Progressing on the Queen's American Ranger Jacket: Piecing the body, sleeves and false cuffs

After cutting out the jacket shell pieces, I pinned together the sleeves and front and back panels, sewing using a back stitch.  Left about a 1/2 in seam allowance.  Prior to sewing, fit the jacket shell to your torso (inside out) as well as the sleeves.  I prefer a heavy taylor's thread for piecing, leaving a finer thread for topstitching.  You should be able to overlap the front panels 1/2 in.  The sleeves should be snug and the fabric should not buckle as it lays.  On the sleeves the slash should be on the bottom side about 5in.  Pressed out the seams and tacked them down to lie flat using a whip stitch.  As the cuffs are left raw at the slash, I cut off the excess fabric (from the half inch seam allowance) that extended along the slash.  Before cutting out the bays lining, we are going to sew the entire shell together and fit it to your body.  When cutting out the bays for the lining, make sure it is 1/2 larger than the shell where you would sew it to the raw edges of the jacket (front and bottom of chest and back panels).

Then turned out the sleeves and pinned the false cuff so that the chevron point bisected the sleeve seam, about 3 inches.  This left some fabric outside the cuff. 

The false cuff should extend about an inch beyond the end of the sleeve.  This allows it to be turned under once the lining is sewn in.  The false cuff should be about four inches or 3/4 of the way up the slash.

Finally, with a back stitch, sew along the line of the false cuff from the point to the cuff slash.  Both lines of stitching should start at the point (upper sleeve seam).  This ensures that your cuff lays properly.  I also like to pin not just at the seams but throughout the cuff.  This ensures that it lays properly during application and does not buckle.  Trim any excess where the cuff overlaps the slash.  They should be cut flush and fixed together with a back stitch as well.  Your stitches should be at least 6-8 per inch.  This ensures that the fabric doesn't pull apart, and for topstitching ensures that it lies properly.  It also looks a lot better than long running stitches.

Next up, working the pockets, as well as attaching the sleeves, epaulettes and wings.