Double Thickness

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Hi Professor,
My pattern calls for double thickness. So I’ll have two pieces of each piece. Do I sew the two pieces together first, then sew per the directions, or sew everything together at the same time per the directions? So for instance the dodice has two pieces, left and right. With the double thickness I’ll have four pieces. two left and two right?

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

hmmmm….your first step of directions will indicate if you need to sew the pieces together, like underlining, before moving on to garment construction. If it doesn’t say that in step 1 then I wouldn’t. To me, it looks like they just want two pieces of fabric on top of each other only for the cutting process. I would imagine this is because your pattern pieces are quite large and this is the easiest and quickest way to get all your pieces cut out. And it’ll actually say on the pattern pieces themselves how many you need of each piece. If you’re still unsure, you can send me an image of step 1 of your directions.

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Thanks for getting back to me so soon, I’ve enclosed two pictures, the “first step” and my pattern layout. I think I understand what your saying. I’m cutting out both pieces at the same time. Makes sense. So my fabric layout is: both pieces sandwiched together with their “Wrong Side” up, second picture. Also, do I mark the pattern indicators i.e. the small circles, big circles, pleat marks onto the fabric that has the pattern with the “Wrong Side” up? For instance, pattern 1 is placed onto the fabric “Wrong Side” up, do I mark those indicators onto the fabric?

[the_professors_assistantKeymaster]

Hi, having been inspired by your hooded cloak tutorial, I wanted to make a more traditional, warm cloak for my niece, and found a New Look pattern # 6073. (While not quite the same, your tutorial will be my companion for this project.)
I too found in my “Cutting Layouts” the reference to “Double Thickness*”. There was no mention of this term in the “Cutting Directions” portion of the instructions. I searched online pretty thoroughly without any luck. I then called the “Simplicity” telephone help line and found what this means and also found that it is NOT the same as “Double Layer”.

If you look at the image closely, you will see that the selvages are on both top and bottom. Along one edge, you will see the bottom layer extending beyond the top layer. Along the final edge you will see only a single edge of fabric that is NOT labeled as a “Fold”. Here is how to handle this layout according to the very kind Simplicity representative I spoke with:

– Layout the fabric, right side up, with selvages on top and bottom.
– Fold the fabric, left to right. Selvages will remain on both top and bottom, a folded edge will be on the left and the two raw edges will be on the right. The right side of the fabric will be facing together and wrong sides will be facing outward.
– *If you don’t need to worry about the direction of print or nap, then you can go ahead and pin your pattern and cut out as instructed.

-**If you DO work with directional prints or nap, then cut along the fold so that you will now have two pieces of fabric, right sides facing in (together), selvages on top and bottom, and raw edges on both left and right. Next,
-Carefully rotate only the top layer of fabric 180 degrees (mark the top layer at the selvage edge with chalk at the 12 O-clock position, spin this top layer to the 6 O-clock position). This will properly align the direction of your print or nap.
– You can now pin your pattern and cut according to the instructions.

This term “Double Thickness” must be the least explained layout direction in online references. I’m sure this is taught in classrooms, when it comes up, but it seems not likely to be discussed unless faced with it.

I hope this helps!
Rusty

PS: Thank you, Prof. P. for producing these outstanding tutorials. After downsizing and selling off all of my wood working shop tools I found myself still needing some way to fill time while still creating things. And, in spite of the ribbing I get from friends, I’ve found that sewing has been a great creative outlet – building clothes for my young family members (who, lucky for me, have been very appreciative). I hope that in the future you might consider a series of tutorials that address common tailoring tasks such as shortening sleeves, jacket shoulders, waist darts, etc.
Cheers!

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