Comments on: Welt and paper jig

By: final fashion

final fashion — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 20:48:15 +0000

Nice tutorials. Wow. Thanks Kathleen!

p.s. so excited - can’t wait to get my book in the mail! I made a purchase recommendation at my university library too

By: Jinjer Markley

Jinjer Markley — Mon, 22 Aug 2005 19:52:49 +0000

Thanks for the awesome tutorials. At the time you posted I couldn’t use it, but now I need to do some welt pockets, so I’m ecstactic I could (and did) search for it!

On “bend allowance”:
I DID larn about this from some book or the other, except it was called “turn of cloth.” I make sense of it this way (warning: my grasp of geometry is very strong, so this might not make sense to non-math types):

Think of the top and bottom surfaces of fabric as parallel straight lines. When you fold over any fabric, but especially a thick one, you are making it into two concentric half-circles. the radius of the inner bend is less than the radius of the outer bend. So, depending on what it more important to you, the inner dimension or the outer dimension, you have to add or subtract some “bend allowance” to account for it.

The inner jig is made smaller to account for the smaller inner radius, the outer jig is sized for the outer radius.

My question to Kathleen:
Doesn’t the finished folded piece need to fit inside a 1″ window? So why isn’t the inner jig ~7/8″ wide so that the final folded piece will be 1″ instead of ~1 1/8′ the way it turns out with the jigs as you do them??

random, but slightly related rant:
For those of you who have ever worked in a fabric store ( I did)–remember how hard it was to put that damn polar fleece (or subtitute another really fat fabric) stuff on a bolt without the ends becoming totally offset and the fabric becoming skewed? Well, that’s because we foolishly fold the fabric in half first–one half of the fabric needs a much larger radius to go around the bolt, but it’s attached to the other, inner half of the fabric. This sucks for the fabric buyer, because after a while, the fabric gets distorted to compenstae for this discomfort and it’s really hard to get the fabric grained up again. Another reason why buying fabric wholesale is nicer–they keep it on the tubes. (not that it’s always on grain off the tube, either…)

By: Dee

Dee — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 21:42:21 +0000

Kathleen, does your book have the welt technique?

By: kathleen

kathleen — Fri, 01 Jul 2005 03:06:28 +0000

The pocket area needs to be fused anyway. Trust me. You wouldn’t notice the difference with one jacket but you’d notice over 5 of them. The fabric body becomes destabilized once you slice into it. You need to keep it’s strength up, on par with the rest of the body. Fusing does that. I was a leather coat maker for many years and I didn’t get it at first either so I know how you’re thinking.

By: Jess

Jess — Wed, 29 Jun 2005 05:35:09 +0000

I didn’t fuse the pocket area cause the fabric was so heavy I didn’t think it needed it. Do all fabrics need interfacing on a welt pocket?
Thanks! My latest attempt worked much better so I’m getting the hang of it, hee. What I’m interested in doing next is putting together about 20 welt pockets and timing myself to see how fast I can do them.
Here’s what I was trying to say. When the innner part of the jig is exactly 1″ the thickness of the fabric has to make a larger welt center, doesn’t it? After the fabric was pressed around the inner jig it would be 1″ plus fabric thickness. So when you sew 1/4″ on the sides they wouldn’t meet correctly in the center, they might be off by 2 layers of the thickness of the fabric, wouldn’t they? For heavier fabrics but lighter fabrics wouldn’t be noticeable if what I’m thinking is true.

By: kathleen

kathleen — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 20:30:43 +0000

Re: Jess comment
First I added 1/16 to the smaller jig piece, big mistake, hehe. I was thinking shouldn’t 1/16 be subtracted from the smaller jig piece? Does’t fabric add thickness?

Yes, fabric adds thickness; that’s what the “bend allowance” thing was all about. The inner jig shouldn’t be changed unless you’re changing the width of the opening or the width of the lips.

For instance I did my welt in a denim and it was fairly thick wouldn’t that add even more thickness?

The alteration has to be done to the outer jig. I’m thinking of showing a jig for a 6oz leather for comparison purposes.

The second problem I had was cutting out the corners I messed them up and went too far.

Did you fuse the pocket area first?

Here’s a picture of my first welt, a little (maybe a lot) botched up, hehe.
http://reflectdesign.com/tempo/welt_stuff.jpg

I think your pocket looks pretty good! And especially for a first attempt. Weren’t you happy with it? It certainly looks better than my first attempt :).

There’s also a pic of another welt that I was trying to think how it could be done. The pocket is sewed once and then turned out and sewn again. Could that be possible with this method?

I don’t see why not. There’s endless variety to using this process. One could also use it for bound buttonholes. The applique scissors are great.

By: kathleen

kathleen — Tue, 28 Jun 2005 20:19:59 +0000

Regarding Liana’s comment and my opinion on Marfy patterns. In general, I like the foreign patterns very much although I’ve never tested a marfy specifically. The quality standards for foreign patterns is much higher than the US domestic ones
I started a vintage pattern thread on the bulletin board and I’d be happy to start a similar topic area for foreign patterns if people wanted to discuss those. I’ll be writing more about these on the blog in the future.

By: Jess

Jess — Sat, 25 Jun 2005 19:31:21 +0000

Ok, I did my first double welt with the jig and I’m just pondering things. First I added 1/16 to the smaller jig piece, big mistake, hehe. I was thinking shouldn’t 1/16 be subtracted from the smaller jig piece? Does’t fabric add thickness? For instance I did my welt in a denim and it was fairly thick wouldn’t that add even more thickness? The second problem I had was cutting out the corners I messed them up and went too far. I think when I get some applique scissors that will help a lot. Wobbling while I was trying to sew the straight lines was another problem. I guess it’s like anything I’ve ever sewn, always thinking that it’s impossible and I’ll never get it right and then after I’ve done it enough times it gets easier and easier. Here’s a picture of my first welt, a little (maybe a lot) botched up, hehe.
reflectdesign.com/tempo/welt_stuff.jpg
There’s also a pic of another welt that I was trying to think how it could be done. The pocket is sewed once and then turned out and sewn again. Could that be possible with this method?

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 22:27:33 +0000

I really have no idea how most of these things are done correctly, Reece pocket included. I’m a new born baby on industrial techniques. So if Kathleen says they are done a certain way I’m going to believe her. I have no reason to doubt her. I do and have thought about how they might be done, but always thinking in the back of my mind, that I could be doing it wrong. But having no other source to help me, that’s the only way I was able to it. I’m very happy Kathleen is taking the time out to explain some of these things.

I have no home sewing experience. So my slate is clean. I would hardly brag about my industrial sewing experience unless it’s dealing with time and motion skills and being able to operate an industrial sewing machine (and repair it if need be). Most of my sewing experience is with disposable garments (not designer threads) and cushions that go in tree stands.

By: Jess

Jess — Thu, 23 Jun 2005 20:31:18 +0000

Ugh Oh. I just read the last post, ehee. Now I sound like one of those creepy home sewers, lol. I think I’m just going to admit that even me an industrial sewer for 12 years has preconceptions about how clothing manufacturers would sew something.