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#stargazerchorecoat

5 posts · Last used Jul 04

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swachter
swachter @swachter@toot.boston · Jun 30, 2026
Replying to @swachter@toot.boston
Once everything is quilted, it’s time to cut things out! I traced the pattern pieces onto the quilts and then stitched just inside the marked lines. This has the dual effect of 1) making sure I’m cutting the right lines and 2) helping prevent fraying and making things easier to handle when cut. It also compresses the quilt sandwich at the edge for greater precision. Then cut things out and start assembling! I batched up all the independent pieces (eg, sew the hood together, sew the long sleeve seams, sew the shoulder seams) and then had to take a break to hand-finish the seam bindings on all of them. The pattern called for a single fold bound seam which I cleverly (lol no) cut out of the same flannel I used for the lining. This made the seams extra bulky. I stitched the two seam allowances together by machine and trimmed the far one down to about 1/8”, then stitched another line along the near one (again squishing down the quilt sandwich) and trimmed it to 1/4”, then folded the binding edge over the flannel at 1/2” and sewed it down by hand. So the seams wound up being not too bulky but a bit stiff. In hindsight I probably should have sewn the 1/4” allowance and the 1/8” allowance separately, which would have made it more flexible. #handmade #quilting #stargazerChoreCoat #sewing #hiviz
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swachter
swachter @swachter@toot.boston · Jul 04, 2026
Replying to @swachter@toot.boston
Eleven. Eleven ways not to make buttonholes and (finally) one way TO make buttonholes. The trick is sheerweight fusible interfacing and not the heavier woven I usually use (which is what I grabbed first because I had so many scraps lying around.) I’m not sure if I ended up at the Chanel method that several folks mentioned but I wound up digging up the Butterick “The Art of Dressmaking” book my mother in law gave me and the directions for dual-sided bound buttonholes do in fact work great even if it took me a few tries to figure out what they wanted me to do. #sewing #quilting #stargazerChoreCoat #handmade #buttonholes
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swachter
swachter @swachter@toot.boston · Jul 04, 2026
Replying to @swachter@toot.boston
Here's a photo of the relevant page, in case you want to follow along. TLDR: Cut a piece slightly larger than the buttonhole, mark the box on the wrong side, sew the box in the correct location along all four sides, fold in the short edges towards the center and cut straight across the sewn box, being careful not to cut into the stitching and cutting THROUGH the folded edges right up to the line. Then cut through the center of the box and shove your fabric through to the back. You should be able to finesse the fabric to lie fairly straight and flat (this is where the sheerweight interfacing made a huge difference), and then double-fold in the horizontal edges towards the center. Press the absolute shit out of it and either stitch in the ditch by machine (if you like living dangerously) or whipstitch the edges down on the back. For quilted fabric, I found it was also helpful to run a line of stitching just to either side of the cut / center line of the buttonhole, to squish the quilt down flat and add some rigidity. #handmade #sewing #quilting #stargazerChoreCoat #buttonholes #vintage
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swachter
swachter @swachter@toot.boston · Jun 19, 2026
Doing a bit of selfish sewing and picking back up a project that has been languishing for a while. This (will be) a quilted chore coat made from stash linen, batting, and an old flannel sheet. The exciting bit is that the thread I’m using for quilting is retro-reflective, meaning that I get some lovely transient glimmering stars in direct light. I’m trying to be intentionally a little bit chaotic (it’s hard ok) and not overthinking positioning and spacing. #sewing #handmade #quilting #starGazerChoreCoat
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swachter
swachter @swachter@toot.boston · Jun 24, 2026
Replying to @swachter@toot.boston
One of the things I like to do to insert some randomness into my sewing is to use small tokens or coins to determine placements. In this case I sprinkled sewing clips over the pre-drawn radial lines, made some manual adjustments, and then marked the clip positioning to turn them into stars. I then stitched around the edges to minimize fraying and tossed all the pieces in the washer and dryer to shrink and wrinkle. A bit of pressing afterwards flattens them back out but still gives it a homey rumpled look. I’m *delighted* by how the thread is looking. Hell yes. #sewing #handmade #StarGazerChoreCoat #hiViz #fashion #quilting
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