Month: May 2022

Cutting the Facings

It’s time to cut and prepare the facings for installation. Traditionally, the facings were cut with the collar in one piece to maintain a more seamless look to the finished waistcoat. To accommodate the lack of darts as well, the facings are cut with an additional allowance so that the facings can be manipulated into place. I’ll be demonstrating the ‘quick’ method for getting the pattern pieces, but if you’re using a plaid or more prominent stripe pattern that you want matched, take care in the layout of everything and use more precision as necessary.

Begin by laying out the waistcoat on to a fresh sheet of paper and tracing around the lower side seam, the bottom, the front, the collar, and shoulder seams.

I’m using a pen here so that you can see everything more clearly, but I recommend a pencil so that you don’t accidentally get ink on your waistcoat.

As you’re tracing around the collar and shoulder area, try to hold everything in a neutral position. The pieces will want to distort due to putting the three-dimensional fabric on the flat paper.

Before removing the waistcoat, slide it over slightly and determine the outer edge (including a seam allowance) of and how wide you want the facing to be. I made mine end just before the dart and about two inches from the inside buttons.

Then use a hip curve to draw in the desired shape of the facing on the inner edge. It should meet the shoulder about 1 1/2″ to 2″ from the collar (remember this includes the seam allowance).

The shoulder should meet the facing in as close to a right angle as possible to make the sewing a little easier and the lines more pleasing. Finish the curve as necessary using the hip curve or French curve.

Now draw in the lower facing, about 3″ or so above the bottom of the waistcoat, following the shape of the outline. This does again include a seam allowance on the upper / inside edge, so choose your widths accordingly.

Here’s what I’ve got so far for my facing pattern. You could actually cut this out as one piece if you have enough fabric, but I’ll be constructing mine with the two separate pieces. We’ll add a seam allowance for that in a bit.

Now along the side, bottom, front, collar and shoulder seams, add an additional one inch (or more if you’re not feeling as confident) allowance to the pattern. This will allow us to manipulate the fabric around the shaped areas of the collar and darts.

Now on a fresh piece of paper, trace out the lower facing along the outer edge (with the 1″ we just added). I drew in the original seam line with a dashed line for clarity, though no need to do that really.

I also marked the top and front edges, since it’s easy to get this piece mixed up. Then, I added a 3/4″ seam allowance along the front edge, double the usual seam allowance. It occurred to me just now that I probably could have used a 3/8″ seam here, since we included the seam allowance on the main facing piece, but the extra allowance won’t hurt anything.

Cut out both facing pieces.

Now trace the facings on to your fabric. I kept the original grain lines for the alignment, but you could also feel free to experiment with this to get different stripe alignment on the collar area.

The lower facing could be cut on the grain as well, but I rotated it in order to save fabric, a common practice during the period.

And then cut out the facings as usual. Here’s what mine looks like so far.

Stay Taping the Forepart

Before installing the facings, I like to reinforce the edges with linen stay tape. This gives a firmer and crisper edge to the waistcoat and prevents the seams from rolling out of position over time.

Begin by marking out the seam allowances (3/8″) along the bottom edge using a ruler and chalk or pencil.

Continue marking along the front edge and around the collar.

Trace all the way to the center back of the collar.

Carefully trim away the seam allowance from the canvas only, being careful not to cut into the fabric underneath.

Be extra careful near the fold of the roll line – it’s so easy to accidentally cut through to the right side. I accidentally made a very small snip through the silk, but luckily caught it in time before too much damage was done.

Lay the stay tape along the edge of the collar, just barely overlapping into the seam allowance. Begin basting about an inch above the shoulder, keeping the end of the tape free to finish up later.

Continue basting the stay tape to the waistcoat through all layers, along the collar.

About an inch above the roll line, take a stitch in place to lock the stay tape in place.

As you continue basting across the roll line, allow a little excess stay tape with each stitch. This excess is needed so that when the collar is folded in place, there will be enough slack in the tape to allow it to fold nicely without pulling back away from the body. Make one more stitch about one inch below the roll line to lock everything in place again.

Continue basting the stay tape to the forepart along the front edge. When you get about two inches from the bottom edge, make yet another stitch to lock everything in place. From here to the corner, hold the stay tape a little tight as compared to the forepart. This will draw the corner of the waistcoat inwards a little, helping it to stay in place when worn.

When you get to the lower front corner, take another stitch in place to lock everything, keeping about 1/2″ from the corner itself to give yourself room to work with. Then at a 45 degree angle, cut the stay tape almost but not quite all the way through. The end of the cut should ideally be right over the corner of the canvas underneath.

Now fold the stay tape in place along the lower edge.

Clip the overlapping section of stay tape at the same angle.

When done, you should have a nice crisp miter that won’t leave any extra bulk in the area. This one came out pretty nicely, but as I like to say, it ‘miter’ been better.

Make another stitch in place, and again hold the tape tight to the forepart for another inch or two along the bottom edge.

Continue basting until you get to the side seam.

Trim the excess flush with the side seam.

Here’s the forepart so far after basting on the stay tape.

Beginning at the top of the collar, one inch above the shoulder line, begin stitching down the stay tape along the outer edge using a bit of a felling stitch. The stitches are about 3/8″ to 1/2″ apart, and the needle enters at a slight diagonal, catching only a couple of threads on the right side. You can also use a cross stitch, shown at the end of this lesson.

Stitch along the front outside edge, past the roll line.

And continue down along the center front and waist line.

Then repeat the process, this time on the inside edge of the stay tape, and catching only the stay tape and canvas with each stitch, as these are in a more visible location looking from the right side.

Again, end the stitching about 1″ above the shoulder line. This entire area needs to be free to work with later on.

As an alternative, you could also cross stitch the stay tape to the forepart. The results are the same, but I do find this stitch is better at distributing any fullness, for example, around the roll line. It’s up to you which version you choose.

Finally, remove the basting stitches – they’re so much easier to remove now than later if you forget.

Here’s the forepart so far after installing the stay tape.