Sewing Lady Grey

Thanks to everyone for your lovely comments.  I am very happy with my coat and will definitely wear it until it turns arctic.  The coat doesn't have enough built-in warmth to last through a Michigan winter, but it's perfect for transitional fall-to-winter weather.

Fabric & Notions:

• about 3.5 yards of wool coating (90% wool, 10% nylon)
• about 2 yards of flannel-backed satin lining (52% acetate, 48% cotton) from Vogue Fabrics
• light-weight hair canvas from Steinlauf & Stoller
• fusible interfacing for the facings, collar, and hems
• small piece of pre-washed muslin for back stay
• walking foot to ensure even fabric feed
• silk thread for all hand sewing
• 90/14 universal needle
• twill tape to mark lapel roll line
• 2 11" by 2" strips of bias fleece for sleeve heads
• serger & thread
• shoulder pads

Alterations:

Curvy girls, Colette Patterns is your friend!  The pattern drafts are for curvier figures and full busts.  While this is only my second pattern made from this company, a scan of the reviews for other patterns shows that her patterns work on curves.  I have yet to see one of her patterns not flatter someone. 

It is rare that I can sew straight from the envelope; almost everything needs an adjustment.  I started with a straight size 14 and made a muslin out of medium-weight upholstery fabric.  The muslin showed the need for a couple of minor adjustments.

The adjustments only had to due with length.  The front was too long within and below the lapel.  The upper back was a bit too long and I needed a swayback adjustment.  Aside from that, everything else looked okay to me.  No FBA required!

Construction Details:

Tailoring the Coat

If you want to make the coat strictly following the Colette Pattern instructions, then the construction is very straightforward.  I opted to tailor the coat as part of Gertie's Lady Grey Sew Along and as Faye stated, sewing this coat was truly a labor of love.  There is a great deal of hand-sewing with stitches and techniques that were new to me.  Tailoring the coat included hand-basting hair canvas to the front and side front; taping the lapel roll line; pad-stitching the lapel and under collar; interfacing the hems, facings, and undersleeve, inserting sleeve heads; sewing a back stay; and catch-stitching the seam allowances to keep them flat.  This is a lot of work, but well worth the effort. 

The information contained in Gertie's series of blog posts is invaluable and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a properly tailored coat. The techniques presented in the sew along can be easily adapted to other patterns.  I intend to use them to sew a full-length wool coat complete with lining, interlining, and all the other fixins to keep me nice and toasty through the bitterly cold northern winters. 

Sewing the Coat

All of the raw edges were serged, sewn together on my machine, and pressed open.  I used my clapper to make the seams nice and flat and my tailors ham to press along the front and back princess seams.  I also used a walking foot to ensure even feed of both the fabric and lining.

Pocket Bags
 
The pocket bags are a bit long and tend to hang below the hem. I hand-stitched the bags to the nearest seam allowance. One pocket still tends to dip below the hem, so I will probably just make it smaller by serging off some of the length. My hands are small so I don't think I'll miss the extra room. I knew from following Gertie's sew along that the pockets were low. I thought about moving the pockets up during construction, but they seemed to be too high for me. If you sew this coat, keep this in mind and perhaps give yourself an extra inch or two in length before cutting out your fabric or devise some other plan to handle the pockets.
Belt Loops
 
Initially, I sewed the belt loops onto the back of the coat. I moved them to the side because I didn't like how the loops stuck out at the back. The loops still "bubble out" at the side, but it's less noticeable. If I make this again, I will shorten the loops a bit and maybe add some interfacing for stability.
Shoulder pads
 
I couldn't decide if I wanted to include shoulder pads or not. I have meaty shoulders already and wasn't sure if the extra fluff would be a good thing - especially since this is to be worn over other clothes. Eventually, I settled on a thin shoulder pad (about 0.5-inches thick) and think it looks okay. I compared this shoulder pad to that of a RTW pea coat that I own and find the thinner pad looks better.

Conclusion:
Coat love is in effect!  I love the style and fit of this coat.  It's moderately warm for the weather we're having an a great addition to any wardrobe.  Many thanks again for all of your comments.  =)

Until next time, be well!

L 

2012 SWAP Intentions

A few days ago I mentioned that I was participating in the 2012 SWAP on Stitcher's Guild.  After perusing my pattern and magazine stash, I've finally settled on seven garments that I'd like to sew for the contest.

 

Button-down shirt with collar:  Vogue 1260 (x2)

During the American Sewing Expo, I had an opportunity to meet Sandra Betzina and try on the actual view B (the red & black one) featured on the pattern envelope.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the shirt (in size D) fit very well.  Although it was a little snug across the bust, cutting the next size up on only the front should fix that.

Fabric:  teal striped cotton shirting; yellow stretch cotton poplin



Vest:  New Look 6914

When I received this brochure from Clarks in the mail, I couldn't help but focus on her outfit.  It's simple, chic, and not too country.  On the inside is a closer shot of the vest.  The vest has front pockets with the welt cut on the bias.  Too cute!  I have a wool houndstooth very close to the one in the picture and have some boots that I think will go nicely with the vest.  If I have the time, I might attempt to make a denim shirt as well.

Fabric:  brown/blue/green/cranberry wool small-scale houndstooth

Top:  McCall's 6078

I made this top over the summer and love it.  I need to adjust the front to minimize the pooling that appears.  I don't think I can eliminate it entirely,  It seems as if everyone who's made this top has this problem to some degree - whether they were full busted or not.

Fabric:  gold metallic knit





Jacket:  Jalie 2559
This pattern is complete in so many ways.  It's fully lined, has welt pockets, separate pieces for the back lining (with pleat), self-fabric sleeve heads, and fabulous instructions.  I've already made my first muslin and alterations to the pattern.  The fit is quite good and only needed a bit of tweaking on the side front panel.  I may or may not make a second muslin (gasp!).

Fabric:  rust coloured or brown wool flannel with cream Bemberg lining

Jeans:  Jalie 2908 (x2)

Two garments can be sewn before the contest's official start date (26 Dec).  I'm sewing my two pairs of jeans as part of the Jeans Sew Along.

Fabric:  very dark blue stretch denim; dark blue non-stretch denim










Trousers:  BWOF 11-2006-102 (x2)
I traced a size 40 and am very happy with the fit.  I compared the front and back crotch curves of the pattern to my sloper and found that not much alteration was needed.  I made two muslins and am confident in cutting out my fashion fabric.  I just have to figure out a way to make the waistband look nice and neat on the inside.  Hmm...

Fabric:  brown wool; gray wool



Skirts:  Colette Patterns 1005 & New Look 6897

These are two returning favourites.  I made them both this summer and loved wearing them. 

Fabric:  gray wool suiting (CP); brown or teal wool solid (NL)







I don't really have a colour palette.  I'm sort of making stuff up as I go along.  I'm really excited about this plan and think I can complete it.

L

Finished Projects

Over the last few days, I've been working on completing some projects that were hanging around.

Colette Patterns 1005

Fabric & Notions:

• white stretch linen
• white polyester lining
• fusible interfacing
• 12 dark blue marbled 1" buttons

I finally sat down and remeasured the way-off button spacing for the Beignet skirt. Let this be a lesson in always measuring twice! I last worked on this skirt in June. By the time I was ready to hand-sew the twelfth button, the bottom hem was an inch off. The whole front was crooked, looked terrible, and prompted the removal of all but three buttons. Needless to say, I was not very motivated to start over again. So, this skirt hung in my closet for weeks!

Determined to wear this white skirt before the end of summer, I put all other sewing aside and took my time with marking the front. I placed pins in the buttonholes where the buttons should be and adjusted the spacing after each button was sewn. Instead of sewing vertically from top to bottom, I sewed a few buttons at the top and then moved to buttons near the bottom to ensure that the hem stayed relatively level. While the hem is slightly off, it isn't nearly as bad as before. I can live with it. The top is Simplicity 2614. I blogged about it here.

New Look 6897 (out of print and on sale until 22 Aug on Simplicity.com)

Fabric & Notions:

• 100% cotton home dec fabric from Field's Fabrics in Kzoo
• 7" invisible zipper
• 1.5" wide petersham cut to waist measurement plus a little more for folding under

I *heart* this pattern. For the second version, I sewed view B without the flounce. Instead, I inserted pseudo-self made piping along the front princess seams. Since I wanted to use this honeycomb print, I knew that the princess seam would interrupt the print's flow. So I exaggerated the break using the piping.

I say it's 'pseudo-self made' because I technically made it from other piping material. JoAnn's was out of the butter yellow piping I wanted. They had some awful green colour in clearance for $0.25. I harvested the cord from the green piping and used some butter yellow bias tape I had in the stash to create the piping I wanted. This task did not go without its challenges. In all, it worked pretty well.

I used an invisible zipper in the side seam and faced the waist with petersham.

BWOF 09-2009-137

Fabric & Notions:

• 50/50 polyester-wool blend that's just not worth the time
• 7" invisible zipper
• 1.5" wide petersham cut to waist measurement plus a little more for folding under
• fusible interfacing for the zipper edges

In addition to finishing the skirt, this is my first completed BWOF magazine pattern. The instructions weren't too bad, although this skirt is really easy to construct. I cut a straight 46 and added 1/2-inch seam allowances to all edges except the lower back (flounce) edge. On those edges, I used 3/8-inch seam allowances since the curve was so dramatic. I didn't add any hem allowance because I suspected the skirt was long enough.

I made my standard full seat alteration of 1.25 inches and lopped off 2 inches from the length. The skirt as drafted comes to my mid calf and that's not a flattering length on me. As I mentioned before, I suspected the skirt was plenty long. I didn't realize just how long until after I inserted the zipper. I unpicked the zipper and lopped off 2 inches from the back pieces and did the same from the front. I liked the width of the flounce and chose to not shorten it.

See the puckers?! *$&#@% I interfaced the zipper area and pressed the shit out of those darts and CB seam. Nothin. The fabric just has too much polyester in it. I am annoyed and can't stand it. I will try to press one more time and if it doesn't work, this is going in the give-away box.

The fabric was just a poor choice for this skirt. It doesn't have enough drape to not make the folds on the flounce look so stiff. I'll likely make this again and when I do, I'll select something with no polyester and a lot more drape.

The front isn't as bad, though there are puckers at the hem. Stupid fabric. The skirt is unlined and finished with petersham at the waist.

That's it for now. I'm working on finishing up a few other PIPs (projects in progress) and adjusting my trouser draft to crank out some pants for fall.

Until then, be well!

L