May 9, 2015

Tutorial, part 1 - Pattern Pieces

NOTE: This tutorial was originally specifically intended to accompany our Bad Wolf Costumes men's DS9/NEM "captain jacket" sewing pattern, but you may, of course, adapt it to other existing patterns or even use it as a basis for drafting your own if you wish. 

On our DS9/NEM "captain jacket" pattern, unless otherwise noted, all pattern pieces have a ⅜" seam allowance!


For all of the jacket body (and hem facing) pieces, cut two of your body fabric of choice (wool gabardine or cotton twill) and two of your underlining fabric of choice (we recommend muslin), so that each shell piece has an exact muslin counterpart.

(Yes, this doubles the number of pieces to cut, iron, and keep up with, but it will be well worth it; the interfacing fabric gives the garment more body, weight, dimension, and changes its drape ever-so-slightly.)


Iron all the pieces, then pair each body and hem facing piece with its corresponding underlining.

Serge all of the body and hem facing pieces to their underlining mates.

If you don't have a serger (and/or one is not reasonably available), you can also baste, stitch, or zig-zag stitch the two pieces together within the seam allowance; it's not ideal but it's something, at least! 

Here, you can compare a body panel zig-zag stitched to its underlining mate to one serged to it: 

No comments:

Post a Comment