[Wendy]

I’m in the middle of making the Sunday Brunch jacket, and I’ve encountered a problem with gathering and attaching the front panels of the jacket. The directions state that the panel should be gathered only between the dots at the top of the panel, but after doing that, I found that the panel is overhanging the yoke by about an inch and a half in the front, and the front facings won’t fit. Based on the directions, I assume the panel and yoke should line up as a continuous straight edge in order to attach the facings, but in order to achieve that, I would need to gather more of the panel than the directions indicate. I’m afraid to gather the whole panel and then find out that the sleeves won’t fit, can you please advise? Thanks.

[Roslynweatherall@yahoo.com]

Have you checked the markings with the pattern piece? Maybe you marked a different size for the gathering point?

[Wendy]

Hi Roslyn, thanks for responding — I marked the fabric exactly according to the pattern, and for the appropriate size. The instructions for this step are a little vague, as they give directions for attaching the back panel to the back yoke, which works out fine, and then they just say “repeat steps 1-3 to attach front panels to front yokes.” There aren’t any specific instructions or illustrations for attaching the front panels, so I had no reason to believe that I needed to do anything different with the front, but it’s just not coming out right when I follow the same process that I did for the back.

[Wendy]

Okay, after studying the pattern and racking my brain some more, I think I know what the issue is. I suspect that you don’t gather the front panels differently, but you do attach them differently. I’m guessing that, whereas you attach the back yoke between the dots on the back panel that you marked for your gathering (with the panel extending beyond the edges of the yoke), you need to attach the front yoke with the edges of the yokes even with the edges of the panels. I’ll give it a try and see. The rest of the pattern is so clear and well-written, it’s like taking a sewing class, but for some reason I got really bogged down with this step.

[Toyota888]

Tell us what happens as I still haven’t made this one but have it in my to do pile…