Blazer Sew-Along: What To Expect

Hi Folks!

Thanks so much to all of you who chimed in with opinions on what you'd like to see in a sew along.  While I haven't completely made up my mind yet, I'm leaning toward making two blazers:  one where I'll show the machine tailoring, and another where I'll show the hand tailoring.  These are two blazers that are on my fall to-sew list, so I figured I may as well document both of them.  I'll likely start with the machine-tailored blazer, as the majority of respondents were interested in seeing that.  Lisa G. made the pertinent point that there haven't been a lot of blog posts featuring machine tailoring, so it would fill a gap as well.

Over the last week, I became aware in my blog reading that there are going to be two other, somewhat similar sew-alongs going on in October.  Rachel is hosting a sew-along for the new Vogue 1467 Anne Klein pea coat pattern.  Erica B. is hosting a coat sew-along, not pattern specific and geared toward more experienced sewers.  When I realized this, I considered postponing this sew-along; it seemed like a lot going on all at once!  But after some thought I decided to just go ahead with it.  I have a much more limited readership than either of these lovely ladies, so I don't think I'll be interfering with their projects.  And while there is bound to be some crossover, this sew-along is going to be specific to tailoring a notched collar blazer, although the techniques are transferable to other styles.

This sew-along is going to be different in a few other ways too.  I'm not affliated with any businesses, and I'm not a professional or expert.  I'm just a lady who really loves tailoring and making this style of blazer, and who has learned a few things about it in the last year.  So this sew-along is really going to be comprised of me documenting the process of making a blazer (or two).  I'm not going to have any schedule to follow and I'm going to try to break down the steps in more frequent, shorter posts rather than mega-posts.  That will be more manageable for me and for those following along.

So, a very informal sew-along.  I consider it more like a study group really.  I'll be happy to answer what questions I can as we go along, but be aware that I may not always have the answers.  Of course, I'm of the mind that there usually isn't one right answer - that there are a lot of ways to do things.  I'll be showing you what works for me, and things I've experimented with.  For me, tailoring is as much about the process as it is the final product, so I tend to take my time.  I'm not going to be rushing through to get a finished blazer in a short amount of time.

Over the next few days, I'm planning on writing up some posts to get you started on assembling your materials.  I've also planned a post on the differences between the types of tailoring, and when you might use which.  Once those posts are up, I'll be taking a break until the beginning of October when we get started on the actual work.

Because the sew-along is going to be informal and open-ended, I'm not planning a wrap-up where everyone showcases their work.  However, if anyone is interested in that, we'll see what we can do.  And if anyone has any other ideas, please let me know!