My Robson

I was very diligent last week, and worked on my Robson coat for a couple of hours every day.   On Friday I managed to finish it up.  It ended up being a lot more work than I'd expected, but I'm really happy with the end result, so it was worth it!  And really, none of the tasks were especially difficult.  It's just a lot of length and weight to shift around toward the end.  I really felt like I'd gotten a workout on Friday after I finished up!

I started my Robson journey with a tissue-fitting of the pattern:

Based on that tissue-fitting, I made the following adjustments to a size 6, which is where I fall in Sewaholic Patterns:

1.  Removed 1/2" from the length of the sleeves at the bottom.
2.  Removed 2" from the coat length at the bottom, as the belt loops and waist fell in the right place for me. (I am 5'4", and neither long- nor short-waisted.)
3.  Did a 1/2" sway back adjustment to the back piece.

It's interesting to note that I didn't have to do broad back or forward shoulder adjustments as I often do.

To make this coat I used this lovely organic cotton twill.  I wouldn't hesitate to use this fabric again.  After the pre-wash, it almost didn't need ironing!  It comes in so many beautiful colors and is quite economical.  I bought 5 yards but only used 4 yards for my coat, so I have enough left over for a skirt!

I toyed with the idea of making my own bias tape, but fell in love with an orange tape I saw at JoAnn's.  I really love orange and blue together - they're so complementary!  Marrie also made a Robson (out of this same fabric!) recently, and she very kindly posted a tutorial on how to line the sleeves.   It sounded like a good idea, so I picked up some bright orange lining to match my tape and did the same:

I hadn't been able to find buttons I liked before I left for Toronto, so I bought some there, with Andrea's help.  I really love these buttons!

For my coat, I used 7/8" buttons for the back flap and front, but 3/4" buttons on the epaulettes and sleeve tabs.  I think it looks a little more in scale with the tabs.

I made keyhole buttonholes throughout.  I thought about not cutting open the holes on the epaulettes and sleeve tabs, but then decided to go ahead and do it, since it will be much easier to iron the coat in the future if they can be opened.  I stabilized all the buttonholes with Fray Check before cutting them open with my chisel.

Not sure why this photo is so washed out!

These colors are true!

Here's the whole thing, front and back.

I think it's interesting that on the hanger, it looks like the back is much shorter than the front (well, it actually is!) but on my body, my sway back takes care of that and the hem line is even!

Believe it or not, I didn't try this on after finishing until yesterday!  I had ironed it so nicely that I didn't want to mess it up until I'd taken these photos.  The coat is quite heavy and not the easiest thing in the world to iron!  And I ended up being under the weather all weekend with sinus/allergy stuff - again.  And I still was when I took these pictures yesterday, so you just get a quick selfie in the mirror, with my sinus-headache face.  But I'm smiling because my coat is awesome and fits well!

Like everybody says, the pocket openings are quite small.  I have a hard time getting my large hands in there.

I'm hoping to get some better pics of this coat in action in NYC next weekend, along with my sew-along partner Shar!  I hope we don't get too caught up in gabbing away and forget to take pictures of our coats!