Insanely wide top-stitching: more Vogue 1335

I’m still making Vogue 1335, the slightly mad Guy Laroche jacket from autumn 2012. It looks like a fairly straightforward sew at first sight.

Vogue 1335 line art

But did you notice the top-stitching? It’s something like an inch to the side of the seamlines. Normally I’d top-stitch by lining the seamline up with something on the sewing machine’s presser foot, which works nicely for regular top-stitching of 1/4″ or less. But no presser foot is two inches wide.

What I’ve been doing is using my Elna’s quilting guide, which is a metal rod that slots into the back of the machine’s shank. It bends down at one end to rest on the fabric. The idea is that you slide it over to the width you want and line up the original seamline or stitching line with the quiet guide. Only mine doesn’t really work out of the box; it fits so loosely that it moves around as soon as I start to sew. A little paper and sellotape cured that though.

Sewing machine with quilt guide wrapped in paper

Paper wrapped quilt guide from the side

And here we have reasonably straight one inch top-stitching. There are welt pockets too. I already blogged about making welt pockets and these are exactly the same as the last lot so I didn’t take any construction pictures this time. Very pleased with how they have come out though.

Vogue 1335 construction: jacket front

Vogue 1335 top-stitching closeup

Hopefully now I’ve done the pockets and worked out how to do the top-stitching the rest will be simple. There are a couple of inset corners on the neckband but I can’t see any difficult bits apart from that.

9 thoughts on “Insanely wide top-stitching: more Vogue 1335”

  1. Nice paper and tape fix! I have done things like that from time to time with my Singer, like how the zipper foot didn’t quite line with the needle so I added a little masking tape padding to the shaft before installing the foot to move it over a smidge. Looking forward to seeing your finished jacket!

  3. I’m so impressed with you for tackling this pattern – I bought it when it came out too – but since I was living in warm weather climate never got round to it. I assume this is for fall / winter – or are you making it in a lighter fabric?

    1. It’s a wool Melton so I think it’s going to be pretty warm. But I’ll probably get to wear it a bit this spring because I really feel the cold. Summer seems like a long way off right now!

  5. I am really enjoying reading your progress and look forward to the results. I’ve never used my quilting guide. Another fix that I might try on my machine is to move the needle, but I doubt I could squeeze an inch that way.

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