Dawn: Done!

Forgive the not-great photos. I have a cold and pink eye and my husband has don't-like-to-stand-outside-and-take-pictures-of-wife-itis.

Me as a flasher. Just had to show you the inside. :)

Lots of details here on my blog and here is the review on PatternReview.com

Dawn: Making Headway

I've made a bit of progress on The Coat and I thought I would post a tip. I used those garage sale stickers to keep the right side and wrong side sorted out. This is dark purple melton wool and it's hard to decipher the right side. I figured the best offense was a good defense. I attached these stickers to the wrong sides of the fabric as I was cutting so I would always know which side was which. These stickers barely stick to regular garage sale things so I knew that them leaving behind residue was not going to be a problem. Before I fused on the interfacing, I removed them of course. That, and they amuse me. These stickers say Make An Offer. It's funny to "open" all the stacks and see what's inside. It's kind of like fortune cookies but, with these, you have to be much more reflective because most of them are prices.


I took several full length photos of the coat but they were all blurry, dark, and crappy. So I settled on two that turned out okay. This is the princess seam detailing with one of the belt loops and belt. When I take the real pictures it will have to be outside during the few daylight hours we have.


Is this lining great or what? This fabric is from Gorgeous Fabrics.

All I have left is to attach the wigan, attach the lining sleeves to the fabric sleeves, sew the hem, attach buttons, sew buttonholes, do a lot of pressing, and do a little topstitching. I am using the Kathleen Fasanella jacket bagging series to line this coat. Although, I'm pretty sure the last time I used this tutorial these was another group of photos that actually showed the process of attaching the lining to the sleeves and everything. Anyone know where it went?

It seems like a lot now that I wrote it all out. Hopefully I'll have it done by the end of the week.

Dawn's Progress

I don't know whether this is something to be happy about or sad but I finally cut out my coat pieces! I am far, far behind. :( I guess life got in the way. Now that it's cut hopefully I'll be quick about sewing it together.

Just thought I'd check in and let people know I haven't given up!

Dawn: Thread and Buttons

Marji asked me to post this here too.

There is a bit of topstitching on this coat and I know that the look of the topstitching will really make or break the coat. I have used my sample to sew several lines of topstitching to see what I liked the most. ETA: I used a longer stitch length (3.5-4.0) and reduced the feed dog tension a bit. I used regular weight thread in the bobbin and it worked well after fiddling with the tension. I have found in the past it is better to have the same weight thread in the bobbin. On this sample I was using a topstitching needle that was pretty large; 100/16.

I have narrowed it down to two but can't decide which is best. From left to right:

• Gutterman topstitching thread in a medium brown (no spool shown). I like the thickness of this thread but it comes on little, tiny spools. Actually the spools aren't small but the thread is so thick there just isn't much thread on each spool. My local JoAnn's does not have a suitable purple in this style of thread. They have a grape Jell-o color and that is it in the purple arena. Totally not suitable for a dark eggplant wool. My personal motto is: either match the color perfectly or make it very different. Otherwise it looks like you just don't know what you are doing.
• Gutterman upholstery thread in grey. I wouldn't use the grey but I just wanted to see how it looked. This is thick thread and it comes in greater quantity. This type of thread comes in very limited colors. I use it for topstitching all the time.
• Gutterman Heavy-Duty thread. I have never used this type of thread but it is the perfect color for my coat. It is 100% polyester. It is thicker than the regular, all-purpose sewing thread but not as thick as the topstiching or upholstery thread. It doesn't seem to be as shiny as the upholstery thread either. I made two rows of stitches to play with my tension.
• Gutterman Upholstery thread again in a dark brown. This is the thread I used to topstitch my BWOF Alaska coat. It actually goes very nicely with the wool too.

Now I just have to decide between the purple and the brown.

Here you can see the buttons I plan to use and you can see the topstitchng in more detail. The flash makes everything much lighter than it actually is. The buttons are very dark brown, almost black. You can see in this picture how much thicker the real topstitching thread (brown on bottom) is. The purple fades into the fabric.


Here is the coat agin so you can see the amount of topstitching. All the major seams are topstitched. I love topstitching. I think it makes things looks so RTW.


I am debating whether to do bound buttonholes. I have never done them before.

Dawn's Muslin

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:

1. 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.
2. 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?
   
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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!

Dawn's Coat Plan

I am planning on a wool coat from a Burda pattern. I haven't tried a Burda envelope pattern so I hope they are similar to the Burda WOF sizes. My worry is that they have been "americanized" with more ease. Some of you have done both so do I need to worry? Usually I make a size 36 in Burda WOF. I am really excited about making a coat with your help. I made a wool coat before but was not that happy with it. It was totally me, not the pattern. Here is the review. It is the same pattern that Erica B. is going to use.

Here is the Burda pattern I plan to use. It is 8022. I will use a wool flannel maybe? I don't have fabric for a muslin yet. I'm going to do view B with the belt.