Day 6 - Add Collar or Hood and Sew Facings
Welcome to Day 6 of the Gabriella’s Winter Coat Sew-A-Long! Are you all caught up? Day 5 was a mid sew-a-long catch up day. If you need to go back, here is where you can find Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4.
Today will be the most labor intensive day of sewing. We will be adding the collar and/or hood to Gabriella's and sewing the facings. This will be steps 20-26 in the pattern instructions.
Add Collar or Hood
There are a few options here for how you want Gabriella's hood to be attached.-
Attached hood with collar inside -
This will make it so that the wearer's neck is protected from the wind even if her hood is down.
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Attached hood with no collar.
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Detachable hood -
I am giving instructions for using snaps, but you could use buttons and button holes to achieve the same effect if you desired.
Add Collar Only
Skip if doing any hood option.
Follow steps 20-22 in the pattern instructions to add your collar. Make sure to line up your notches with the shoulder seams and center of Gabriella's neckline.
Assembly for the Attached Hood
If adding a collar, assemble your collar following the directions in steps 20 & 21 of the pattern. Set this aside.Recall your seam allowance determined when you traced your hood to create the pattern pieces. Take your main hood pieces and sew them right sides together along the back curve. Clip the curve and press the seam open. Repeat with the lining pieces.
Note: Do NOT sew along the bottom or front edges.
TIP: Stuff the hood with fabric to access the seam in the curve to press it open.
Turn your hood lining right side out. Insert it into the main hood with right sides facing. Line up the center seams and the corners of the main and lining. Pin together. Sew around the face opening.
Clip any curves and turn right side out. Push seam out and press. Edge stitch around the face opening. Press again to set stitches.
Following step 22 of Gabriella's pattern instructions, lay your hood main fabric down on the right side of your main coat, aligning raw edges with the neckline, and pin in place. If adding a collar, pin collar on top of this and continue according to the the instructions.
Assembly for Gabriella's Detachable Hood
Insert 5 sockets (female side of your snaps) in the snap placement marks along one of your interfaced collar pieces. The caps should be on the wrong side of the material.
TIP: If your collar isn't a thick material, snip the points off of the prongs of your snaps with nail clippers prior to pressing. This will minimize bulk in the snaps and allow them to snap together fully. This tip goes the same for the hood too.
Continue collar assembly according to steps 20-22 of the pattern instructions. Set this aside.
Recall your seam allowance determined when you traced your hood to create the pattern pieces. Take your main hood pieces and sew them right sides together along the back curve. Clip along the curve and press the seam open. Repeat with the lining pieces.
Note: Do NOT sew along the bottom or front edges.
TIP: Stuff the hood with fabric to access the seam in the curve to press it open.
Turn your main hood right side out. Insert it into the hood lining with right sides facing. Line up the center seams and the corners of the main and lining. Pin together. Remembering that your seam allowance along the neck is 1/2", sew together starting on the neck 1.5" from the back seam, around the face opening (seam allowance from tracing), and around the neck to 1.5" on the other side of the back seam. There should be a 3" opening left at the back of the neck.
Clip any curves, clip triangles off the corners, and turn right side out through the opening left in the stitching in the previous step. Push out edges and press. Edge stitch all of the way around. This will close up the turning hole too. Press to set stitches.
Insert 5 studs (male side of your snaps) in the snap placement marks along the neck of your hood. The caps should be on the main fabric side of the hood.
TIP: To camouflage your snaps, you can cover them with fabric before inserting them and pressing.
Your detachable hood is now complete.
Sewing the Facings
Pay attention to directions in the pattern regarding seam grading from here on.
Assemble the facings according to steps 23 & 24 of the pattern.
Step 25 should look like this when the facing is sewn on. Note the instruction to leave the bottom few inches unsewn and the directional sewing.
To get it to sit nicely, clip these corners off.
In step 26, the edge of the facing that is being attached to the lining is the green edge here. Not the red edge.
Match up your center, seams, and notches to Gabrialla's lining and pin these in place. Go along the edge and make ~1/4" deep snips all along the curve to make it easier to sew together.
Bagging the lining for Gabriella's is being transferred to tomorrow due to a sick, clingy, teething baby. So, that's it for today! Please post a picture like the one above on the Day 6 thread in the Facebook group in order to participate. Check back in tomorrow for Day 7!