Pointed Yokes

Someone from Stitcher’s Guild asked if it was hard to make pointed yokes on a western shirt. The answer is no. They are actually the easiest of all the yoke designs I put on my shirts. So here we go.
For my husband’s shirts, I use Simplicity 5366 and I use only the back yoke. The front yoke is one I copied from a ready made shirt he owns. The front yokes on this shirt are too deep and can actually be used as a flap for the pocket.

To begin with, go to Pointed Yokes and down load both the front and back pointed yokes which are in pdf format. These are going to be you jumping off point to making yokes to fit your shirt pattern. You will notice the arm hole and the shoulder seam on the back yoke are not completely there. Don’t worry, you will fix that when you do your tracings.
For lady's shirts we have used this pattern.

The husky boys shirt is a basic pattern and we added length to the body and sleeves for our first go round. The size I am showing you is in a medium but you can over lay the yoke onto other sizes to change the size of yoke.
When I made the front yoke patterns, they fit a large man’s shirt and I had to skinny them down. I laid the body pattern pieces onto my yoke pattern lining up the front and center back as such. I took care to make sure I liked where the point was on the front, I moved things around making sure everythings was on the straight of the grain.
                        
I then (on an old pattern) traced the yoke right onto the body pattern pieces. That gave me my outline for the yoke. I then traced the yoke onto another piece of tissue paper using the neck, shoulders,front and back armholes and fold/center front of the pattern plus what I had traced onto the shirt. It was quite easy to do.
Onto the sewing:
Cut out all  your pattern pieces and put all aside but the front and back body and yoke pieces.

If you are adding darts to the body, do them first. Then sew the body of the shirts together at the shoulders wrong sides together and press the seams open. Set aside.

As I have an issue with getting 5/8” correctly folded under, I stitch it on the yoke fronts prior to sewing the yokes together. Only stitch the pointed parts using a long stitch.

Stitch the shoulder seams of the yokes right sides together and press the seams open.

Fold under the yoke points and press well. Remove basting stitches.

Turn over and put Steam-A-Seam or Heat-N-Bond (1/4” width) onto the seam near the folded part. Steam into position. I am using regular Steam-A-Seam but Ron Collins recommends light.

Pin the yoke onto the shirt. Line up the shoulder seams at both the neck and arm hole and pin into place. Then line up the fronts and pin into place. Smooth out the neckline area and pin into place. Finally do the pointed part and pin into place.

Remove the paper from the fusible webbing and steam it into place. No shifting of the yokes when you move it around to sew.
When you look at the inside of the shirt, there are no raw edges showing at the shoulder seams.

I use two different presser feet to top stitch. The first foot I use is the Left Edge Foot. I use a longer stitch and set the needle so it is –2.0 or very close to the edge of the yoke.


The second foot I use is the Edge foot. I set the needle to be 1/4” from the edge of the yoke and the stitch length is the same as the previous row of stitching.


You can do this without these feet using your regular sewing foot. I did it on one shirt and didn’t die doing it.
Give the yokes a good press and check the underside to see if the yokes fits at the neckline and the arm holes. If not, trim off the excess.


I always stay stitch the neckline 3/8” from the edge to keep the yoke and shirt bodies from shifting. Give a final press and you are ready to sew on the front button band.

A Cuff Idea

 Karen from Stitchers Guild showed the cuff she used on the a shirt she recently made. She used Pamela Erny’s tutorial for a wrapped cuff that I am going to do on a shirt for the Spousal Unit someday. Where Pamela has stripes, I will  have the plain fabric; one front placket, inner collar band, sleeve placket, and the under cuff.

Custom Made Shirts

When our son visited us, he gave me his first custom made shirt which was like winning the lottery. There is much to be learned from this shirt in the area of shirt making. He also let me take pictures and trace two of his other shirts. These shirts fit him perfectly and the fabric is to die for.
Shirt #1 is either an Italian cotton or a linen cotton blend. It has a gorgeous hand even though it wrinkles. But the wrinkles aren’t ugly and they seem to smooth out while being worn. The feature of this shirt is the cuffs and collar band.
The cuffs have this dark brown piece added and they look so smart when the shirt is worn. I traced the cuff to get the exact measurements.

The collar band is solid coloured on the outside. When worn you just see it. The tailor also did the inside of the button bands with the plain fabric though you didn’t see them unless the top buttons were left open. I thought it was such a neat idea that added a different element to this shirt.

This tailor sews the buttons on using an X design with the thread.
Shirt #2 was bought in a shop in Toronto. It is a high end cotton that has a very subtle sheen to it.  This shirt is imported but the store still does alterations on them for clients. The unique feature of this shirt is the collar.

There is a second collar sewn to the under collar prior to it being sewn to the top collar and then to the collar band. The white stitching on this collar is sewn down to under collar after the button hole is sewn in.

When the collar is buttoned down, you don’t see the buttons on top of the collar. Very unique. The inside collar band and the yoke lining are made of the same fabric as the second collar piece. The second unique item of this shirt was the hem. The fronts and back were hemmed prior to sewing up the side seams. This allows the tailor to alter the shirt without taking out the hem. The buttons have the name of the company printed on them.
On both shirts, the sleeves were inserted using a flat felled seam that is 1/2 – 5/8” in depth. The side seams are very tiny flat felled seams. The hems are tiny also. I learned so much about expensive shirts and will be applying some of them to the shirts I make for the Spousal Unit.

A Few Of My Favourite Things

I went looking at my pictures and saw this collage I had put together showing the clothing I had made from Oct 1, 2010 to October 31, 2011. It isn’t every thing I had made, just my favourite pieces.

The two dresses on the bottom are minus the crystals and they still look great.

Fabric Gift Bags

These Christmas gift bags are so much fun to make though they do take time. I really like the fact they can be used every year.

I first learned out to make these bags at Embroidery Club a couple of years ago. The bag was for a wine bottle and I ended up adapting it to get a gift bag. I don’t do the embroidery any more and won’t unless it is a gift for a special person.

For these bags you will need:

• 2 – 13” squares of printed fabric (Christmas or otherwise)
• 2 – 13” squares of light weight interfacing
• 2 – 4 x 13” rectangles for the cuff of the bag. It can be plain, marbled, or a small print.
• 2 – 4 x 13” rectangles of light weight interfacing
• 2 – 13 x 16.5” rectangles of lining fabric (I use broadcloth)
• 2 – 13 x 16.5” rectangles of light weight interfacing
        I cut this bags lining and interfacing only 16” for a small amount of the cuff turned to the inside of the bag.
• ribbon
• Optional 2 – 1 x 13” pieces of a contrasting fabric ( will make the bag with them this time)

Iron the interfacing on to all the pieces of the bag. Trim interfacing that shows if necessary.

Fold the 2 pieces of 1 x 13” pieces in half so they are 1/2” x 13”.

Lay the long thin pieces onto the cuffs with raw edges to raw edges. Pin into place and stitch 1/8” from raw edge.

Pin the raw edge of the stitched piece to the top of the bag making sure any print is going in the right direction. Stitch in place using a 1/4” seam. Press seam allowance up to the cuff.

Mark the button hole in the center of one piece. I marked 1” from the seam line and then marked the button hole up 1/4” from that line.

Stitch the button hole starting at the bottom of the top line. My button hole is 13 mm and they can be as long as 15 mm. Snip the button hole open. I apply Fray Block prior to cutting the button hole open. Your choice.

Pin one side together making sure the cuffs and the little trim match nicely. Sew with 1/4” seam allowance. Press the seam open. Repeat with the other side.

Pin the bottom together and sew a 1/4” seam from the stitching line to the stitching line of each side seam. Do not sew the piece of seam allowance that is a single layer.

Press the bottom seam allowance open. Next take the side seam and bottom seam and match them up to make a triangle. Pin through both the seams and smooth out so there are no folds on both sides.

Using a 6” ruler and the 45 degree lines, have the triangle of the fabric match up to the triangle on the ruler.

I use a chalk liner to make a stitching line across the the base of the triangle. As  you can see I have set the line coming down the seam at 3” but you can do 2” or 2.5” if you wish. Sew across the chalk line. I do both of these at the same time.

Fold and press the stitch line so the triangle flips up the side seam.

Your outer bag is done. The lining is done the same way except you do not add a cuff at the top and you leave an opening in one of the side seams. That is where you will turn your bag to the right side.

Both the lining and outer bags are done. Have the lining turned inside out. 

Take the outer bag and put into the lining. Match up the side seams and pin around the top. Stitch the tops of the two bags together with a 1/4” seam.

Pull the outer bag through the opening in the lining so both bags are now right side out.

I press the joining seam towards the outer bag. Push the lining into the outer bag and arrange to fit. Mine had a bit of the cuff on the inside (just trying something new).

I used a quilting marker on my sewing machine and stitched 1” down on the print of the outer bag. I then used my ditch foot to sew in the ditch where the print meets the cuff. This makes a casing for the ribbon.

At the top of the cuff, I top stitched 1/4” down. I ladder stitch the opening in the lining to close it up neatly. Then I threaded a ribbon through the button hole to tie the bag shut.

Cabbage Rolls

We had those yummy cabbage rolls last night. They are not the ones in which you use a tomato based sauce to cook them in. Nor does the meat have rice in them. Many years ago (1984 I think) a friend gave me her recipe.

Country Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage- simmer in a pot of water to wilt. Drain reserving the 1.5 to 2 cups water. You will need 16 to 20 leaves.

3/4 lb. ground pork	1 lb. lean hamburger
2 medium eggs	1 box Chicken or Turkey flavoured Stove Top Dressing
1 clove garlic chopped finely	1 medium onion chopped finely

Crush the Stove Top Dressing until it coarse. Set aside 1/4 cup for sauce if you wish to. Mix all ingredients into a bowl and let sit to blend the flavours.

1/4 cup butter or margarine	1/4 cup flour
1.5 cups cabbage water broth	1 chicken bullion cube
1 can cream of celery soup

Make sure the cabbage water broth is hot and dissolve chicken bullion cube in it.
Melt butter in a pot. Add flour and cook for a minute or two. Add liquid and stir until thick. Add cream of celery soup. If the sauce is too thick add more cabbage liquid. You can stir in the Stove Top Dressing if you want to.
To Assemble:
Mix 1/4 cup meat stuffing in each leaf. Roll and tuck the cabbage leaf around and place into a large 9 x 13” pan. You might need a smaller pan also. Pour the sauce over the cabbage rolls and cover with foil. Bake at 350F for 1 1/4 hours. Remove and skim off fat if necessary. Spoon on 1 cup sour cream, sprinkle with paprika and bake 15 minutes longer. (We do not do this step – personal choice).
If you feel that you have enough for 2 meals, divide into 2 equal size baking dishes, cook one and refrigerate the other. Do Not Freeze.

Cuff Tutorial

Sunday was cooler than Saturday by a lot. Enough that people in the higher levels couldn’t start their trucks if they weren’t plugged in. We are suppose to warm up some though. Let’s wait and see though as the forecast could be wrong.
Yesterday morning I let out the darts on the blue blouse and shortened them by 4”. That gave Queen Emma more room she needed through the hips.

When I was down in Nanaimo, Ron Collins talked to me about the flap on the pockets of the Spousal Unit’s shirt. I was not to worry about the depth of the seam allowances and to focus on matching the bias to the shirt. I never transferred that thought to the cuffs until I watched Ron do it on the DVD #10 Shirts and Blouses. All my fussing about the cuffs was solved. I made sure the sleeves opening was the same for both sleeves and then proceeded.
1. Pin the cuff onto the sleeve leaving about 3/8 to 1/2” seam allowance on the one end and pinning around.

2. Sew the cuff on, trim the seam and press the seam towards the cuff. Notice I have turned under 5/8” at the other edge of the cuff.

3. Pin the cuffs together so the folded edge is slightly lower than the stitched edge. This is so the folded edge will cover the seam when turned.

4. Using a ruler to help you, mark the stitching line where you have pinned. It should be a couple of threads away from the continuous lap for the turn of cloth.

5. Stitch on the marked line, cut at top on an angle and trim the seam allowance to about 1/4”. Press open.

6. Turn the cuff and press so it is nice and neat. I put Steam-A-Seam on the folded edge and when I am ready to do the final pressing of the cuff, I remove the paper covering and press it into place. Stitch close to the edge using an edging foot.

7. The finished cuff.

I then inserted one sleeve and didn’t need to worry about adjusting the sleeve cap. It looks might good.

Wrinkled and I know I need to do a couple of adjustments to the side seams prior to finishing this blouse.

Until tomorrow..................