Pinkertons: Assembling the parts

The final part of making these vests is joining together all the parts. I got through most of that tonight, though I will have to wrap up tomorrow.  I underestimated how much gold topstitch thread I had and need to get another spool or I'd have at least finished the armscye bindings tonight.  I got enough done to show how I'm doing it, though.  I'll also have to do the buttonholes and buttons later; it's a little late to be pulling out the other machine and especially late to  be hammering on stud buttons.

All the parts sewn together, and the armhole bound.

First I put the lining, shell, and collar together.  The curved neckline edge is one of the few places I routinely use pins - it's pretty curvy and there are a lot of layers to get together.  There is a notch in the collar at points where it should line up with the center back seam and the shoulder seam; additionally there is a notch on the body pieces  where the edge of the collar aligns.

(Pictures and more beyond the cut!)

Pinkertons: Lining

I just spent the last two hours assembling the lining for the Pinkerton vest.  It shouldn't take quite that long, but taking the time to photograph each step takes up a certain amount of time.  I have to move the table towards the machines and drag the chair to the west side of the room for each photograph of the full tabletop.

The lining parts all laid out, including the Lastwear tags.

 The process is pretty much exactly like sewing the shell, except that you also have to stitch all those little fiddly bits of facing onto the lining pieces.  And instead of welt pockets, I had tags to sew in.  (That's one of the nice things about sewing for a company - Lastwear provided everything including their very nice ribbon tags.)

(More behind the cut!)

Pets and Pinkertons

I got started on the Pinkerton vest this week.  I've had a few other obligations (day job, settling in, et cetera) so it's taken me a while to get rolling and then a little longer to get a post up.  I will note that I had a big, big distraction come along - I now have a couple of helpers around the sewing room:

Hello kitty!

Hello other kitty!

The pictures don't do these little guys any justice.  Black cats are tough to photograph, and Chichi (up top there) is particularly difficult to photograph as he just plain doesn't like it.  He is also totally obsessed with eating thread, so I now have to be pretty careful around the sewing room - I can't leave the machines threaded, or leave trimmings laying about, and need to keep spools and bobbins stored away.  Chi's the only cat I know who isn't terrified of the vacuum cleaner.  He's not scared of the Mercury, either.

I promise I won't talk about my cats too much, although you might see them again - they DO like to hang out with me as I work, and I'll  be making some kitty beds for them eventually here.

And back to the Lastwear project - Pinkertons!  I've assembled the shell of one of the vests, and have new workroom photos to share from the process.

(More below the cut...)

Pinkertons: Preview

I am so excited to finally get rolling on this project that I just couldn't wait.  I pulled the parts to assemble a vest and laid them out.

Not pictured:  me laughing giddily in the sewing room at 10 PM.

The parts are laid out in columns.  They are:  collar, welt, pocket bag; side front, side front lining, side front hem facing; center fronts; center back, center back lining, center back hem facing; side back, side back lining, side back hem facing; tags.  There is one additional part - the armhole bindings.  They're just long, skinny strips that get folded around the raw edges of the armhole, so not having them on the table isn't going to put my gentle readers at a loss.

I haven't ordered the heavyweight thread they use at the factory yet, so I'll be piecing with regular sewing thread and topstitching with gold jeans thread.  I thought it would look snappy on the green canvas and help with visibility, since all the vest cuts I got were dark colors.  (The others are black and chocolate brown.)

Depending on how much I get done at a sitting, I will post the work on this vest in several posts over the next week.  Next up - sewing the shell.  I have time set aside for this on Tuesday evening and I can hardly wait.

Upcoming project: Pinkerton vests

In the midst of several other errands, I stopped off to pick up the final parts to assemble some sample vests.  I'll be working on samples and one-offs for Lastwear, starting with the men's vest.  Thom and Lyssa have provided cut parts for several vests to give the pattern a go, and gave the green light to document the process of making the vests.  This works out nicely both for me and for them, as part of the concept for the company is that their clothing is open-source.  In theory this means anyone can download their patterns and make their own - or use it as a launching point for something new.  The patterns aren't actually available yet, but I expect someone truly interested in obtaining a copy could get one if they asked nicely enough.

I'll be putting together one Pinkerton vest on its own, and then assembly-lining a couple more; expect the same kind of photo documentation you saw on the jacket and ticking-stripe corset.  A certain amount of sewing know-how is expected, and I won't be slowing down much to explain the differences between production and commercially available patterns, or on the sort of thing a production sewer would be expected to know.  I will try to recognize those things and provide links to outside tutorials, but if you are following along and don't understand something I encourage you to comment so that I can make sure the instructions I'm providing are adequate.