Sunday, February 4, 2018

2017/18 Winter Coat That Is Not Black

all these photos get big when you click on them. And there are a lot of them.
So this is as far as the coat got last spring. The body and the hood spent the summer and the fall hanging on the rack.
The pattern pieces......they went somewhere else.
This was THE COAT MATERIAL until I realized it would just shred with wear. Sure, I would be the most beautiful golden thing for a week.
But no.
 And yes, I still hang the pieces so they won't wrinkle.





I trimmed the seam allowances of the quilted lining, but I did not try it on and check the fit. And kids, this is where it goes off the rails for real.
I could not find the pattern pieces, so I traced the coat lining. 
Which went wide.






Little patchable edges went off the edges, but it all fit onto two yards of two layer supplex. 
From the STASH, kids. From the stash!
Internal pocket zippers got a Shoe Goo bead as end stops.




I sewed the patch pockets onto the  lining




Mmm, go mug fits just right!


Stole the pocket design from my Helly Hansen monsoon jacket




Yes, this is how instructions work.


Made a model of the double welt piece, folded it up to verify.

I marked the coat front where my hand landed to go into the pocket.
Apparently not noticing SIZE.


Yes, I had scraps. I used them all up.


From the still unfinished raincoat (also last spring) hiding out back there


Seam sealing the hood with Fabric Fusion glue




Useful weights.
Pinned together at the seam allowances...why didn't I try this on NOW???????

I flipped it partially inside out so I could stitch the lining and the outer fabric together at the hood/body seam, sewing through the seam allowances.

Which gets really awkward because I had already sewn the hem.
It worked far better than it should, frankly.

At this point, I had the zipper fail vision, and unpicked and redid it.
Marginally better, but I know I tried.
Still haven't really tried it on  to check how it looks.

I pieced together cuffs from  the leftover bits


Put elastic in them, put more of that sweet Pac Fabs ribbon to cover the transition.

I learned a lot sewing this. I put a lot of hard, good work into it. I have a lot more photos of this process, and I am happy with 95% of what I did. 

Unzipped.Yes, that's the redone zipper. It was worse.
And we're just going with this collage.
I am not a small person (well, I am short, but I'm chubby) but I am not that wide.
There's three inches too much overlap on the front placket.
Thus the cringy face here.
I can shoplift a cow.
A 26" zipper is two inches too long for me to connect and close without awkward efforts.

Kids, I added some snaps and I wear it.
Because that purple coat died.
And I am my own traffic flag. 
The pockets are great. That hood is rocking it (keeps the rain out of my face and I can see from side to side. It's waterproof (and man, did I need that this week!) and windproof (ditto). 
And I will not shoplift a cow.

And when summer rolls around, I will take this apart AGAIN and rethink it. Or send it to the thrift shop and make another.

Because except for the zipper, this is ALL from the stash.
So disregarding the 'my wife is an avocado' jokes from my metrostylin spouse, I am pretty happy with this.
About 92% there.


2 comments:

  1. You'll be having the last laugh when your husband needs to shoplift a cow and doesn't have room in his coat.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah, cut the dang zipper out and use snap tape, maybe asymmetrically, to take in the some of that extra width. I like avocados.

    ReplyDelete

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