A blog about my life, knitting, and other stuff.

October 8, 2008

Sew Confident

When we were in Portland my younger son announced he wanted to be Indiana Jones for Halloween. I knew we could find the hat and probably the whip at a costume shop (ended up finding it at Jo-Ann's at 50% off). He said he wanted a bag like Indy. "I can make that!" I told him. He wanted a jacket like Indy. In an odd moment of over-confidence I said, "Sure, I can make that!" Uhhh, I can? I've never made a jacket. I've never set-in a sleeve. I've never worked with pleather. I found a Burda pattern (9592)and bought the pleather. The original pattern called for imitation leather with a plush reverse side. I went for straight up cheap pleather. I left off everything non-essential. No pockets, no extra zippers or tabs. I whacked it together using the mantra, "Whatever, it's just a costume." Then came time to set in the sleeves. I was really worried about them. I decided to sew them in by starting at the center top and then working to the center bottom in each direction. Not the usual way to sew in a sleeve but I was worried about attempting to "ease" in pleather. I thought if it didn't fit I could redo the underarm seam on the sleeve to make it all work. But the sleeves went in like a dream! I was pretty amazed.



Not bad, huh?

My one pleather sewing tip is to put wax paper on top of the pleather if you want to top-stitch. Otherwise your needle will just sit in place. Also, pleather smells really bad. Not so much a tip as an observation.