"How Did It Hold Up?" The Green Apple Winter Raincoat

 Courtesy of a prompt by GMarieSews (https://gmariesews.blogspot.com/2022/01/is-it-possible.html?), we introduce a new feature:

    HOW DID IT HOLD UP?

You know, a thing I made and what happened to it? A  walk through the drawers and the closet to see what lasted and what happened to it.

The one on my mind right now is the big green winter raincoat. Cause I'm wearing it from October to March, from 2018 until now. Today, frankly.

Once again, we lost the war on Christmas

https://erniekdesigns.blogspot.com/2018/02/201718-winter-coat-that-is-not-black.html

The puckering wrinkles on the front placket don't annoy me while I'm wearing it

Because it needs some loving, and a small rethinking or two.

The interior pocket festival was great. The big 'holds my latte' pocket has also held a box of girl scout cookies, a handful of Covid test kits, a pair of mittens and a hat, a folded over Kangol hat, it's just too big enough for fun but not big enough to tear the lining from too much weight. I am not a shoplifter, but it could work for that.  The three piece hood (borrowed from the Green Pepper jacket) is just the right size with the short brim reinforced brim and the cut back sides (I can see with my periperal vision and if I turn my head, I can see even more and the sides don't swallow up my head).

One  side seam has popped at what would be the armpit, and I think I will tidy it up and open up the other side. This coat gets steamy on a cold day when I exert myself. Self-opened pit ventilation.

The zipper was too long, and has torn away from the front and see that wear at the bottom? Plastic just doesn't last, or at least the tape on this one doesn't last. But certainly the zip being too long has put undo wear on the far end when I zip it up with my little T-Rex arms. New shorter metal zip is in the WAWAK order. Sadly not orange, but a nice green. 

I added ring snaps to the top to make it close up better, and will add them all the way down the front to add back some closure at length. It's nice to be able to put it on and snap it on without having to commit to zippering the whole thing up to keep it on over my shoulders to run out to the garbage or the mailbox.

The reflective material is less reflective and needs work or replacing

Actual color of coat

Okay, so the appliques still reflect on a flash photo. They just look like hell up close.

The cheap lining started pilling the first month, but I can live with that and I still do. And I knew it would need replacing after a year. It's lasted longer than I thought it would. The handwarmer pockets need to be insulated from the outside. They get super cold.

The hard part is: I cannot get it clean enough. The waterproof coating stains easily, there's this big scrape on the front that won't come off, and I don't want to scrub it really hard to make that worse.

A print would have been a better choice.

But I .... can make this into a print.....

STENCIL SPRAYING TIME! (or when winter is over and I can take it outside to do a proper job)

MeMadeMay 2018 the UFO challenge

I hate selfies. I don't have a good mirror with a view I want you to see. I don't like taking a photo of what I wore every day. It's just not my nature.

Sad tiny woman tries to take photo in bathroom of Seattle Opera house. Doesn't try again. All of you with bathroom selfie skills, have pity. No floor length mirrors for me

I do sew every day in May. I have the time, I get to and the UFO pile grew again.

My sister's skirt needs pockets. 

Sad teen found sweater that has so many beetle holes, it might as well get wacky mending. Son has approved black dots. Kinda a wool polka dot thing.

The cocoon coat is hovering and waiting

This needs pockets

This needs duplicating and a fabric choice. It does have swatches coming from Spoonflower.

This needs to be made wearable, either a shirt or a jacket

This jacket toile has all the fittings for a final version. Several.

This is a backpack. You can't see it?

This t will need to get all shrunk and twisted in the wash before I alter it. It's a poly blend so it won't shrink. That ruler is on the grain. The back has the same misgrain. It's not going to end well. Well, the star will get transplanted to a hoodie. Because I will always love Cap for July 1974, ish#175

Beautiful sweater from Elhoffer Designs.

Needs a gusset for me chub arms

I'm surrounded. This is only a fraction.

We're starting with the raincoat. It needs the placket, the zipper, cuffs and a visor on the hood. And some reflective bling.

The zipper took longer, it got handbasted and wondertaped. I swear!  Clearly, I have learned nothing about putting in a zipper and not getting the front all shrinky looking. I'm also just tired of sewing it and I want to wear it at least once in this very brief spring season.

Enough! 

Raincoat Is Mostly Done (mug shot edition)

It's not going to rain for awhile.

I just look sooooo excited, don't I? Flattering angle, great lighting, happy face...

Which is good, because I need to put this aside for awhile. It needs more than I can give it right now. It's sucked the fun out of me.

I do think this raincoat has a lot of promise. 

It fits. It fits over my enormous sweatshirt and the big sleeved Miyake shirts. It covers my backside. The sleeves are long enough and I can raise my arm. I put in useful pockets at just the right points.

It will take a very rainy day. It has reflective bits and a visible print. The hood will stay up but the jacket isn't hanging from my head.

It just took so long to get here. Every step has taken a day of thinking and rethinking; I'm running out of time before I'm working full time and have 'pace around and change my mind' time.

And I need that 'pace around' time for the big projects.

I did not cut these pieces out. I redrafted them. Twice. But I did start with that McCall's jacket (ended up raising the sleeve angle so it was more straight across)

See, the shoulder seam has less of a slope to it now

When I got it on the table, it was offgrain, but what isn't these days?

Fabric Fusion won the seam sealing contest

The nylon can be ironed.  And if it had a weight on it overnight, it would stay pressed. Mostly.

Mostly.

I put a little horsehair braid in the seam at the front of the hood. That hood needs more overhang at the forehead.

Things did not line up perfectly, but I didn't expect them to. Four foot rule.

Numerous zippers: side hem seam. Put that curved line down at the bottom and the side rather than the top center of the coat. At least I don't have to look at it all the time.

Outside welt pocket. Got most of the puckers out.

Inside pockets with zippers pointing the right way for easy access. This is one point where I learned from the mistakes on other coats. Also learned from the black coat: I put mesh in the sleeves and shoulders; it's a nice slippery one that won't get hung up on shirts, and isn't sticky or clammy on bare shoulders and arms.

I wrote out directions, I made construction notes. I  worked stuff out ahead of time. There were a lot of layers to think about.

I even added a thin mesh layer in the body, to give it a little more substance. Which will make it more wearable in the long run.

I drafted a pattern from patterns, I made the pieces fit, I tested it numerous times, I'm pleased with the IDEA of the coat, and I will wear it. 

I wear that black raincoat, for example. It has its charms.

I do have to add the front zipper and the placket flap, and the hood is going to need a visor. I can pull it over to cover my forehead, but it won't stay.  So kids, that Oregon hood needs an extension on the front center.

But the seams are puckery. I undid a lot of them and redid them, but there's still a incompatible materials tension/stretch issue there. The Bernina badly needs a tune up, which does not help the matter.

The curved hem on the upper sleeve piece needs a facing for it. And I just got...tired and used bias tape. I can go back and redo that properly....but not today.

Once you see the rippled hem, you will never unsee the rippled hem

There are about eleventy billion things I can identify on this that don't work very well. The fabric is charming but it's not raincoat material; it would make a helluva set of tote bags. 

But it is one thing I like: it's not anything for a funeral.

Although the expression on my face implies that I am going somewhere unpleasant, I am not

I will finish it and wear it and refine the pattern further.

Because I did cut a winter lining for one. Because I am really tired of that damn purple coat. Wearing a school color in a university town is tiring. And I graduated from there. So did the spouse. And the boss. And all the friends. Because UW Daily RAWKS. 

But I live a mile from it.

When I am old, I won't wear purple.

I do not look upset with this

And I quilted it.

So this will continue. I just need a break for now.

I have novelty print pants to sew. 

Lucky for you, I can't find the photos right now.

Big a** prints - dealing with large print repeats

Big pattern repeats can hurt you.

My best practice is to trace another pattern piece, open out the fabric on the largest surface possible (that's not the floor, too old for that shit)

and start playing.

Good to have a marker to start at (see that red marker? That's where the pieces line up, on a lateral red line on the bust point level);

may I recommend the bust point, to keep any headlight effects away?

And it's friend, the butt point?
(sorry, no successful photos but you get the idea)
Tracing paper is great for auditioning this problem.

Some examples from the archives:

Getting the tassle to line up on that panel on this Miyake shirt required running the print crossways, and ate up yardage. Lucking I could use the spaces inbetween for the collar and the facings, things that don't need a motif or you can't see.

upper right corner is the back piece on the fold

I was running really short on Preciousssss yardage, so my biggest concern was cramming it all onto the fabric. But the big palm would work well on the back.

Upper back piece with motif centered mostly.

For the Dalek 5th  Avenue in 2016, I  sized the design on Spoonflower to fit my skirt pattern piece. I believe is this one of the great uses for Spoonflower printing; once I get the design honed, I can resize to fit my needs.

BTW, this process has gotten better since I did this

The world of upholstery has this one figured out

from http://carrscorner.com/repeatadjustment.php

This is kind of a blunt instrument. Upholstery doesn't use the bits inbetween to fill in pieces (those useful facings) and they don't piece stuff to fudge it, so there is definitely room for improvement in this chart. But you get the general idea. I'm geek enough to want to spend more time figuring out an estimator for yardage more complex than "Buy too damn much".

But so far on this coat, twice the amount is just going to squeak through. It's an 8 inch grid. 

And it's not on grain. The grid's not even entirely square.
(wails a heartbroken and pathetic wail)

And did I mention it was translucent?

I used that red line to try to match up the pieces that would need lining up. A big grid pattern is going to scream YOU SCREWED UP if I don't try to line them up. So I laid out all the fabric (the big piece on the floor is folded lengthwise as it has the larger pieces on it) and walked back and forth and back and forth, adjusting and measuring. The piece on the table is laid out single layer, and this isn't the final layout. I traced more pieces, because it became apparent that I was going to need almost every inch of this yardage (I had about a square foot leftover). And paper is still cheaper than fabric, and easier to mend with tape.

But I did cut.

aiiiiiiieeeeeeeee

and there's been sewing too. For terrifying real time updates, I'm instagram'ing. See that link tab up there?

Next week: glue sealing seams.

(which are drying as I type this)