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Anise Sewalong September – October, 2012

Wat do you think guys, are you ready to make your Anise jacket?

From now through October, we’ll be stepping through the process of creating this jacket together. We’ll be using The Anise Companion as a textbook of sorts, and I’ll be posting some of the photos and instructions from the book here as we walk through it. You’ll have a chance to ask questions and solicit feedback from each other, and I’ll be doing my best to jump in and answer whatever comes up.

Read more about this sewalong →

The Anise Sewalong

  1. Announcing the Anise sewalong (61 Comments)

    Challenge yourself to sew a lightly tailored jacket! The adorable Anise is a great introduction to the world of jackets and coats. You’ll learn many new techniques, including how to make bound buttonholes, create single welt pockets, and insert a jacket lining. It’s easier than you think!

  2. Fabric and supplies (44 Comments)

    Today is the first day of the Anise Sew-along. Ready to shop?

  3. Fitting (10 Comments)

    Today, we start fitting. I’ve started a Flickr group for us to share progress and ask questions. Please jump in and hep each other out there. I’ll help as much as I can, but it’s impossible for me to answer everything! On to our checklist for today!

  4. Anise Full Bust Adjustment (32 Comments)

    We’ll be covering a few of the fitting solutions from The Anise Companion today. But first, take a look at the post on fitting. It goes over the techniques we’ll be using for slashing and pivoting the pattern in order to make adjustments. How do you know if you need a full bust adjustment? The …

  5. Wide or Narrow Shoulder Adjustment (26 Comments)

    So far, we covered a full bust adjustment for Anise today. Here’s another set of alterations you can do from The Anise Companion: adjusting for wide or narrow shoulders. First, be sure to take a look at the blog post on fitting. It goes over the techniques we’ll be using for slashing and pivoting the …

  6. Cutting, Underlining, and Interfacing (7 Comments)

    How is your Anise fitting going? Today, I’m going to cover the next steps in our sew-along, including cutting, applying the interfacing, and underlining. I know some of you are probably still working on fitting, and that’s just fine! Today’s checklist is pretty straightforward and we’ll start sewing next Tuesday, so there’s plenty of time …

  7. Tutorial: Bound Buttonholes (48 Comments)

    I was thinking about calling this tutorial “bound buttonholes in just 20 easy steps,” but I thought that sounded a bit snarky. Yep, there’s no getting around it, bound buttonholes are involved. They are just one of those things that always take a bit longer than you imagined going into it. But for all the …

  8. Assemble the body (1 Comment)

    Good news, sew-alongers: today is an easy day. That is, if you’ve already done your bound buttonholes following Tuesday’s tutorial. Or if you’re skipping bound buttonholes entirely and going with machine stitched buttonholes later on. Other than finishing our bound buttonholes, all we’re going to do today is sew a few darts and seams. I …

  9. Collar and Facing (4 Comments)

    I hope everyone has had time to assemble their jacket bodies over the last week or so. Today, we’re going to work on the collar and facing unit. The good news is that this is a little simpler with this jacket because it doesn’t have turned down lapels (like a blazer would). So you don’t …

  10. Welt pockets (8 Comments)

    I am a big fan of tailored details. I like them not just on jackets and coats, but pants, dresses, blouses, you name it. Welt pockets are a great example. They look fantastic on any sort of structured piece of clothing, anything you want to look really sharp and polished. In fact, I’m working on …

  11. Sleeves and hem (5 Comments)

    We are so close to the end with our Anise jacket. This is the final week of sewing! Today we’re putting in the sleeves. Your goals when setting jacket sleeves is to get a sleeve that hangs well and has a lovely soft roundness at the cap. To do this, you’ll use ease, heat and …

  12. Lining (9 Comments)

    We are finally on the last stage of sewing our jackets! Today, we’ll be doing the lining. Lining a jacket is a bit of a process. We’ll be using a pretty straightforward technique that combines machine and hand stitching. As you know, hand stitching is rarely quick, so be sure to give yourself time to …