burrito technique

#makenine2019 and my Islander Sewing Systems “Jacket Express”!

Last week my sewing got off to a rough start! First of all a couple of Fridays ago, I couldn’t get home without taking a good run, a few times, at the first of many hills we have … without success. I abandoned my vehicle on the side of the road and as I was walking home in the snow I saw a few vehicles in the ditch, and passed a firetruck and an ambulance! After a 4 km walk in the fresh snow, a Good Samaritin gave me a ride the rest of the way. We don’t usually get snow – but never fail, as soon as you say “We didn’t get any snow this winter!” It WILL snow!

What followed next was two full days without power, then me laid up because I threw my back out, and then a couple of days of me TRYING to get to work in the snow. (whine, whine, whine!)

All in all it added up to a VERY CRANKY LINDA WHO COULDN’T SEW! I swear next summer I am going to restore my Dear Aunt’s 1948 Singer 15-88 treadle cabinet. As you can see, the machine itself is in wonderful shape now. I just need to fix up the treadle cabinet. Then we shall see if a power outage can interfere with my sewing time! Seriously!

So when my life settled down, what did I get accomplished on my really, really cool Island Sewing Systems “Jacket Express”?

First I had to figure out how to finish off the seams of the pocket bag. Yes, I know it’s on the inside, but like all jean jackets, this jacket isn’t lined and everything just hangs out. So I sewed on some single fold bias tape (RED!) and hand sewed it down on the side that faces out. Hmm … needs some pressing!

Next, my favourite part – the “Burrito”! The first time I did a “Burrito” was during Janet Pray’s Craftsy class that I bought, which included this “Jacket Express” pattern. Ever since, any time I can change a pattern to do the Burrito technique on the yolk, I certainly do it!

Janet Pray explains it waaay better than I do, but the front and back yolks are sewn on to the bodice and back pieces. Then the shoulder seams are sewn on the inside back and front yolk pieces. Then you roll your jacket up inside to the shoulder seam and sew the outside back and front yolk pieces together at the shoulders, holding your burrito filling inside! Now you pull your burrito fillings out one side and “PRESTO” like magic your jacket and yolks have a wonderful, professional finish! Press and do your topstitching! (I’ve done the burrito before here too, maybe with more description and photos?)

Then I sewed on the sleeves, which was easy because the sleeve underarm seams and the jacket side seams weren’t sewn up yet, and I topstitched those sleeve head seams.

Then to attach the cuff, Janet Pray does something she calls a cuff “Burrito”. (Again, better explained by Janet!) You sew on the inside cuffs and fold them back on to your sleeve. Pin your outside cuff on top, right sides together, sandwiching the sleeve between the two. You bunch your sleeve inside the cuff a bit so that you can pin part of the opening shut too. You don’t want to catch your sleeve in any of your pinning! Pin and sew from an inch or so where the opening for turning starts, all around the three sides, to about an inch or so again to where the opening finishes. When finished, you pull your sleeve out of the opening and it is MOSTLY sewn up. The amount of hand sewing you have left to do is minimal!

What’s left to do now? Just some more topstitching (which I love) and the Jeans Buttons and buttonholes (hopefully this time, I’ll sew them on the correct side!!!). When I was able to drive again, I bought a couple of styles of Jeans Buttons. We’ll have to decide which style looks better, won’t we? Then comes the photos. I don’t know if the snow will still be around when I am ready for photos. We accumulated 23 cm of snow in just a day or two and it is disappearing rather quickly! Here’s the “before melt” photos … next blog post there will be “after melt” photos … with my cool jean jacket!