Product: Swedish surplus anorak (AKA snow smock, snow parka, vindblus, pull-over) MFR stamp: Textil-Söm Size: FV 50 (so-called XXL) measurement length from to width 28.5"/72 cm armpit armpit center back 34.5"/87 cm base of hood hem sleeve 37"/94 cm center back cuff Body:

Arm:

Hood:

Pocket:

       As  you  may  have  guessed,  I  haven't  actually  constructed  one  of  these  (rather  destructed),  but  here  is  an  outline  of  the  construction  process  based  on  seam  order  noticed  while  ripping  seams,  filled  in  with  what  I  would  suggest  after  my  making  a  wool  pull-­‐over  from  another  pattern.    First,  seams.    Seam  allowances  on  this  pattern  (the  above  pattern  includes  seam  allowances)  greatly  varied  but  were  usually  around  1  cm.    These  should  probably  be  adjusted  as  you  go  (the  allowance,  not  the  pattern  size)  to  make  each  piece  fit  how  you  want.    Nearly  all  the  seams  on  this  were  a  kind  of  flat-­‐felled  seam.    This  is  the  seam  used  on  jeans,  and  is  stronger  than  top-­‐stitched  but  (I  find)  more  putsy  to  sew  correctly.    Also  note  that  there  are  no  exposed  edges  on  the  flat-­‐felled  seam,  whereas  the  edges  are  exposed  on  the  inside  of  the  garment  with  top-­‐stitched  seams.    If  I  were  making  one,  I  would  just  use  top-­‐stitching  for  all  of  them  because  I  think  that's  good  enough  and  certainly  easier.    At  any  rate,  here  are  the  two  seams  used:  

 I  can't  think  of  a  way  to  break  up  the  formation  of  the  flat-­‐felled  seam  and  still  get  the  result  they  had,  so  just  pin  or  press  in  place  and  make  the  two  lines  of  stitching.    Or,  there  are  other  kinds  of  flat-­‐felled  seams  that  can  be  done  in  two  steps  similar  to  the  top-­‐stitch:  sew  wrong  sides  together,  then  fold  over  the  seam  allowances  (which  are  on  the  right  side  of  the  garment)  and  stitch  them  down.    Looking  at  the  diagram,  just  imagine  taking  the  seam  allowance  of  the  top-­‐stitch  and  folding  the  very  edges  back  to  the  right,  into  the  second  stitch  before  sewing  it.    One  last  note  on  the  flat-­‐felled  seam  is  that  it  is  suited  to  straight  seams  (think  jean  legs)  and  is  very  rarely  used  on  curved  lines.    1.  Assembling  arms,  hood,  and  body  Our  main  goal  is  sewing  up  the  sides  and  underarms  last,  allowing  us  to  work  with  a  flat  garment  for  as  long  as  possible  (and  also  making  top-­‐stitching  easier  on  the  machine).  

 At  times  you  might  need  to  improvise  on  the  seams,  but  the  general  idea  on  these  is  to  entirely  enclose  cut  fabric  edges  in  seams  whenever  possible.    A  lot  of  the  seams,  such  as  the  cuffs  and  hood  flap  (both  effectively  double-­‐layer  pieces),  are  just  a  single  running  stitch  on  the  pieces  put  together  with  the  edges  folded  in  between  the  two  pieces.    For  example,  the  seam  joining  sleeve  to  cuff  would  look  like  this:  

 If  you  want  a  hood  cinch  tie,  it  will  go  between  the  hood  and  the  hood  trim.    You  may  care  to  pin  it  there  before  (and  while)  sewing  on  the  hood  trim,  and  then  sew  across  the  tunnel  and  through  the  tie  at  the  top  of  the  hood.    This  was  done  on  the  original  smocks,  and  keeps  the  ties  from  migrating  to  one  side.    2.  Attaching  assembled  hood  to  body  Before  attaching  the  hood,  you'll  want  to  figure  out  the  pleats.    Make  them  such  that  the  bottom  length  of  the  pleated  hood  fits  perfectly  around  the  neck  hole  of  your  body,  which  is  already  sewn  together  at  the  shoulders.    My  smocks  had  eight  pleats  on  the  hood,  placed  about  like  this:  

 Just  keep  the  pleats  around  the  neck  portion  (between  the  two  outer  pleats  above)  and  you  should  be  fine.    It  will  make  life  easier  if  you  sew  the  pleats  in  before  attaching  the  hood,  just  a  single  line  of  stitching  on  only  the  hood  piece  that  holds  down  nothing  but  the  pleats.    After  making  the  pleats,  stitch  the  hood  on.    The  neck  hole  corresponds  to  the  main  hood  piece;  the  hood  flap  will  extend  behind  this  piece  and  even  continue  past  the  edge  of  the  flat  neck  bottom.    The  stitching  extending  from  the  neck  hole  here  is  holding  the  bottom  of  the  neck  flap  to  the  front  body  panel:  

   3.  Attaching  assembled  arms  to  body  This  should  be  fairly  straight-­‐forward.    The  edges  of  the  gussets  should  line  up  with  the  edges  of  the  armholes  on  each  side  of  the  body  panels.  

   4.  Attaching  cuffs  Just  like  pleating  the  hood  to  fit  the  neck  hole,  you'll  want  to  pleat  your  arm  ends  to  match  your  cuff  length.    My  smocks  had  five  pleats  of  a  little  over  1  cm  each.    Again,  sew  in  the  pleats  before  joining  the  seam.    5.  Pockets  Here  is  how  our  pocket  flaps  will  line  up  with  the  pocket  body:  

 Note  the  overlap,  which  is  unique  to  this  pocket  design.    Again,  see  my  review  for  some  related  pictures.    To  make  the  pocket  flap  from  two  pieces,  just  hide  the  edges  inside  and  sew  together  (this  may  require  some  pressing  and/or  pinning).    We  will  leave  a  bit  of  the  pocket  flap  edge  when  sewing  them  to  the  pockets.    This  will  allow  us  to  sew  the  top  of  the  pocket  flap  to  the  anorak  without  sewing  our  pocket  shut.    A  front  view,  then  a  side  view:  

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49483099@N02/4656589490/sizes/l/in/set-­‐72157624172871714/%5B/img

 If  you  are  unsure  of  how  the  pocket  part  should  look,  just  cut  out  one  flat  side  of  a  

brown  paper  grocery  bag,  cutting  about  an  inch  from  the  edge.    (If  you  cut  along  the  bottom  corners  now,  you  would  end  up  with  our  pocket  pattern.)    The  pocket  will  be  sewn  to  the  anorak  through  the  inch  of  the  flat  side  that  you  left.    You  can  kind  of  see  this  edge  here  on  the  upside-­‐down  pocket:  

 As  far  as  placement  goes,  the  pockets  on  these  are  about  an  inch  from  the  bottom  (after  hemming),  but  you  can  obviously  put  them  wherever  you  want.    These  pockets  are  right  on  my  thighs,  and  some  people  complain  about  this  being  annoying  when  they  have  things  in  their  pockets.    Consider  my  next  post,  "What  I  would  do  differently,"  or  my  modification  thread.    6.  Final  step  The  final  step  is  to  sew  up  the  sides  and  underarms.    The  stitching  on  my  smocks  stops  a  few  inches  from  the  cuff  to  leave  a  little  breathing  room  there  (which  is  good  because  the  cuffs  are  pretty  tight).    Then  fold  up  and  sew  the  hem,  and  you're  done!      If  anything  in  this  scattered  account   is  unclear,  feel  free  to  ask.    Later  on  I'll  be  making  a  third  post  on  this  thread  with  modifications  to  the  pattern  that  I  would  suggest,  but  I'm  tentatively  waiting  on  that  until  I  do  more  work  on  my  own  modifications.  Eric      The hood flaps are really only one hood flap (I made up the name but don't know what else to call it); there are two pieces stitched together so that (1) the area is more stiff and (2) the edges can be nice. It's the same with the cuffs (which get folded lengthwise), only there isn't a convenient place for a fold on the hood flap, so it's made from two pieces.

The front edges of the main hood piece just touch in the front and don't overlap, so the hood flap holds the buttons and blocks the wind. Of the two front sides of the main hood piece, one has buttonholes and the other has the hood flap. First, pictures:

Inside out, flap buttoned. There is a buttonhole on the tip of the hood flap, and a corresponding button around my left shoulder. It holds the hood flap in place, making the neck very windproof.

Inside out, flap unbuttoned.

Inside out, flap pulled back. The flap is only sewn to the body panel along the bottom of the flap. The light/dark line on the raised fabric is the difference between the double-layer hood flap and the single-layer main hood. Also note that the bottom of the hood flap extends past the edge of the neck hole, into the front body panel.

Rightside out, neck closed. The buttons button in this position. Only a sliver of the hood flap is visible in the center, sewn to the left side and behind the buttonhole/right side.

Rightside out, hood flap exposed. Here I have pulled down the buttonhole side of the hood front, revealing the hood flap behind.

Now diagrams: Here is how I would imagine doing it. The process is suggested by the fact that the stitching along the top of the hood flap does not intersect the main hood piece material, rather being just above it. Addition of the following steps would result in the construction order (only steps regarding the hood): hood top, hood trim, hood flap, hood pleats, hood-to-body. (The hood flap hides the edge of the hood trim; the hood trim hides the edge of the hood top.) And I realize now that I've neglected to ever mention there is a second layer of fabric sewn on behind the main buttonholes, on the inside of the hood - you should be able to see its lines of stitching in the pictures.

Step 3 just shows the result of steps 1 and 2.

If you haven't cut the pieces already, I might suggest just cutting a triangle to sew to both hood ends, making kind of a "stovepipe gusset" neck like the ECW anoraks. I'm thinking I will try to modify mine in that way. But glad to hear someone is using the pattern. Did you make any modifications? (Pictures?) Do say if any of the steps didn't work right and so forth.