As mentioned before, these PR patterns are pretty crazy with their fabric reqs. I had 3 yards of this coating and was prepared to make the shorter "jacket", but after laying everything out, I had "a ton" of leftover fabric.
Was this alarming? Nope.
Should it have been? Sorta.
Instagram to the rescue! Someone mentioned I might want to double check for pieces cut multiple times. I checked and "only" the sleeve tabs...
1) Until I decided to construct the lining first. HOLY #&*$! I almost forgot about the front piece being cut twice. WHEW!!!
I decided to be smart, and cut the pieces pretty much as I needed them, so I wouldn't have to keep track of everything.
2) Well I was all "Oooh! I can get a belt too!" Well no, no you can't...not when you haven't cut out your collar pieces and yokes. OY! :)
3) Lastly, I screwed up on the yokes but luckily the back yoke is cut 1 and the front yokes are small. I re-cut them without incident.
I mentioned before that I wasn't tailoring it. Okay...well maybe a little. I knew my piddly machine would NOT make buttonholes on this fabric nicely so I decided to make bound buttonholes! Yes, that is how my mind works. There was no thought that this is "more advanced" and I was totally afraid of welts until now. (kind of like how I jumped in to fly zippers but was scared of lapped zippers. Rational? No. No it is not.)
It took 4 attempts to figure out WHAT to do...
The next attempt after that was satisfactory!
I used the tutorial from Iconic patterns (here). I like the separate welts and it worked a treat. I could NOT get even stitching with 1/8" welt lips. I had to go up to 1/4". I'm happy with them.
I made windows in the facings per Julia Bobbin's tutorial (here). The gist is the same HOWEVER, Iconic patterns gives you a line to stitch over, making it almost fool proof. So fantastic.
At some point, my fabric decided to revolt against the Chaco liner. As a result, buttonhole 3 is a little bigger and buttonhole 4 is a little smaller. Shhhhhh. Don't tell anyone.
I know you guys are probably no longer surprised by anything here but I am definitely shocked I got this done so fast!
I did sew more often than I normally do; I rarely sew on Friday's and I was working on it Friday evening. I also spent HOURS (like 3.5) working on it Sunday; Sunday afternoon, the coat was taking up space EVERYWHERE! LOL!
fronts and back
collar and yoke
poor pattern pieces
lining
It was getting hectic! Haha! I had to take a break from it! Since then I've been employing the 'bits and pieces' approach.
Monday morning I pressed two seams that I'd sewn. I did a lot Monday evening. Tuesday morning I sewed the lining fronts to the coat and hand basted the neckline (it's super bulky so I wanted to baste first).
Remaining work: I need to understitch the facing, sew the neckline, sew the hem (bottom and sleeve hem), press the bejeebers out of it and sew on the buttons. I am using Grainline's bagged lining tutorial so I leave the sleeve seam open to turn the coat.
- Ridiculously small pocket; I used another pattern's pocket
- Pockets are too low for me. I thought it was fine when I marked the location on the lining. They need to move up like a full 1-1.5" on the next version(s).
- Welts too wide. I will narrow them a bit for next time.
- Sleeve tabs seem high. Will decide if they need to be moved on future versions as I wear it.
- Extra roomy sleeves. As someone with large biceps I know I shouldn't complain...I feel like I need to shave some width off for future versions. Will make that call as I actually wear it/live in it.
- The right side really does seem to want to "swing" forward more. I only put it on briefly this morning though. Will have to investigate that more tonight.
- LOVE the collar - it's so cute :)
- The length is absolutely perfect for my 5'5" self.
- Sleeve length is perfect (beware if you're long!)
- I need to lower the bust point 1" (I thought I had excess fabric below the yoke...no just curved in the wrong place for me). I don't know how I missed that. It's almost always a given that I have to lower princess seam bust points.
- Had to sew 1/2" front and side seams (for an extra 1". I'll do a small FBA too).
- Lastly, the fabric isn't so hot (I bought it awhile ago so hadn't yet grasped fabric quality). There were soooo many imperfections in it and some of them I couldn't work around. So I might not have as long a love affair with this coat as originally intended. However, the process was totally worth it and all in I paid around $20 to construct (like, fabric, lining, buttons, interfacing, thread, everything). I will not complain :)
Hope to finish up by Wednesday/Thursday but probably won't get photos of the completed coat til the weekend.
