Inner Workings

March Break. Desperately needed, never long enough. I’ve spent most of the week in my sewing room though, and it’s be lovely and relaxing. I’m working on my first pair of pants, and my double knit Cordova. (Turns out I *like* the jacket without a collar. Hunh! Thanks so much for all of your opinions on my collar options, though!) Along the way, I finished two jersey tops and my first pair of leggings, and tidied up my sewing room, so that it now looks like this: 

And now I’m going to post about something completely different: the inner workings of 2 RTW knit jackets! You see, these two jackets both offer what i want from my Cordova - the comfort of a stretchy coat, with the ease of wearing of a lined jacket! How is that accomplished? 

First up: a second-hand swing coat, made of a heavy double knit. 

This one has a pretty straight-forward interior. Knit facings, and lots of ease in the woven lining. Interestingly, it has set-in sleeves on the outside, and raglan sleeves on the inside. I wonder why? The bottom back of the lining hangs free, with just one tack on the centre seam to keep it in place. 

The second jacket has a few more surprises. This one is from Uniqlo in Japan. I like it so much that I own it in black too! It’s really comfy, thanks to the ingenious lining in the back:

Check that out! The front and sleeves are fully lined in a non-stretch lining, but the back has overlapping shoulder panels that make it sit smoothly over clothes without impeding range of motion!

(Please, please, let me not be the only one who is so nerdily excited by this!) 

Each shoulder swoop is cut on the grain (not bias), and is just two pieces sewn together along the curve. They are attached at the neck and shoulder seams, but hang loose from there.

Have you ever seen something like this before? Maybe it’s common - but it’s new to me! I think it would be fairly simple to draft a similar lining on most jacket patterns, though I’d have to stretch my brain a little harder to do it on a princess-seam bodice like the Cordova. 

Here’s where my lack of tailoring vocabulary lets me down! All the seams are bound, and the back hem (left picture) looks like it might have been … catch-stitched (?) by hand. In the righthand pictures, you can see how the lining folds down over the sleeve cuff and hems to allow more ease (What is that called?) For a $40 coat, I’m really impressed with the quality of the finishing. 

As for my Cordova, I’m planning a hybrid of these techniques. I bought some stretch lining (like normal lining, but with a wee bit of 2-way stretch) that I’m going to use for the sleeves and front lining. I’m not sure about the back though - I’m debating either leaving it unlined, or using a thin jersey “lining” just to hold all the facings in place. It really comes down to what is easiest and seems to make the most sense as I sew! 

Now, time to stop blogging and get sewing! Not much vacation left!