Patience is not MY virtue; Simplicity 2508 Finished!

In my last post  I talked about the initial process; tutorial for bound buttonholes and bagging the lining, etc.

Technical recap:
Size 16 (44.5" finished bust; I am around 39.5")
Adjustments; sewed 1/2" seams on front princess and side seams
100% wool coating in magenta from Hancock Fabrics
100% polyester pongee lining fabric in baby pink from FabricMart
Bound buttonholes tutorials by Iconic Patterns and Julia Bobbin.
Bagging the lining tutorial by Grainline Studios
(Need: small FBA, shift bust point down 1", lenghten sleeve 1/2", raise pockets 3/4-1", back facing)

Yep; this is kind of a LOOK AT MY NEW COAT!!!!!! photo dump.

But each pic has something to say!!! :)

Lining is baby pink poly pongee from Fabric Mart

I am in love with this collar. Like, it's SO cute!!!  Next time I will draft a back facing. Having it lined to the neckline is just weird.

I did triple stitch for all of my top stitching so some of those curves were hard to navigate (like on the front yoke!) but it helps it stand out nicely.

The bound buttonholes. Swoon. They make me happy. I found it VERY hard to transfer the exact location/shape/size of the buttonhole to the facing to make the windows. Need to do more research on how to do that cleanly.

Also, try as I might, I couldn't get all of the silk organza to turn to the inside (a peek of that is in the pic below).

The welts are basically just flaps?? The pocket is constructed like a normal in-seam pocket and the welt is caught between the front and pocket lining. After stitching the pocket closed, turn it all out, press it well and topstitch to the side front piece.

Again, the curves were hard to top-stitch and next time I might just square them off. BUT it was really hard to turn these things right side out! Oy!!

This photo is MUCH more true to the actual fabric color. It's a really deep, rich pink.

To ensure the light pink lining didn't peek out of the yokes, I used a dark berry lining. This is the lining I'd originally set aside for this coat but the color was just off enough that it clashed rather than coordinate or contrast. But for the underside of the yokes; it works.

Uhmm, I have no pics without my hands in my pockets. Too excited. LOL!

When Scandal goes off I'm going to press it again so it's nice and crisp.

Pretty cute buttoned up too! I mean, is that collar not SUPER CUTE?!?! And OMG the length! It's perfect!

In this pic you can see the princess seam fullness is too high. I'll definitely move the bust point down for future versions.

That's my "I'm stoked!" face! If I could be wearing it right now while I eat popcorn and type, I totally would. (I think the last button needs to be like a smidge (is that a word?) lower!)

Side view. I have *very* slight shift in hem from front to back. I ended up sewing the princess seams and side seams at 1/2" for a total of 1" additional room. So this is why I think I'll do a little FBA when I adjust the bust point.

Notes from my earlier post;
the sleeve tabs are NOT too high. They are fine.
There is  NOT too much sleeve ease.
The pockets ARE too low.
The sleeves are *just* right for me. I will be adding 1/2" to the pattern.

Other notes:

I do not own a clapper but even the random piece of pine that I use for setting snaps helped a ton for flattening seams. I had to apply some pressure but it really did help.

I saw lots of suggestions to interface the entire front and I didn't. My front right piece (with the buttonholes) grew over an inch!!! OH MY GOSH. I don't remember if there was a suggestion to stay-stitch but next time I'll either be sure I stay-stitch through the body or interface the entire front piece.

I'm on the fence if I should top-stitch the coat fronts. I feel like it doesn't need it but I get happy when I look at the collar and welts with their top-stitching!!! :)

Tomorrow it'll be about 12 degrees F when I head out for work--I'm wearing it!

Simplicity 2508 In Progress

So as to not have a HUGE post when the coat is done...

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. 

Thoughts so far:

• 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.