Making a Sweater Coat Part 10 Attaching Hood, Facing and Sleeves

ATTACHING THE HOOD
I sewed the hood to the hood lining around the face earlier.  Now I press it and I baste the bottom edges together on my regular sewing machine.  Think of a hoods as a really long bulging collars.  To attach the hood to the coat, I will have to sew through four layers plus seam allowances, which my serger definitely won’t like, unless I do it right.  My serger has proven to only sew well through two or three layers at a time, so I decide to serge the edges separately.  I serge the edges of (a) the two layers of the hood, (b) the neckline of the coat, and (c) the neckline of the (3 piece) facing.  Then I pin the hood to the coat and baste on my regular machine.   

After laying the coat out on the floor,

I lay the facing on top of it.  Finally, I pin the facing on the neckline and sew all four layers together on my regular sewing machine with a very strong and slightly stretchy stitch.  

In doing so, I busted a needle in three pieces right at the center back seam and had to use needle nosed pliers to get one of the pieces out of the fabric.  The fabric was really thick, and the piece was entirely embedded before I fished it out.  The neckline seam is always a real bitch but this method seemed to work well and I’d definitely do it again.  Yes, it’s a lot of passes, but it’s all done by machine, and the seam is strong, straight, and centered. This seam has to be strong because people lift and handle coats by their hoods.

I press the facing in place with tons of steam.  I let each section cool before shifting the coat.  Next I pinned and sewed the front facings to the front.

Oh, I missed a spot where the hood meets the coat on the front edge. You can see how the right corner is correct, but the left one, you can see the threads poking through the hole.

 When I flip it wrong side out, you can see how the edges shifted right at the end of the seam. 

 So, ya, I need to redo that.  I rip out the stitches for an inch or so and resew it.  

SEWING THE SLEEVES

While pressing the facing, I sew the sleeves and repair the skipped overlock stitches on the sleeves.  With doubled thread, I whipstitch over the seam allowances on two spots on each sleeve.  Interestingly, the chain stitches are all good.

I attach the sleeves to the armholes.  First, I pin and hand baste the two pieces together.  Then, I sew the seam on my serger.  Works great.  Sorry, but I forgot to take photos.  You'll just have to imagine it.

Next time, I sew the lining and the hem.