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!

Bias Binding Foot

Although you've not seen any photographic evidence of it (unless you follow me on Instagram), I've been slowly working on a Robson coat for the last month.  A while back I posted a picture of the bias binding foot I was using for finishing the edges, and it got quite a bit of interest.  So yesterday as I was using it I took some video to show you guys how it works.

First off, here are some pictures of what the foot looks like.  There are a couple of different styles, and this one was included in the set of hemming feet my mom gave me for my birthday this year - just like the ones I oohhed and ahhed over at her house this fall!  My foot already has the binding threaded through it so you can see how that goes.

Before I read the instructions for this foot, I thought all those openings on the side were just for decoration, or to make the foot lighter in weight.  But they serve a purpose!  You thread your binding through the one closest in size.  Here I'm using 1/2" single-fold binding, and it goes into the biggest slot.  So I'm not sure this foot is super versatile; I don't see myself ever using any binding narrower than 1/2". 

Still, it made applying the binding so much quicker.  It took some practice to figure out the right configuration for my task, but not nearly as much as the narrow rolled hem foot (which I still haven't mastered).  I was able to use this for all but the bulkiest and most curved of my edges, so probably 75% of my edges on this coat will have been bound this way by the time I'm done.

What I found to be the most important thing while using this foot is to keep both the fabric and the binding lifted upwards as they feed in, and to keep the fabric edge right up against the inside of the foot, like this:

(Note that in the above photo, I'm pulling both the fabric and the binding down so you can see the foot.)

Once you've gotten used to holding them that way, it's pretty easy actually!  I just made sure to sew slowly, constantly checking to see that everything was in line.

Here are two little videos showing the foot in action, shown from slightly different angles.

Do any of you have this foot?  Have you used it?  Are you tempted to get one?  I've really been having fun playing with mine!