Nathalie And I Are Not Friends (Yet)
Some projects—even ones made from well-drafted patterns—crash and burn. I worked on the Jalie Nathalie cowl-neck pullover yesterday but failed to make anything wearable. That doesn’t happen very often. Some of the problems were due to user error but some were inherent in the pattern. Jalie patterns tend to be some of the better-drafted patterns out there, so I was a bit surprised by all the problems I encountered.
In an effort to conserve space—because patterns are expensive to produce—there is only one bottom bodice pattern piece. The front bodice top and back bodice top are separate pattern pieces, so if you’re going to trace the pattern, as I always do, you have to trace the pieces and either tape them together or trace the bottom half, then slide the tracing paper over and trace the top. There is a suggestion in the pattern to tape both front top and back top to the bottom half of the bodice and simply fold down one or the other when cutting each body piece. Eh. I would have paid a bit more money for a second sheet of paper that had each individual pattern piece laid out in its entirety, but that’s me. I have enough spatial problems that I need well-labeled pattern pieces to ensure I am not cutting the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Speaking of cutting the wrong thing, I cut the longer tunic length, because a longer top is always better for me. However, I had it in my head that I was making the shorter version with the narrower bottom band (store sample), so when it came time to sew the kangaroo pocket onto the front bodice, I placed it according to those directions instead of the directions for the tunic length. It would have been okay for me because I have long arms, but someone with shorter arms wouldn’t have been able to use the pocket because it’s too far down the body.
If this hadn’t been a potential store sample, I would have left off the pocket. If I teach this as a class, we will be leaving off the pocket because of time constraints. I thought it was interesting that the pattern advised interfacing the (two-layer) collar if using a thinner, drapier fabric but said nothing about stabilizing the pocket. I was using a modal sweatshirt fleece, and it was obvious to me that a single-layer pocket was going to be way too thin. I cut two pocket pieces, seamed them together, then turned the pocket inside out and topstitched the openings. That made a beefier pocket.
I did interface the collar. However, I only had a small piece of knit interfacing and wasn’t paying attention to the direction of the stretch. It stretches horizontally but not vertically. Also, there is nothing in the pattern that indicates what kind of interfacing to use. I use knit interfacing on just about everything, even wovens, because I prefer it, but what if you don’t know about or can’t get knit interfacing? We’ll come back to that in a moment.
The pattern specifies 1/4" seam allowances. I’m sorry, but that narrow a seam allowance is inappropriate for garments, especially when trying to seam together five layers of sweatshirt fabric. At a minimum, I want a 3/8" seam allowance.
As it was, I had to assemble parts of this garment on my sewing machine. That was fine, but taking out a triple-stitch stretch stitch or a lightning stitch is even more miserable than taking out a serger seam. It also occurred to me that I should offer a class on sewing knits on a sewing machine for those people who don’t have sergers and don’t want to buy one.
Assembly was going swimmingly until I got to the collar. The sizing was great. Jalie patterns always nail the sizing. The longer tunic length looked good on me (pocket placement notwithstanding). The collar assembly directions were well-illustrated—and I understand there is an accompanying video—although the numbering of the steps in the assembly was bizarre. Each step was set off with a bullet point, and the number of that step appeared in parentheses at the end of the paragraph. [Pattern writers, please be kind to the end user and number each step at the beginning so that it is easy to find, especially when it is referred to in other parts of the pattern!!!!!]
I assembled and basted the collar as instructed. The collar was smaller than the neck opening. On a knit garment, that is to be expected, because you stretch the collar as you ease it into the opening. However, because of the interfacing, the collar did not stretch. I would have cut and made a new collar, but I was out of fabric. I tried everything I could think of to make the original collar work. I took out the basting stitches and tried to move the overlapped pieces to make the collar bigger. That didn’t help—because of the collar shaping, I suspect—and every time I went to pin the collar into the neck opening, the neck opening stretched out even a bit more. I tried sewing in the collar on my machine with the neck opening as the bottom layer in hopes that the feed dogs would ease in the extra fabric. Nope. After an hour of frustrated sewing, I had a pullover that was complete except for the collar, and the collar was hanging half in and half out of the opening.
In hindsight, what I should have done was to sew the collar in as a single layer and save sewing down the overlap on the inside until I had most of the collar attached. If the two sides of the collar ended up being not quite even, it wouldn’t matter as much on the inside. That idea, of course, didn’t occur to me until after I had tried everything else, and I was not going to sit there for two hours painstakingly removing those sewing machine stitches. Alternatively—if I ever have to interface a collar for this pattern again—I will avoid putting interfacing on the bottom 1" of the collar piece. Anyone who used woven interfacing on this collar would have run into the same problem.
I may try again today—I have other suitable fabric in the stash—but we’ll see. I might have to do something else, like clean or bake cookies. You know things are bad when I voluntarily bake cookies. (Our employees kept an eye on things here while we were getting the truck, so I promised them each a batch of cookies.)
I consulted with the other Janet, who has made this top twice. Interestingly, she also had problems, although she had different problems than I did. I’m not eliminating this pattern as a class just yet, but I won’t commit until I am able to make one successfully.
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I was watching a YouTube sewing channel yesterday when the sewist apologized for the fact that she makes so many garments. She pointed out that she has a sewing channel, though, so making garments is part and parcel of what she does for a living. Did someone take her to task? Why do we feel we must apologize for making so many clothes? I may not keep everything I make, but I try to make things in such a way that I can donate them to a local thrift store. Those items might be just what someone else wants. And I am learning a lot as I go. Theory only gets you so far.
Also, if you feel the need to criticize a content creator for making content, perhaps you need a hobby. 😐
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It occurred to me that I should describe the topography of the Pacific Northwest for those of you who have never been to this part of the US. Seattle isn’t out in the middle of a piece of open land, like a city in the Midwest. Seattle is situated on the west side of the Cascade range of mountains, and there are only a few routes in and out. You can go west out of the city to the Olympic Peninsula, either by taking a ferry across Puget Sound or by driving down around Tacoma. You can go north to Stevens Pass and then east on Hwy 2 (or keep going north to Canada if you are so inclined). You can go south to Portland. You can go east over Snoqualmie Pass. There are a few other mountain passes, most of which are seasonal. That’s it. I-90 begins at sea level in downtown Seattle and heads east up over Snoqualmie Pass, which is at an elevation of approximately 4700 feet. That elevation gain happens over a distance of about 50 miles. You can see why it took us so long to leave Seattle last Friday, helped along by people who don’t know how to drive in snow.