Thursday, September 24, 2015

Quick Change Fix

I've done some work for Ginny at Her Story Theater and with the most recent 17th century jacket, she needed it to be easily removed during a performance with a minimum of noise.

Velcro was loud.  It made a really conspicuous ripping sound, and left icky goo all over the fabric with adhesive.  Snaps were a bit unwieldy, and buttons took forever, so I tried magnets.




I started  with the lining and a pack of magnets I bought at Joann's in the craft section.  I cut little rectangles of the lining fabric to fashion pockets to hold the magnets.  2.5 by 3.5 in.




After stitching the magnet pockets into place, I trimmed up the excess and put on the facings.   I ironed down the seam allowance to start.  The outer edge had to be hand-stitched because there was not enough room for the machine's foot.




 The result was a magnet-closed jacket that can pass for a theatrical rendition of the 1630s and can be removed quickly and silently.