Short jacket update and coat in progress

Firstly,  a short update on my autumn jacket. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was not entirely happy with the button placement, which was a result of me having only four suitable buttons. Friday last week, however, I passed by the nearest thrift-store and found a bunch of large faux tortoise buttons. Fortunately, I was wearing the jacket at the time, so I could make sure the colours of the buttons matched. While I usually postpone tedious tasks like sewing on buttons, this time I immediately exchanged them and I am very happy with the result. Six buttons is obviously the way to go!

Six buttons are better than four.

The jacket has served me well for this whole week. The shorter sleeves and hook-and-eye closure, however, make the jacket unsuitable for colder weather, so I’m afraid that I soon have to stop using it as outerwear. Another disadvantage of the hook-and-eye closure is that the hooks catch on everything: so far they have attached themselves to my scarf and cardigan and my daughter’s coat and tights. Try unhooking yourself from a wriggling toddler in the middle of a busy café while you’re already in a hurry!

The jacket as I was wearing it today. Admittedly not the most harmonical outfit, but the jacket made me feel chique anyway! (And in my mind my favorite purple trainers go with everything.)

Anyway, one of the goals I set for myself this year is to make a real coat. Although I have sewn more than one jacket, I have always been wary of sewing outwear. For some reason it seemed too complicated to even try, but I was also put off by the costs of the materials involved. Throughout spring and early summer I pinned vintage coats and patterns I liked and then, when the right fabric came along, I decided to go for Butterick 5824.

Butterick 5824 (source: butterick.mccall.com). I have to say that I don’t find this rendering of the coat that appealing (blue is not my colour anyway), but judging by the amount of great-looking versions I have seen on the internet, the pattern is worth a try.

I bought this pattern on a whim and did not expect to sew it up anytime soon, as it requires a whopping 5m of fabric. In addition, choosing a pattern designed by Gertie is perhaps an odd choice considering I bought her first book soon after it came out and yet have to make my first garment from it. On the other hand, Gertie hosted a coat sew-along three years ago, so there is no excuse not to complete this project as any questions I might have are answered there!

Close-up of the fabric with three button options. The top buttons are the same as the ones I used for the short jacket. Colour-wise they fit well, but with a diameter of over 3cm they might be a bit too large for this coat.

The fabric I chose is a 75% wool/25% viscose blend with animal print from tyg.se. Planning on using it to make a skirt, I bought some of this fabric in last year’s autumn sale. It is a lightweight, loosely-woven fabric with a nice drape and a somewhat granular structure. This spring it was on sale again, now for a mere 28 sek per meter and that is when I decided to order more of this fabric so I could make Butterick 5824.

Searching the internet for animal print fifties style coats I found this leopard print coat dress. The silhouette reminds of Butterick 5824 (source: trashydiva.com).

One of my main concerns is the weight and loose weave of the fabric, which makes it slightly see-through and causes it to fray a lot. As the fabric is prone to sagging, the waistline needed some reinforcement. I chose to do something similar to what I saw on sewaholic.net, except I added cotton band to both the bodice and the skirt seams. Time will tell whether this was the right decision. I should probably have added interfacing to the lower collar, as it is rather floppy now.

The outer shell of the coat is finished, but sleeves and skirt are still unhemmed. Right now the coat looks very limp, but I suspect/hope that the satin lining willl give it some body.

My sewing books advised against bound button holes in loosely-woven fabric that easily frays. At the moment I am thinking that button holes in the waist seam are the best option, but otherwise I will make ordinary button holes where they are marked on the pattern.

Close up with the experimental waist stay peeking through and the faux leather piping I might use on the collar.

When I tried on the coat for the first time, I felt the collar could use some contrast to make it stand out more. I thought about cutting the upper collar from a solid fabric, but did not find anything I liked at the fabric store, so instead I bought brown faux leather piping that I might use along the outer collar edge to emphasize its shape. At this point, I haven’t completely cut out the lining, so I still have some steps to take before I will have to decide how to finish the collar.

The coat is meant to be semi-fitted, so one can still wear a sweater underneath. The skirt is very wide and I intend to hem it using my blind hem foot, because I do not have the patience to hem this thing by hand!

As I have just started an intensive course to brush up on my Swedish, I am a bit short on time the  coming weeks. Hopefully I will be able to finish this coat before it gets really cold, because I doubt that it will be warm enough once the temperatures drop to single digits (Celsius, let alone Fahrenheit).