Shortly after the New Year, I reached for McCall's 8561. It has been on my to-sew list for some time and I finally realized that I had the perfect fabric in my stash: a 100% cotton khaki twill from Hobby Lobby. I'd picked up 3 3/4 yards for a total of $11.25 during an end-of-season sale two years ago. Since the regular price was $11.99 for this 60" wide heavy twill, it was a bargain.
I paired the twill with 2 Plaiditudes flannel remnants from JoAnn Fabrics. Although the remnants totaled 1.9 yards, they were only 44" wide, not wide enough since the pattern calls for 60" wide fabric. However, for a total price of less than $6, it was worth it to make it work.
Through some creative cutting and opting for a size 12, I managed to squeeze the lining pieces out those two remnants. After assembling the lining at the yokes and shoulders, I pinned the sides to use the lining as a toile. Immediately I realized that it was not as roomy as I wanted. I decided grade to a size 14 below the armhole when cutting the twill. Since the lining was already cut to a 12, I adjusted it by sewing a minimal overcast seam. In the end, since the flannel is prone to stretching, I actually had to sew a second seam to take it in enough to fit the assembled body.
Beyond adding warmth, the lining solved a specific design flaw I’d seen mentioned in reviews. This pattern features a camp collar (where the collar attaches directly to the shirt without a neckband). Typically, these use a facing that is part of the placket extension to enclose the edges. This pattern, however, uses a separate placket without an attached neck facing. Without a lining, you're almost guaranteed to have a small, fraying raw edge exposed between the collar and the placket. By adding the lining, I was able to tuck those edges away for a much cleaner, professional finish.
Once the flannel lining was assembled, I opted to topstitch it on my Janome coverstitch machine. While the two rows of even topstitching were wonderfully effective on the flannel, replicating that performance on the twill pockets was a nightmare. After six failed attempts and a deep dive into YouTube, I realized a looper thread had popped out of its tiny tension spring. I also learned how to turn corners with a coverstitch by keeping only one needle in the fabric. It’s not perfect, but it beats double topstitching on a standard machine.
The coverstitch experiment ended when I tried to go through six layers of fabric at the armhole seam. Even with a hump jumper, it was impossible. It was back to traditional topstitching on my Janome S3 for the remainder of the jacket.
Regarding construction, I must emphasize that staystitching around the neckline is vital. By stay stitching both the lining and body, basting them together, and clipping the curves to the staystitching, attaching the collar became much easier. Another potential problem reported in a review was that the sleeve seam does not line up with the back yoke. This is actually incorrect; the notch for the back sleeve piece (the smaller piece) is a double notch that is not clearly marked. Each double notch overlaps the one for the next size in a series of six, appearing as a single notch. Once you spot that, and assemble the sleeves with the cuff split in the center, the sleeves can be attached to the body with the back sleeve seam aligned with the back yoke seam. I attached the sleeves while the body was still flat, topstitched that seam, and followed that with sewing the sleeve seam and side seam as one. This method makes the topstitching on the sleeve shoulder seam easier.
To finish the inside, I trimmed off 3/8" of the lining seam allowance around the sleeve plackets and folded the plackets over the lining to stitch them down. I then constructed the collar and cuffs, attaching and topstitching them on my S3. To ensure the lining was fully encased at the front, I based the lining to the front edges, attached the plackets to the wrong side, folded them inside out and stitched the ends closed. I then turned them right side out, trimmed seam allowances and pinned the plackets to the fronts for topstitching, I took a little time to slip stitch the ends of the placket down and baste the rest to make the topstitching easier.
I tried several sizes of buttonholes to find one that fit neatly within the placket. The middle size was the winner, not big enough to meet the placket edges but large enough for 3/4" buttons.
I have finished the cuffs with a couple of 4-hole wooden buttons from my stash. I don't have enough for the front, so I'll be shopping for shank buttons during the next couple of weeks--all while wearing my new jacket!
Despite the weeks of construction, this is easily one of my most successful sewing projects to date.
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