new sewing project

 

Regular readers may remember that I started learning to sew over COVID, and people who know me will not be surprised to hear (and may already have figured out on their own) that I like to be a little overdressed for any occasion. Decades ago, I worked with a woman (it's all I can do not to say "I worked with a girl..."; while she had the age to be a woman, she had attitude and irresponsibility I associate with girlhood) who had a suit consisting of a frock coat and flared pants. I have low-key wanted a coat like that ever since (it's basically a blazer with a knee-length lower hem). I've made four of 'em: neither of the first two was worth saving and are now banished from the house; I wore the third to an event over the weekend (and yes, I was a little overdressed for the event).

The last time I was in the fabric store, I saw some lovely suiting fabric, and decided I just had to try the frock coat again. Laura OLPH was rooting for purple with contrasting piping, but the ghosts of my WASP ancestors put their foot RIGHT down on that suggestion (I'm sure we'd find my homophobe father would be turning in his grave at the whole idea of my sewing at all ["No son of mine..."], if there were enough of him left to know he'd turned, but he was cremated, and how would you know if his ashes were restless?), but I did go for bright salmon lining in bridal satin, q.v. in the picture above. 

That's the bodice lining. It took me most of two days to assemble (although I don't work eight hours a day on it), partly because the original pattern doesn't include the inside pockets, which I had to design, cut parts for, and let into the pieces (a terrible, but unfortunately true riddle: Q: What's a man's blazer without inside pockets? A: A woman's blazer). I cut the pieces for jacket, lining, pockets, and all on Saturday, and between pressing, layout, and cutting, it took about five hours (I'm sure someone who knows what they're doing can cut it in less than half that).

The lining fabric is bridal satin, which is just a joy to work with; it's got body (unlike many thin lining fabrics) and stays pressed. The cut edges were shedding like crazy, but it's a polyester, so I figured that if I singed the edges, the fraying would stop. That worked a treat, but don't let the fabric catch fire when you're using the lighter.

The bodice lining includes the upper collar, and I was getting tired and cranky by the time I was putting that on; I had to cut the stitches and reassemble a number of times, which tells me it's time to quit for a while.

Next is the outer bodice, which should take a little less time (all the pieces are in the pattern, and I've made a few mistakes I can avoid on the outer, which is one of the reasons I do the lining first). And then the sleeves. Assembling the sleeve pieces is straightforward, but fitting them to the bodice (both the lining and the outer) requires attention: the sleeves are larger than the arm holes they go into, and the technique for fitting the sleeves is not forgiving. (You could have seen several ways to do it wrong on the ones I threw out.)

I've done enough of this stuff to know that when I finally get to the point that the lining and the outer are assembled, I'm only about 60% finished; there is a large amount of special finishing and hemming, and eleven or thirteen buttons to go on. I expect it to be complete in about a month.

For no reason, below find the side of the lining that will be hidden, showing the guts of the inside pockets:

Since I make 'em to suit myself, they're each large enough to hold either my oversized wallet or my cell phone.

No, I won't make one for anybody else. But if you need alterations...