Teal Blazer XII - Finishing of the lining before attaching to garment

We continue with the blazer, working on the lining. To see all the posts on this project, look for the label "teal blazer". We sewed up the sides of the lining. The shoulders at this stage are not sewn, and there are no sleeves.

It is now time to refine the cutting of the fabric.

Pinning

We begin by pinning the lining to the inside of the garment. With the garment turned inside out and laid as flat as it will go, place the lining, shiny face up on top and center. Pin in place, all around the back piece.

Next flip the work over, fold one of the front panels over, and pin in place, watching alignment and stretch (don't pull the lining too taut, it is non-elastic and needs to be able to give). Pin in place. Repeat on the other side.

Trimming

Grab sharp shears and a dose of courage and trim any excess fabric that still exists at this stage. Leave the extra fabric at the front shoulders and along the bottom. Trim everywhere else, following these three rules:

1) Leave a seam allowance around the sleeve holes

2) Also leave a seam allowance at the back shoulders. As stated before, keep all the extra fabric at the front shoulders for now.
3) Everywhere else, cut the lining fabric flush with the garment. Again, except at the bottom edge. This will be trimmed at a later stage.

Finishing of edges

Remove all pins and detach the lining from the garment. Set garment aside, we are solely working on the lining for now. The idea of what we are trying to achieve is best summarized in a picture:

Wherever there is a light blue line (along every raw edge except for the front shoulders), we want to stay stitch. Wherever there is a white line (along the back shoulders and neck, along the front neck line and down the front panels), we want to hem. Some raw edges get both treatments. The bottom edge is left alone at the moment.

To stay stitch, simply take the lining to your sewing machine, pick a long straight stitch, and stitch an inch or so away from the edge. Going too wide is better than too narrow. This does not have to be precise, the line of stitching just needs to run inside any hems you make (for instance, if the hem is 1/2 wide, then you want the stay stitching to be at least 3/4 of an inch away from the edge, pre-hemming).

A technical note, for the novice seamstress: watch the tension. I had to reduce mine, to work with the light lining fabric. It was bunching up a little.

Why are we doing this? Stay stitching is done to set the thin lining fabric and prevent it from being stretched and deformed as we work with it and hang it inside the garment. You can think of it as reinforcement stitching.

Close-up of the stay stitching around one armhole.

Next work on hemming. This is temporary hemming, so we are going to use baste stitching. Take the lining to your ironing table, turn the hems, and press. Notch as needed (the concave curves) so that the hems lie flat. Use baste stitching in a contrasting yarn to secure the pressed hems in place. I did not think about using contrasting thread, so removing the temporary stitching will require good lighting and reading glasses.

A turned hem with baste stitching. Wrong side shown.

That completes the finishing for now. The lining is ready to be attached to the garment. That's for the next post.