Welcome to week 6 of the McCall's Spring 2017 Sew-Along! This week I'm blogging about steps 35 through 61. That's a lot of steps, but it's very straight-forward, so this one won't take too long to get through.
Week 1 - Announcement
Week 2 - Inspiration Fabrics
Week 3 - Making a Muslin/Toile
Week 4 - Darts and Pockets
Week 5 - Seams and Zipper
Week 6 - Meg's tutorial for adding a facing instead of a waistband
I'm following the instructions to the letter, with the exception of adding a bit of topstitching to the waistband and leaving off the interfacing. Since I topstitched the crotch seam to the left on the pants, I'm also going to be pressing the bib seams to the left.
1. First you're going to pin and stitch your interfaced (or not - your call) waistband to the top of your pants. I've done this in the first photo, pinning the top of the zipper out of the way. It'll be easier to get a clean finish later if you do this.
2. After you get it stitched on, iron the seam up and check to make sure the bottoms of the band align above the zipper. If they don't, now is the time to go back and fix that.
3. I've graded the seams in this picture. You always want to cut down as much bulk as possible, especially if you're using a medium weight denim like I am.
4. Here's what it looks like with a nice pressing.
5. Now we'll get started on the front bib. Sew the center fronts together, trim the seam, overlock, and fold under the edge of the facing. You may be tempted to cut your front bib on the fold, but keep in mind this seem adds stability to the bib front. You can think of it as a kind of fabric boning.
6. Sew on the facing, trim the corners, grade the seams.
7. Turn the facing to the inside, press, double fold the sides and press again.
8. I've run some basting guidelines in bright yellow thread to make it easier to topstitch from the outside.
5. Okay, I've finished the topstitching and removed the basting threads. Time to move on to the pocket.
6. Finish the facing edge, press it to the inside, sew the top sides, and clip the corners.
7. Turn the facing to the inside, make sure your corners are crisp, fold in the sides and bottom of the pocket and don't forget to miter those corners!
8. Topstitch the pocket in place. That was fun and not too difficult.
9. The back bib is trickier, simply because there's so many layers of fabric to line up and it's bulky to stitch through. One thing to note is that you only want to take 1/2" seams along the straps or they'll be too narrow for where they get sewn to the bib. I ended up cutting a mirror piece of each strap and stitching them right sides together, then turning to the outside and pressing. It was easier for me to topstitch that way as I was getting really wonky lines with the single strap.
10. Get the back facing ready by mitering the corner and pressing.
11. I've stitched the facing on and have aggressively clipped the corners and graded the seams. I clipped the inside corners of the straps as well, which you can just barely see. Apply liberal amounts of fray check! Let dry before flipping to the outside and pressing.
12. I stitched more yellow basting thread this time too, and followed up with topstitching thread on the outside. I also ran a row of topstitching along the top to give the straps even more stability.
13. Now you're ready to baste the front and back bibs to the waistband. I basted them in and then turned to the outside to check my placement. You want the center seams and topstitching to line up with each other. I had to tear mine out twice until I was happy with the placement. This denim is stretchy, so it likes to move when I'm working with it.
14. Here I've checked the placement of the back bib as well. It's lined up so I'm ready to move on to the facing waistband.
15. Once you get it stitched on you need to grade those seams and clip the corners. You especially don't want any extra bulk through the waist!
16. Here I've turned the waistband to the inside, pressed it, and pinned it to slipstitch in place.
Done! The waistband looked a little plain, so I added some topstitching to it. These are shaping up nicely! Next week I'll be back with the finishing touches and the week after is the big reveal. Questions? Leave a comment and I'll get right back to you.
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