Mistakes!

October 20, 2023

There is no way to say this other than simply - if you sew, you will make mistakes.  The more you sew, the less you will make.  That's because practice can make you an expert.  

There were so many factors that went into this, but practice made this the deciding factor.  Ann Rowley knew a lot about sewing, but more than the techniques.  She knew what looked good on her.  She knew what made her figure look the best.  She knew what color works best for her.  She knew the basic style of what looked flattering on her.  She knew those techniques, because she practiced them, and being older had more time.  

So when you sew, you will make mistakes.  What do to about that when that happens.  My Walt has a favorite saying when he's doing his woodworking in his shop:  "There's always a correction to your mistake,"  and there is. 

Here's a good place to start when you've discovered your mistake: (in particular order)

• Determine the gravity of the mistake - is it a large area or a small area
• How much does the mistake show - if it's on the inside - don't worry about it.
• To what extent will you have to repair - the whole piece, just that part of the piece
• Don't be afraid to use a simpler solution if it works as well as the harder solution.

This helps you get ahold of the problem and for you to better asses how you're going to repair the problem.  Like I said before, I always will pick the less time factor over any other solution, but only if it will give results that look like there was no error to start with.  

Here's an example of that.  

So it's clear to see what has happened here.  The facing piece has sewn in longer on one side than the other side.  When we scoot the facing to be smooth with the other side, there's a big huge lump at the bottom.  

The first idea is to rip out the whole seam from the bottom to about the stance (where the first button hits and where the roll line ends on the facing seam.  This is certainly a solution, but it will take the most time.  

This may sound funny coming from me, but there's other solutions,  and they aren't quite that drastic.  

The first thing we did when I realized the problem was to look at the hang.  I don't have a picture of that, but you can guess what happens.  This is the same thing that happens on the roll of the collar - when one side is larger than the other - the lay of the fabric will curve, and sure enough that's what was happening on this jacket when the student put it on - the bottom hem facing on one side was curving out.  

So how to stop that?  Make both sides the same shape, size, so that the curving didn't occur.  

When we released that facing seam, you can see how much extra fabric there is.  

This is actually about ½" longer than the other side.  

This shows how much extra fabric there is in that bottom seam.  

So what happens if we simply tuck up the facing piece and make it even with the front piece?  First, we have to pin this in place and see how it looks - if we still have that curve in the piece that we had before.  After a fitting, there's no curve in the front hem that we had before.  

So my solution here is to simply take out that hand ticking and then take out the seam and tuck the extra fabric into the seam (we actually cut it out cause it was so bulky), and sew it up.  

We hand stitched it in place and tried it on again.  It's key here for every step to try it on to check the hang and drape of the garment, since we  may be messing with that and if we dont' check it every step, then we could have some problems.  

But every time we tried it on the hang was gorgeous.  This demonstrates the flexibility and what pros say is the forgiveness of this fabric.  This minimal stretch means that we can do a lot of things in this jacket that you can't even think about in a woven.  There wouldn't have been any forgiveness in a woven, but there is in this stretch.  

For me, this is why so many fabrics today are stretch.  The forgiveness not only in the fit and comfort, but in the construction of the garment.  If you don't get everything just exactly right in a woven, it shows.  If you don't get everything just exactly right in a knit, you can usually work it a little.  
 

One of my favorite areas is around the armhole and sleeve head area.  Pretty much as long as you make a bit of ease in the sleeve head, you're going to end up with a pretty good looking sleeve.  Without that stretch, you're going to have some more complicated issues and solutions.  It's not that it can't be done in a woven, it's just a lot harder, and of course much more time-consuming.  

It's because of practicing with both fabrics that I know this.  So the ONLY thing that trumps practice is good information - which hopefully I can pass on to you.  

For this time, when you are sewing with a knit, whether it's a stable knit (20% - 35% stretch), jersey knit (40% to about 65% stretch), or activewear (65% to whatever% stretch), know that there are some rules you can break, not only because you know those rules (therefore you can break them cause you know what the garment should look like when following the rules), but also because you are dealing with a forgiving fabric which is a stretch.  

Now - there are cases and places where you never want stretch.  The shoulder is sacrosanct - it must always be stable.  That doesn't mean that you can have give and stretch across the back of your garment - you can.  But where the garment hangs - from the shoulders - must always be stable.  There might be some other places depending upon your size, shape and style.  If you have large biceps but your wrists are small, I would be very tempted to put a little interfacing (like some silk organza - one of my go-to interfacing fabrics), in the cuff to make sure that when you taper the sleeve, you have a nice crips cuff that marks your smaller wrists.  If you have a large waist and you need the jacket to come to the hip or crotch level and it's waving around like Old Glory in a nice breeze, which can only make you look larger, I would be tempted to put some interfacing in that hem and make sure that it's beyond stable.  

Another interesting fact to remember is that you can always make a knit act like a woven fabric, but  you can never make a woven act like a knit.  So that means if you need to add structure and stability to a part of a garment - say a collar and front placket - you can do that.  As a matter of fact, Reneé LaCoste did that in their innovative tennis wear - more commonly known as the Izod shirt.  If you feel on the inside of that placket you will feel the interfacing in there to make it act woven.  

Well, this turned into a knit post, and what I meant was to talk about mistakes, and how to deal with them.

Particularly on knits, sometimes the easiest solution works the best.  I'll take a photo of the jacket after it's done, because it's really a work of art.  We're thinking a wonderul toille pattern in black and white for the pant for this black jacket.

Obviously we'll do this in a ponte.  There's a company here in town that prints the design on ponte and this would be a fabulous look for that black ponte jacket she has.  

My student is in the throws of finishing her fix on the jacket and I'll get a photo so you can see the finished results.    
 

In the meantime, don't hesitate to fool around with your knit,  more flexible, forgiving fabric more than you would a woven!  

The SewingArtistry Resource Library is designed to contain information to not only make your sewing better, but to aid in you fitting and flattering your shape, size and style.  Check it out. 

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