Stripes, But No Stars

The Seersucker Suit Project

Your votes are in and the winner for the next project is the tan & white seersucker, the oldest fabric on my stash, along with three co-ordinating fabrics. (The more fabric you can take off your stash, the more space you have to add new favorites while supporting your local fabric store.)

Here are the project components we'll be working through over the next several weeks:

1) Tan & white seersucker, 1976, two-piece suit

2) Tan linen, 1977, pants

3) Tan silk broadcloth, early 1980s, dress shirt

4) Blue & Tan Liberty of London cotton lawn print, 2015, sport shirt

Preparing the Fabrics

All the fabrics needed to be pre-washed, including the linen and the silk broadcloth. You might say, "But wait, Dan the Fabric Man, the care code for silk fabric is usually 'dry clean only.'" True, but garment manufacturers and fabric stores need to protect themselves from those poor souls without fabric care understanding who might do unspeakable things to the defenseless fabric and ruin it.

Technically any natural fiber is washable with pure soap in cold water; just be prepared for potential changes to size (shrinkage, especially on loose weaves), texture (it will become more textured) and color (it may lighten or dyes may not be stable). Always test a sample first, and if you can live with the changes, go ahead and prewash the entire piece of fabric. If you can't live with the changes, stick with the traditional care instructions.

In the case of this silk broadcloth, I really like the slightly less "silky" new surface of the fabric after the washing, and with prewashed silk, you need not worry about water spotting later: the entire garment is now a water spot! The linen was also pre-washed, which heightened the texture somewhat, and there was some shrinkage as it is a looser weave. Now any of the finished garments can be laundered with no worries, because I know how they've already been treated. I really like the control we get when we make it ourselves!

Tip #1: For "no surprises," always pretreat your fabric before you sew it up using the same method you'll use to clean the finished garment. Here's a link for some suggested fabric care instructions from Reviewed.com.

http://laundry.reviewed.com/features/the-ultimate-guide-to-fabrics-and-how-to-clean-them

Tip #2: NEVER pre-wash fabric until you're ready to use it. Pre-washing removes preservatives and your fabric could start to deteriorate. Given the amount of time our fabrics spend in the stash, this is not a good idea. Look here for some pre-washing ideas from Craftsy:

https://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/01/how-to-wash-fabric-before-sewing/

Selecting the Patterns

I have chosen pants and jacket patterns from my pattern library. These patterns have been used before, so I know they fit well. I also renewed my early-90s Burda shirt pattern by tracing it onto pattern tracing material that's sold in the interfacing section of the fabric store. Honestly, I sold this product for years when I worked in fabric stores, but had never used it, and it worked very well. I cut out each piece and transferred a few key markings (grain line, dots for matching, fold lines, etc) with a Sharpie pen. These new pattern pieces won't fit into the old pattern jacket, so I will fold them into a larger manila envelope and attach the front of the original pattern jacket to the front of the envelope. This shirt pattern will be good for another 25 years!

Ready to Begin

With all the fabrics pre-washed, and the patterns selected, the project is now ready to go. I learned long ago to sew the key garment last so I don't wear the others before everything is finished, and then never get around to making the remaining garments.

Here's the workflow plan:

1) Liberty of London cotton lawn sport shirt

2) Silk broadcloth dress shirt

3) Seersucker jacket

4) Linen pants

5) Seersucker pants

It's been awhile since I tailored a suit jacket, so I'm looking forward to sharpening those skills again. Typically I layer fusible interfacing for tailoring projects, but that may not work with a crinkled fabric like seersucker, and I'll need to test that.

Next time we'll learn a little about Liberty of London, and we'll take a look at the first shirt in the Seersucker Suit Project. Until then, keep those sewing machines humming!

DTFM

danthefabricman@yahoo.com