts, I will also do a basic skirt in this fabric. I LOVE this fabric!

Summer version of my Vogue 8604 Trousers. Hopefully in this blue linen blend with some pattern alterations.

And again, another original vintage pattern, this time for night wear. I will do a first version in the cute cotton poplin on the left, which is a left over from a baby coat and all going well I will do a second version in this satin(ish) fabric with some lace inserts. Probably not followed as it would be too boring.

I need more work shirts so will have another go at shirts with another Very EasyVogue in a lovely red cotton.

Disclaimer: The information printed here is correct at time of publishing. The writer holds right to change any project fabric or pattern, or add/ remove more projects to the list. ;)

Kimono Sleeved Jacket...Buttonhole Nightmare

What a nightmare it was to do these buttonholes! I'm going to stay clear of pattern requiring lots of buttonholes for a some time, since last night I almost lost the plot doing these.

I started at the bottom and my machine had no problems doing the first three buttonholes. But then it changed the buttonhole size completely. The difference wasn't huge so I continued but the remaining two were disastrous. One of the other things it did was to complete the buttonhole programme stitch without having stitched the hole thing. Have you ever tried to unpick a black machine sewn buttonhole on black corduroy? No, not possible. I tried but ended up ruining a bit of the lining inside. 

I fudged it and managed to have a finish garment that is usable.

I can honestly say I'm a bit traumatised with buttonholes and would rather insert invisible zippers for future projects. But button looks so lovely and I definitely don't want to go off them, just because I had a bit of trouble.

So what is your experience with buttonholes/ buttons? Have you had any problems? Do you have any techniques, tips or hints that help make it easy? I look forward reading them.

In Construction:Kimono Sleeved Jacket

I am half way doing the kimono sleeved jacket from Vogue 8604 and this is what is looks so far:

I'm using the left over from the black corduroy fabric I used for my Winter Dress. The jacket has 6 buttons at the front (which I confess I'm not looking forward to sew) and is fully lined. The shell was pretty quick to assemble and I could have finished it last night, but I paced myself so as to distribute the different tasks between my different projects. The last thing I want is again having nothing to sew but 4 patterns to trace. I will probably have it finished by the weekend so will share the finished thing then.

This jacket and the next 4 or 5 projects I have going under the sewing machine are all part of my plan to use my existing pattern, fabric and habby stash. Not to say I won't buy anything new but I do want to get rid of some existing fabric remnants, etc.

Tonight I will trace!