No Frills Coat

Well hello there!

Things have been mighty busy around these parts.  The week after Thanksgiving included a massive furnace and water heater installation, a visit from my friend Andrea, and a trip with her to Michigan to take a two-day fitting class.   (The visit and the class were fabulous - I'll be telling you all about it as soon as I can gather my thoughts!)  I'm settling back into my far less exciting routine now, which today involves lots of laundry.  But the sun peeked out for a while this afternoon, so I thought I'd better take advantage of it to get a few photographs.  I have four finished items to share over the next few days.  You've seen a couple of them already, but not on a body.  So today I'm starting with the coat.

I did wear my coat last week when I went out to dinner with Hubby.  Gotta say, I felt pretty fabulous in it!  However, I chose to wear an A-line skirt that day, and the pegged shape of this coat pulled it in at the bottom in a way that was borderline dorky.  I think this coat works best with slim pants, skirts or dresses.  But no matter - I still felt glamorous, especially since I had the sparkly pin on it.  Here are a couple of pictures so that you can see how the shape looks on a body.  It definitely accentuates the hips!  If you're afraid of that kind of thing, this is not the pattern for you!

The little wrinkles at the hem where the facing meets the outer are still visible after all.  I may go back and re-sew that section at some point, since that bit was done by hand.  Other than that, I don't really think I left anything else unsaid about this coat in my Mega Post, so I'll just share a few more pictures. 

You may remember I wanted to find some dark grey elbow-length gloves.  After I finished the coat, I spent a fair chunk of time downtown looking for them, and came up empty handed.  And then it occurred to me that I ought to have checked Amazon.com - and sure enough, I found just what I was looking for!

These gloves are by a company called Warmen.  They were very reasonably priced, and the quality is really great.  They're buttery soft and come almost up to my elbow.  I really like it that there's a clear sizing chart on the Amazon listing, so you can figure out what size to order.  They do run small, since I believe it may be a Japanese company - there was  a price tag in Yen attached!

I have a whole set of accessories for this coat:  the pin, a vintage Vera scarf (shown in these photos), the long gloves, my pumpkin-colored hat and a new grey Infinity Cowl that I just finished this morning.  Here's a sneak peek of them, but I'll save the pictures of the coat with the cowl and hat for tomorrow.

Bubble Coat Mega Post

I finished my wool coat today!

I started working on it in earnest last Wednesday.  I took lots of pictures and meant to do progress posts as I worked, but it ended up being a busy week . . .  so I'm lumping them all in one huge mega-post today.

This is the coat I've been wanting to make for over a year:  "Bubble Coat with Front Ruffles" from Burda magazine 12/2011.  I fell in love with it after coming across Kokuryu's beautiful coat on the BurdaStyle website and vowed to make my own.  By the time I discovered it, the issue in question was out of print, so I had to hunt one down on eBay - mine came all the way from Israel.

As you can see, the original has a satin ruffle/flounce at the front.  I really considered making one on my coat, but in the end the fabric I bought had a more masculine feel so I decided to leave it off.  My fabric came from Fashion Fabrics Club - yet another drug website the Mad Housewife introduced me to.  Over the summer they had all their wool coatings on sale for $10 a yard, so I bought 3 yards of a grey/cream herringbone with orange stripes running through.  I really only needed 2 yards for the coat, but wanted to give myself some leeway.  I didn't mess up though, so now I have enough left over for a matching hat or a skirt.

Because this is a "magazine" pattern, that meant tracing from the nested sheet.  I know a lot of you would rather have ALL your teeth pulled with no anesthetic than to trace a pattern like this, but it's really not that bad.  The thing that held me up most was lack of good light.  There are a few tricks that help:  see those colored numbers across the top?  They correspond with the pattern pieces so you know where to look.  I was tracing the red pattern pieces from this sheet.  So for example - look at the red number 4 along the top, then just scan down the sheet until you see another red 4 - that is the outline of pattern piece 4 for my pattern!

Another thing I find really helpful is the picture of all the pattern pieces that's given in the instructions under the line drawing of the garment:

This little box shows where to look for your pattern pieces, what color the lines are, and what the lines look like for each size.   You can see that I checked off each piece as I traced it (except for piece 6, which was the last one I traced).  The seams are also numbered, which is really helpful as these seam numbers are referenced in the instructions.

The instructions themselves are a little off-putting for me, but not for the normal reason.  The print is so tiny it's hard for me to read!!   But I've found a way around that:  on the Burda website, for any pattern that is available as a download, you can download just the instructions for free.  I did that and then printed them off.  Ahhh, much better!!

Aside from lack of light to trace my pattern, the thing that held me up most with this project was trying to decide what to use for interlining.  I waffled for a long time between expensive lambswool and cheap cotton flannel.  In the end I decided to go with the flannel for a few reasons:  the cost obviously.  But also, I found that not having all my materials on hand was keeping me from even starting, so rather than try to figure out exactly how much I needed and then make an online order, I just got on with it and headed over to JoAnn's for some flannel.  I also hit up my local fabric shop (Vogue) for some rayon bemberg for the lining.

The construction of this coat was actually pretty simple, but the whole process was as time-consuming as you'd think.  First cut out the outer fabric, then cut out the same pieces from flannel, then cut out the lining pieces.  THEN - hand baste all the interlining pieces to the outer pieces.  After all that, I finally got to sew a seam!  Here's an in-progress shot where you can see the interlining basted to the outer.

And here's that same corner from the front.  I'm proud to say I'm getting pretty good at these!  Good thing, because this pattern has a lot of them!

After each seam was sewn, I unpicked the basting stitches and trimmed back the interlining using my duckbill scissors.  Oddly, I didn't mind doing any of this.  I like hand-stitching, and I was in a headspace where I just wanted to take my time with this project.  I don't always feel that way, but this time I did!

The hem allowances get interfaced, so I used the 1.25" fusible knit interfacing I got from A Fashionable stitch.  Having a strip already cut made it so easy!  Sewing the hems was easy too - with wool this thick, I didn't have to be super careful about picking up just one thread (like I did on my cotton sateen coats), so I was able to zoom right along.

The coat has in-seam pockets.  The front of the pocket bag is lining fabric, and the back is outer.  For setting in the pockets, I ignored the instructions and did it the Sewaholic way.  The pattern instructions wanted me  to sew up the pocket, sew the side seam above and below the pocket opening and then set in the pocket.  Whaaaaa?  I have never seen pocket instructions like that before!  Tasia's way is so much better!

The pattern calls for the coat to close with large snaps, and I wanted to keep that feature.  But after looking at a couple of my RTW coats, I decided I'd like the snaps to be fabric-covered, so I asked Google how to do that.  I finished these up this morning and took lots of pictures for you guys - it's very easy to do, although a little time consuming. 

You start out with a circle of lining fabric twice the diameter of your snap.  My snaps measured 1.125" across, so I cut circles 2.25" in diameter.  For the "male" side, cut a tiny hole in the center and then force it over the post.

Then use a running stitch to gather the fabric around the back of the snap:

Once my fabric circle was closed, I went back through the gathers all the way around with my needle a couple more times to secure it, then brought my needle to the edge so I could sew it on my coat.

I had marked my snap placement with tailor's tacks:

It was my first time using them, but it won't be my last!  I'd always thought it would be fussy to make them, but I think it might actually be easier than using chalk. 

Here's a close-up of a finished snap couple.  You do the "female" part the same as the male, but without cutting a hole.  When you snap it closed, the fabric on the female part stretches to accomodate the post.

I'm really happy with how finished the snaps look.  I'll definitely be doing this again in the future.

As I said, the coat is lined in rayon bemberg.  I am REALLY late to the bemberg party - this was my first time using it!  I love it though - it feels so much more luxurious than the cheap linings I usually buy.  Lesson learned!

The pattern included the piece for the front and back neck facings, but forgot to mention that when you construct the lining, you need to remove the excess fabric from the lining piece at the neckline.  I figured it out though.  The pattern also does not ask you to do any clipping or understitching, but I did both.  These Burda patterns assume you've been sewing and know that you need to do those things.

The lining is attached with jump hems at the bottom and sleeve edges.  Like I did on my cotton coats, to keep things neater, I enclosed the raw edge of the facing with a Hong Kong finish.

And finally, here are the pictures of the finished coat. 

On the hanger, it looks like the facing is holding up the hem.  But on my body, there is some "take up" caused by my (modest) boobs, so it does hang straight!

There are some really nice style lines across the shoulders:

And at the center back:

On the front there is a pieced "bib:"

I added this lovely vintage brooch I have, which matches perfectly in color!

The shape of this coat is very interesting.  It's extremely pegged at the knee:

Honestly, I'm not sure how much I love it on my body.  I like it, don't get me wrong.  But I think it's a difficult shape to wear.  Of course, given that it has no collar and three quarter sleeves, the wear time for this one is limited anyway.  It does look pretty great left open, which has the added bonus of showing off my fancy fabric-covered snaps.

However, I'm very proud of my workmanship on this coat.  I took my time and made sure to do things right.  I didn't rush through any of the steps, and when I felt tired, I stopped working.  I learned a bunch of new techniques.

And I learned that there's no great mystery to sewing a coat.  It's pretty much the same as sewing anything else - just thicker.  But my trusty walking foot helped me out with that.  I used it throughout and I'm glad I did.

I've already made a hat to go with this coat.  Actually, the hat got made first!  And I'm currently working on another infinity scarf in light grey to wear along with it.  All that's left is some elbow-length gloves.  I'm pondering some ideas for that . . .

Coral Coat

I'd planned to sew up a shirt (for me) over the weekend, but when I went into my sewing room* on Saturday to gather all my materials, I suddenly turned tack and decided to finish up my second coat, which had been languishing on the guest bed for almost a month.  I'm glad I did, because the weather turned tack also, so I got to wear it out to a concert and dinner yesterday afternoon!

My original plan for this coat was to make bound buttonholes, and in all honesty, that is part of the reason I dawdled with finishing it.  Somehow it just wasn't feeling right.  Once I got the body constructed to the point where I had to make the decision, I stewed on it for a while.  In the end I felt that this cotton sateen has more of a casual feel, and to me bound buttonholes are fancy.  So I decided to go with the keyhole buttonholes again. 

I did, however, stick to my original plan of making self-covered buttons.  It was my first time doing that, and boy, is it fun!  I want to do it all the time now!  But those people who have said you don't need the kit and that you can just push the backs onto the button must have super strong fingers.  I not only used the kit and its "pusher" - I also had to push the pusher down with my rawhide mallet rather than my fingers!  This could be because my fabric is thicker, but my fingers and wrists are definitely weak - probably from all these years of knitting.

After I made my first coat, I did wear it a couple times.  But I felt like I kind of boxed myself in with that loud print:  most of my clothes are patterned, and I don't feel comfortable wearing the coat with a pattern it clashes with.  That one also has a fancier feel to me, so I'm likely going to be wearing that for dressing-up occasions (and with the few things in my closet it goes with), and this will be my "every day" jacket.

Yesterday it was warm and sunny so I wore the coat on its own.  This morning when I went out, it was quite a bit nippier, so I added a scarf and hat - I really liked how these three items worked together, since the scarf has both the coral of the coat and the lavender of the hat:

The hat is a Kim Hargreaves design (of course!) that I love so much I made it five times!

I like how the coat looks with the top button open, and I'll probably wear it that way a lot.  I've noticed on both these coats that when I button the top button, the little edge at the top doesn't want to stay tucked under the collar, so I'm thinking about going back and adding a snap.  However, that would show with the collar open and not look so great.  What to do?  Maybe a hand-worked thread loop and button.

Here's the back, all  rumply from wearing:

I'm happy I made this second, solid-colored coat, but I think I'm done with this pattern now for a good long while.  I was so excited when I made my first one that I started the second one immediately.  However, my enthusiasm quickly wore off, so it made this coat seem more of a chore than an adventure.


*a.k.a. the guest room

Beautiful on the inside.

Remember when I finished my coat?  And I kept saying I loved it so much that I was planning on making another?  I wasn't just being effusive - I'd already ordered the fabric for coat #2, and it came the very next day after I showed you coat #1.

I wasn't really planning on starting it right away, but the weather is so dreary here today that I just needed a boost of color.  So I cut and constructed the lining:

Yep, it's more of that Sinister Swarm - this time in voile.  BTW, I can confirm that those are moths - they have fuzzy antennae.  The colors in this print are just incredible:  chartreuse, coral, turquoise, lavender, ochre,  umber, orange, wine, pink and light blue.  I would never have come up with that palette - Anna Maria Horner is a genius!

The outer this time around is a solid sateen in coral, my new favorite color.  It's a little lighter in real life than what I could capture on this overcast day:

I think it's a good thing I've decided to start this so soon after the first one - the process is still fresh in my mind.  I was able to construct this lining without referring to the directions!  This time I'm planning on making self-covered buttons from the outer fabric, and bound buttonholes to make it a little bit fancier.

I often sew the same pattern two or even three times in a row.  Do you guys do that?

COAT!!!!

I finished my coat yesterday!!  Happy dance!  Guys, I love it SOOOOO much!  How much?  I've already ordered fabric to make a second one, this time in a solid color.

The coat has been mostly finished since Sunday, when I inserted the lining and did the final hemming.  All that remained was to make the buttonholes and buy some buttons, but I needed a little time to think about it first.  All along, I'd had the idea that I wanted to use fairly large buttons, 1.5 - 2 inches.  But when I sat down to learn how to use the buttonholer on my new Janome, I was a little dismayed to discover that the largest it can make is 1 inch.  At that point, I started wishing I'd opted to make bound buttonholes, but of course it was too late. 

Finally, I decided to make a couple samples of the largest keyhole buttonhole I could make and hold them up to the coat.  That convinced me that a larger button would probably have ended up looking a little clownish, so I went ahead and marked and made the buttonholes.  But not without some trepidation!  Despite my many trials (all of which worked out fine), I was really nervous that I might ruin my coat at this very last step - so nervous that my palms were sweating!  But everything came out fine.

Cutting the buttonholes open was not scary at all, thanks to the buttonhole cutting set my mom gave me for my birthday!  Thanks, Mom!

Here is a close-up of the buttons I got, which are just over an inch:

And here is the coat on its hanger:

Here are a couple pictures of the lining, which is a solid colored cotton voile:

I'm glad I took the time to finish that edge where the front facing folds back - it looks so neat.  The lining was one of the things that scared me about making a coat, but it really wasn't that hard!

Altogether, this coat took me almost exactly three weeks to make, but I kept track of my work and I really only spent about 20 hours total.  And my total cost was $76.67, which doesn't include materials I had on hand, like interfacing.  A little more than I'd planned to spend, but totally worth it. 

A year ago, I would have said that making a coat was beyond my capabilities, and maybe it was at that time.  But this project was a real confidence-booster.  I know I've said it before, but I think this pattern is a really great pick for a first coat.  In case any of you are interested in this pattern, I wanted to give a little run-down of why I like it so much:

     * separate pattern pieces for the lining
     * many options:  long or three quarter sleeves, long or shorter body, patch or in-seam pockets, collar or collarless
     * easing at bust for the three smallest sizes, and bust darts for the other sizes
     * the top sleeve piece is cut on the bias for ease of movement
     * drafted-in ease pleats in the lining back
     * clear and well-written instructions - they don't hold your hand, but if you've been doing some sewing you'll understand them
     * seam allowances are included, and even the hem allowances are marked

There were also a couple things I found confusing:
    * the side body panel is slightly lower at the front than at the back, so it does make a difference which way you put this in.  Unfortunately, the markings for this aren't very clear, and I did end up putting in one of them in backwards - and not realizing it until the seam was already clipped.  Since my lining was so lightweight, it didn't really affect how my coat hangs, but I was pretty disappointed about it because I spent SO much time and care constructing this garment that I wanted every last bit to be perfect.
     * the notches for the sleeve seem to be on the front, rather on the back like they are with American patterns, which means you have to pay a little closer attention

Overall, this pattern is a winner for me.  I'm sort of wishing I'd traced it onto my precious Swedish Tracing Paper, because I can see myself making this one again and again!

Have I teased you long enough?  OK, here are some pictures of it on me:

It feels so great on - just the right fit and weight.  Although my body measurements put me in a size 38 European, I chose to go down a size to 36.  I think a drop-shouldered, a-line shape like this can easily be overwhelming on a short, small-framed girl like me.

Love the pockets!

Back view.  Room enough without being overwhelming.

Buttoned up.

And finally, here's the whole ensemble:

I need to go someplace fancy!

I apologize for the rather drab Grey Wall photos.  I was so excited to get this up!  Never fear - I will take some more pictures when I wear it out into the world.  And this baby will be going out into the world a lot this spring!