I think I'm close to being done with my muslin for my coat. Here is my first post describing what pattern I am using.
Here is the coat with my normal 1/2" shoulder to bust shortening. The shoulders fit great. If I am going to have problems with a pattern, it happens most frequently in the shoulders. I'm small but maybe have wide shoulders?
The belt is supposed to fit at high hip but on me fit at the widest part of my butt. Not flattering at all. The belt loops needed to move. My "buttons" are just taped-on circle I drew on the computer. I like to see where the buttons will be placed. These are 1.5" and I think the size is about right. I will be adding the small shoulder pads.
Here is the back. I was having severe "butt grip" issues. The coat kept climbing up my clothing. You can see there is way too much fabric at the back.
Here is my adjusted coat (and much bigger hair). I took 2" out of the length of the coat. You can barely see the horizontal line running along the bottom set of "buttons". This is where I shortened it. Obviously this will not be in the final version. I also took about 2" out of the back right above my butt tapering to nothing midback and at the hem. This picture makes me look thick around the middle but I have worn the muslin around the house to see how it looks "real" and it does not make me look fat. I did not change the belt loop location because when I shortened it, it raised the loops to a nice height. Now it hits at high hip.
The back.
To stop the butt grip factor in these shots, I wore a tricot slip pulled up to my armpits. It acted as a lining so the coat didn't ride up.
Here is a list of questions/comments for you readers out there:
- I will need some help turning points on the collars. I tried on this muslin to practice making perfect corners on the collar and they turned out only okay.
- I'm not sure where to add reinforcement. When reading the information here it looks like the front section. This coat has two seams in the front so I am thinking I will reinforce the two sections (yellow below). Do I also reinforce the back?
- I bought two different wools from Gorgeous Fabrics. One is a dark purple melton and the other is a red flannel coating. They seem similar in weight though the melton is heavier overall when I compare the two yardages. When I blown through the fabric, the melton lets less air through. I think I will use the melton with some underlining to make it extra warm. I do live in Alaska. Ann also sent some beautiful polyester charmeuse that may be the lining. I'm still deciding.
- I washed 5" squares of both fabrics to see how they would do in the washer and dryer. They both came out looking great with very little shrinkage. I did a regular wash cycle and dried them on low. Is there any reason I can't wash them at home instead of the other cleaning/shrinking methods? Out of the 5" square the melton appeared to shrink not at all and the flannal shrank about 1/4" in both directions. The hand and loft was changed only a little. The flannel looks a little beefier and the melton didn't even look like I washed it.
- Comments? Suggestions? Please leave them in the comments! There are more pictures on my own blog. I didn't want to take up too much room on this community blog. I'm learning so much already!
9 comments:
Just a reminder for the fitting stage, it is crucial to wear the right garments under your winter coat muslin to observe a good fit.
In winter when you want to wear this coat you probably do not wear just a t-shirt or lightweight top. Try the coat on with your winter clothes/ heavier fabrics like a woollen sweater, jacket suit etc. so you can see what needs to be adjusted in fit and wearing ease.
Wow, you are making some great progress. Can't wait to see more. Your alterations look good.
When I get to the part about cutting the interfacing I'll draw a diagram - you will be interfacing the top of the back, yes. In order to make the interfacing pattern you're going to pin together some of your pattern pieces.
I see that you are v anxious to work on this and work a bit ahead of the rate at which I can get instructions up. Do you have one of the tailoring reference books, suggested in the references post? I think you'd really like that top book, the one entitled "Tailoring".
Many of your questions are answered in there.
Marji, No I don't really want to work ahead but I got ahead while I was awaiting my May Burda. It showed up last week but I had nothing to work on while it was en route so I did the coat instead. I will keep pace with you guys. I probably will get one of those tailoring books though.
I know that Shannon washes wool clothing, but washing tailored coats seems like asking for trouble to me. There are a lot of layers that could be affected by all that agitation. Coats don't really need to be cleaned all that often anyway. Unless you are making a white coat I suppose. I do expect that my lemon yellow coat will need a lot more cleaning than my black one.
No, I wouldn't put the coat in the wash. I just want to wash the original wool. I would take it to the cleaners once the coat is made.
Dawn,
Your alterations look great (and good idea with the slip)! I think your collar points look very nice. The collar rolls very well.
Dawn, it looks like you did see the addendum that I added to the Q&A re washing and felting the wool, since you added the measurements.
If you like the hand of the flannel after it's been washed, and you've done the math and checked to make sure you'll have plenty of fabric to lay out your coat, then go ahead and wash it. It will make it slightly more wind resistant. If it were me though, I think that I'd take the wool out of the dryer before it was fully dry and lay it flat (I know, finding space to lay a full length of wool flat is probably pie-in-the-sky dreaming, but do what you can), making sure that your grain lines are perpendicular - weft and warp - and let it air dry the rest of the way, then press it.
In fact, before you wash it, I'd suggest the same thing as I suggest for sending it to the cleaners for steam pressing: True your grain, then baste closed your ends and your selvage edge, so that you have a folded piece going in the washer. It's less likely to wind itself into a twisted sheet that way and pull the grain all askew.
two additional questions:
1. You ask if there is any reason you can't wash instead of other methods. Is there any reason you don't want to London Shrink your fabric, or send it out for steam pressing?
I'd say that if you are going to wash, you should do so to get a desired effect, such as additional felting; but not because you don't want to do one of the other methods.
2. Do you have a pic of the alteration that you did on the back? [You said you took out length on the back in a wedge from the side seam, tapering to nothing at the CB]. Rereading yet again, Did you take out fabric vertically or horizontally? If you took it out vertically, did you take it all out of the CB or did you take it out of the princess seams?
I'm particularly challenged today, but I'm having difficulty seeing if your vertical lines are still hanging straight.
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