Morris Sew-Along: Assembling the Body

Today we're going to work through Morris Blazer steps 1-8 in the pattern booklet. Begin by fusing all of your interfacing to the corresponding pieces. You don't need to do this immediately but I prefer to get it out of the way at the beginning of the project so you don't have to stand around fusing later on.

With the right sides of the two back pieces facing each other, sew along the center back seam. Finish the seam with your favorite finishing method - I like to serge - and press the seam allowance to one side of the garment.

Next we'll sew the side seams so with right sides together align the front and back side seams and stitch. Finish your seam allowance and press it towards the back of the blazer.

Now we're going to sew the shoulder seams - this is step 4 in your pattern booklet. You could to the next few steps in one pass, pivoting at the corner and continuing along the back neckline but I find doing this as a two step process yields better results for the majority of people. Pivoting is kind of a pain honestly and this makes things super easy.

Align the shoulder seams of the front and back pieces starting at the armhole edge and working in towards the neckline / shawl collar. You're going to sew from the outer armhole edge to the dot marked on your pattern. In case you forgot to mark that dot, don't worry. You're just sewing to a point 1/2" in from the shoulder / shawl collar intersection in either direction. The above photos illustrate from either side of the garment what your seam should look like once you're done.

After the shoulders seams are sewn you'll want to sew the center back seam of the shawl collar. Place the right sides of the collar together, sew, then press the seam allowance open.

Now on the front pieces of the blazer only cut from the shawl / shoulder corner to, but not through, the point where the stitching ends.

Now we're going to attach the shawl collar to the neckline - step 7 in your instruction booklet.

Begin by matching the center back seam line of the collar and blazer back with right sides facing each other. Then spread the corner you just clipped and align the back neckline between the corner and center with each other.

Now you're going to sew the back neckline seam from one corner to another. I'm going to illustrate sewing from one corner to the other, but you can alternately sew out to each corner from the center back if you find it easier to end in an corner than start in one. Begin by setting your needle down directly into the last stitch of the shoulder seam, making sure you aren't catching any extra fabric in the corner.

Stitch along the center back until you reach the other corner. Make sure the fabric is aligned smoothly so no tucks will be created when you stitch into the corner. Once you reach the back corner do a small back tack to secure your collar. Clip all threads.

This is what you'll be looking at once you're done stitching across the back neckline.

Now finish the shoulder seams and grade the center back neckline seam allowance of the collar piece. Leave the neckline unfinished since it will later be sealed up.

Press the seam allowance of the back neckline up towards the collar. This will force the seam allowance of the shoulders to want to also go forward. Typically I press all seam allowances towards the back of the garment but since the natural tendency of the shoulder seam is to roll forward in this case I do press it forward.

That's all for the body, next up we'll be making and setting the sleeves.