Coat Progress

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my new sweater!  I have to admit I was a little surprised, because I know those photos weren't of the best quality - it's one of those things that really does have to be seen in real life.

Yesterday I finally had an afternoon free to get back to my coat.  It had been a full week since I'd touched it, and frankly, having 3 sewing UFOs at once has been stressing me out!  But yesterday I was able to get this one to a point where the pieces are no longer strewn on the guest bed.  I'm quite happy about that!

The week before, I had finished sewing together the second side and sleeve seams and constructed the collar.  Because the coat is designed with a side body panel and an under and upper sleeve, the place at the front and back armhole where these three seams intersect is kind of tricky.  I noticed a marked improvement by the time I got to my fourth one and had figured out that my chances of success were heightened if I marked the seam allowances on the inside.  Here's what it looks like outside:

I'm really impressed with how well this particular Burda pattern is drafted.  The under collar piece is actually smaller than the upper collar, as it should be to roll the seam under and get a nice curve around the neck.  Based on my experience sewing from the Burda magazine, I'd assumed the pattern would have you cut two of the same piece for the collar, so I was pleasantly surprised.  The pattern also includes separate pieces for the lining,  saving you the trouble of subtracting the facings from the front and back pieces. 

I spent a lot of time on the collar to get it just right, marking my seam allowances around the curve and doing a fair amount of hand-basting.

I put my chalk pencil into one of the spaces on my 5/8" marker.

Note how the seam naturally rolls under.

Completed collar.

So that was as far as I got last week.  Yesterday I basted the open edges of the collar together in preparation for inserting it onto the coat.

And then I spent a very long time carefully basting the collar to the neckline, stitching over it, then attaching the facings.  At which point, it really started looking like an honest-to-goodness coat!  I'm so happy with how the collar looks:

I love the nice roll around the neck.

The next thing I did was to cut out my lining fabric.  I'm using a cotton voile as a lining.  In truth, it's probably a little too lightweight, but I really didn't want to make this coat too warm.  I am a lady of a certain age, after all.  We're easily overheated!

The fancy pattern weights.  This one is for Carmela!

Once those pieces were cut and marked, it was time to construct the pockets.  These are done inside-out and then turned as you would a bag - you leave a little opening which is then invisibly stitched closed by hand.

See?  You can't even see the stitches!

Pretty proud of my curves too.

The last thing I did was to baste them onto the coat.  My next step - this afternoon, I hope - will be to edgestitch them on.

I realize that the fabric is so busy, you sort of don't know where to look.  Just my style!  Here's what I've got so far:

I think I'm going to end up having my buttonholes on the left, because I like the arrangement of the flowers better that way. 

I'm getting very near the end.  Once the pockets are attached, I'll just have to hand stitch the hems, then construct and insert the lining and make the buttonholes.  I thought about doing bound buttonholes, but one of the reasons I bought my new machine is that it makes a few different buttonhole styles, and I'm anxious to try them out.

Back to work!  I have to construct my lining before the marks I made with the Mark-B-Gone disappear!