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Snap Them Snaps On!

The designer wearing the bomber jacket half snapped and she's holding a clicky thing to activate the camera on her phone.

All winter long, I've needed a shorter, white cotton cardigan; to stay cozy, to wear over my dresses and longer tops, and it has to be cropped to elongate my legs, wink wink.

This darling was designed step-by-step to write the pattern as I worked it. To bring out the qualities of the cotton, rigid, yet soft and lofty, I built a double knit stand collar with a folded placket facing. And, because cotton is known for stretching out, I gave the shoulders and elbows extra room by using short rows. I used six 18 mm (0.75 in) diametre silver stainless steel snaps to secure the jacket. And, with the tubular bind-off and wide ribbed edgings, this cardigan looks like a bomber jacket.

I'm extremely satisfied with the result but the research and development is not over. I need to live in it and see if it can handle my lifestyle. If it passes, I'll knit it again in a substitute yarn. At this point, I'm considering a recycled yarn.

Left side of placket facing up, an unsewn male snap is positioned at the upper edge of the facing, ther is a pin marking the diameter of the snap. This pin will indicate the centre point where the snap will be sewn.

Step-By-Step SNAP PLACEMENT The depth or width of facings depends on the closure diametre. When looking straight at the jacket, I built the facing twice the diametre of the snap.

The centre of the facing the line where the centre of the closure will go.
In the first photo, I marked with a blue bobbled pin the full width of the snap from the top edge of the facing. I made the same marking on the bottom of the facing. A full snap width above the edge of the bottom snap (photo 2) is the distance for the second snap. Placing two snaps closely at the hem helps keep the bottom from flaring.
Align the centre of the snap to the pin (photo 3) and the centre of the facing. This is where the snap is sewn.
At this point, the top and the bottom two snaps are placed. The next snap to place is the centre snap. Measure the distance from the top edge of the second from the bottom snap to the bottom edge of the top snap, noted in red. Half the measurement and this is where to place the fourth and centre snap (photo 4).
The middle distance between the edges on photo 5, noted in green, is where to place the next two snaps. This measurement will be the same for the sixth and final snap.

 

Photo 6 shows the male and female sides of the snap, the correct side of the female piece.  

Photo 7 shows the incorrect side of the female piece and looks very much like the male side. Male sides are best secured to the clothing which lays against the body, like on this jacket, the under layer of the button facing. Subsequently, the female is secured against it's counterpart facing.
Finally, I will wash, block, wear, wash again, and basically test and live in it until I decide how I need to modify the pattern before I send it to edit. This is one reason why my patterns take a long time to process. I don't want to produce a pattern that was made off-the-cuff. Besides, I need to see if the sewing on the snaps was sturdy enough to handle my wear and tear.
My next post will discuss the details of the construction beyond the snap placket. More like, how I decided to work the top-down version of the sweater, increasing style for the shoulder or faux saddle shoudler, using shortrows all over the place in unexpected, yet classic ways, and more intimate details on finishing. 
Thanks for reading!

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