Classy Coat - Burdastyle 119 11/2012

Hold tight, this a photo heavy post! 

I've toyed with a bit of coat making this year and learnt a few skills along the way, but I really wanted to have a go at making a good wool winter coat with proper tailoring and everything!!!! So when Minerva offered me the chance to review this amazing Lady McElroy wool blend coating I jumped at the chance. I recieved the fabric in return for a review, which you can read here.

I don't make coats unless I need them. Last winter I had identified that my smart winter coat was well past it's best. The cuffs were fraying, the lining was worn in places and the faux leather piping had split. The colour had faded a lot too. I knew I needed a replacement, but I'm determined to use the fabric of the old coat in some way too.

I thought long and hard about the style of coat that I wanted to have. It needed to be at least knee length; have a proper fastening rather than a tie belt; be formal enough to wear for special occassions and also fine to wear casually, if I so wished, and to top it all off a classic style that is not going to date. After browsing my burdastyle magazines and paper patterns, I eventually settled on style 119 from 11/2012. I think I'd ear marked this when the magazine first came out, but never had cause to make it.

This coat is made using some more traditional tailoring techniques to support the fabric. I bought some traditional interfacing and shoulder pads from Minerva and purchased the lining from The Sewing Machine Guy, which is my local fabric store (If you are ever in South east Northumberland do go and check it out!!!). As Burdastyle Magazine instructions are very, very brief I used a range of other resources to help me understand the construction. In short I referred to Couture Sewing Techniques by Claire Schaffer, The coat sew along on Gertie's new blog for better sewing and Gerties's new book for better sewing.

First Up I prepped the fabric. Normally I'd wash my fabrics in the machine, but as this blend has a very high wool content, I used my iron to steam the fabric, just hovering the iron over the fabric to allow the steam to penetrate it. I then let this dry. The traditional interfacing was prepared by soaking in a cold bath for and hour, leaving to dry naturally and then gently pressing.

While I was waiting for the fabric to dry. I traced the pattern - In Burdastyle, I usually cut a size 38, but as this is an overcoat, I decided that I'd go up a size and cut the 40. I did a pin fitting of the tissue before cutting the fabric and decided it was fine. Now the coat is finished I think the 38 would have been a slightly better fit, but the 40 is actually ok. It's not overly big and I'll be able to wear my thick jumpers underneath it!!!!

Once the main pieces were cut out, I cut the interfacing. I completely interlined the front, side front and collars. The back was underlined with cotton and the interfacing was used as a back stay and added at the hem edge and the sleeve cuffs.

 

The interfacing was permanently hand basted to the wrong side of the fabric. Once the front pieces were interfaced, I added a second layer of the interfacing above the bust as a chest piece to increase the stability in this area. I taped the roll line and pad stitched the lapels. I used Gertie's instructions for this and had a watch of her youtube tutorials. I also made bound buttonholes, which I think I'm getting better at.

Once the bound buttonholes are made, I baste them closed during construction. I also make a matching window in the facing. To reduce bulk I used a small square of organza, which prevents the edges fraying and allows them to be neat. These are then hand stitched in place.

I basted the coat together, without the sleeves in, to check the fit. I ended up taking a little bit off the side back and centre back seams to create a little more shaping at the back as it's quite a straight design. The pockets are easy as they are inseam, so no fussy welt pockets to stress over!

Once I was happy with the fit, I use a catch stitch to secure the seam allowances and then constructed and inserted the sleeves. I don't have a sleeve board but find a suitable alternative is a rolling pin rolled in a towel.

The hems were pressed up and then the collar and facing were attached. Once this was done the hems were catch stitched in place and the shoulderpads and sleeve heads were stitched in. The lining was then constructed and added along the edge of the facing and the sleeves were bagged, which gives a neat finish.

I decided that I would hand stitch the hems so that I had greater control over the vent.

It was finished with 4 buttons (plus one on the inside) and a final steam press.

I really do love the classy lines of this coat. It will be easy to wear in many situations and I hope that it will last for many years to come. 

 

 

 

Horse, Horse, Tiger, Tiger

 

Have you ever discovered a phrase in another language that you just love? This is one of those phrases - I learnt this when in China a few years ago doing some charity work. Some of the charity staff told me this phrase, 'mǎmǎhūhū'. It is translated as horse, horse, tiger, tiger and generally means a bit so-so - I'm feeling a bit horse, horse about this and also a bit tiger, tiger. It's far more decriptive than so-so.

Anyway this phrase sums up this make in more than one way. I love it and dislike it almost in equal measure. to the point where it will get worn and i'll enjoy it and it looks good, but there are a couple of issues that let the whole thing down.

Firstly let me just say how much I love the TIGER print viscose challis from Minerva. I was gifted the fabric in return for a review which you can find here.

I knew what I wanted to make with this, It's the Victoria Blouse from Fibre Mood. I'm a sucker for a high neck blouse and I love the styling. I was going to make this from an eyelet cotton that I had in my stash, but there wasn't enough of it. So when I saw this fabric I knew it was a perfect match.

 

The PDF come with layers so you can print just your size - so I looked at the measurement chart and cut a size 40. It's loose fitting, so I might have got away with the 38, but I have quite broad shoulders so I went with the 40 and it's fine. Do be aware that you need to add seam allowances to this pattern. The instructions have you use different seam allowance widths at different places - I just went with a straight 1cm all over.

 

The instructions are generally ok, but there a couple of parts that are not that clear and could be confusing for a beginner sewist. However, if you make tops regularly this is not a difficult make. I did decide to make a couple of alterations to the fastenings. The pattern calls for a hook and eye fastening at the neck and press studs at the wrist. I decided to use small round buttons and rouleux loops to fasten these instead.

As the fabric is a quite light I decided to double the yoke. Mainly to keep the insides neat, but also to provide a bit more stability. I found that this fabric was quite easy to work with and wasn't too shifty to cut and sew.

The blouse sewed up really well and all the pattern makings matched beautifully. I really loved the finish of the blouse and the styling. However there were a couple of things that I feel let the pattern design down. Fiirstly is a small issue of the back slit opening. It's just too long. I will be making this much shorter next time.

 

The main issue was the sleeves. The blouse is loose fitting and really would benefit from shirt style sleeves, with a flatter sleeve head. The one drafted has quite a steep sleeve head and this works really well for a fitted bodice, but isn't so comfy for a loose blouse. It makes the top feel tight across the back and top of the arm which it actually isn't. I think I can live with the blouse as it is, but I've altered them for my next version.

Here is what I did:

Draw a horizontal line perpendicular to the grainline at the bottom of the sleeve head and a vertical line from the top of the sleeve head to hem, parallel to the grainline. 

Cut from the hem to the top of the sleeve head, leaving a hinge of paper. Cut along the horizontal line and leave a hinge at the sides. I also cut a couple more lines from the centre point to the sleeve head curve. 

 

Then swing the sleeve open to widen and flatten the sleeve head. I then closed the hem back up. 

 

I stuck the pattern onto another pieces of paper and then retraced the new sleeve pattern. 

 

The sleeve now has a flatter sleeve head and wider bicep, which should allow more movement on this loose fitting blouse.

Boden inspired culottes

 

I do quite like Boden clothes and style, but rarely buy from them. They are just out of my price range and as someone who enjoys making her own clothes, I'd rather construct something I know will fit perfectly. These culottes were inspired by this Boden Skirt.

I prefer trousers to skirts as a rule - especially in the summer (I've lived in shorts this year - cut off jeans ones mostly). Anyway I decided to make the Culottes instead. I recieved this fabric from Minerva in exchange for my honest review which you can read in full here.

Once finished, I wasn't sure I was going to like them. I'n not really convinced about the pleats and pockets on these, but they have been a regular in my work wardrobe over September. Sadly packed away now as the fabric is super light and not suitable for the cooler weather. I have had lots of compliments when wearing them, and they do sum up my pesonality. I think they will definitely make an appearance when we get around to next spring and summer.

Oh the Horror!

I experienced the horror of an unexpected sewing disaster last week. It was also potentially an expensive disaster (and still is)!

So, what awful expreience could possibly befall a sewist? 

Not enough fabric? 

Cutting a hole while trimming/ slicing buttonholes?

Melting fabric with a too hot iron?

Fabric shrinking once the garment was made?

I have all these happen to me in the past - but this was not the issue I faced recently.

I'll begin at the beginning...

Waaaay back, like summer 2019, I was on a course in london and happeneed to spot this beautiful bamboo silk in a shop close to where the course was being held, but at £18 per metre it was out of my budget at the time. I put a couple of metres of this fabric on my Christmas list for last year and Santa delivered the beautiful soft and drapy fabric.

I knew it was precious and would need careful handling. I consided what I would make with it very, very carefully. I wanted a shirt with a bow, so I settled on the Saraste shirt from breaking the pattern and added a separate tie, that could be used as a bow. I washed my fabric and made up the shirt, completing it just as lockdown started. You can read all about the make in this blog post.

Not much call for shirts during lockdown, so it didn't get worn until a couple of weeks ago. Worn, popped in the wash on the recommended cycle (the same way I'd washed it before making), and it came out with the collar looking like this!

I was horrified. I wasn't sure how this had happened. I had trimmed the seams, but not too much. I hadn't top-stitched the collar as I wanted a nice flat smooth edge. That turned out to be a big mistake. The undercollar had shredded by at least a cm in some parts. I considered recutting the collar, but I knew that would compromise the collar stand. My option was to try to mend it. On the plus side it was mostly the undercollar that had shredded.

 

I carefully unpicked the outer edge of the collar, where most of the shredding was. I pressed thefabric as flat as possible and reinforced the damaged area with a strip of light fusible interfacing. I couldn't just trim it back as the damaged area was too deep and would have left the collar too narrow. Instead I cut a bias strip from some of the left over fabric, it was long enough to go the full length of the collar edge. I stitched this over the damaged area and pressed it to give enough width to complete the edge and seam.

 

The edge of the collar was folded to the inside and topstitched fully around the edge. The undercollar has a little ridge where the biast strip is, but I'm hoping that it will hold. The edge is not really as neat as I would like and I don't know how it will stand up to futher washing. I also had to  fold by baby hem over again and sew it a thrird time as it had frayed slighty on places there too. However I was not going to ditch a shirt that cost £40 without trying to save it, especially as I've only worn the blooming thing once.

 

Lesson learnt - interface the heck out of fine fabrics and top stitch ALL collars - even if you don't want to.

What's your sewing nightmare?