The "not so much wool" pea coat is finished! It was 8 degrees here in Maine today, so I'm wearing a flannel shirt, wool sweater and scarf under the coat. On a day like today I'm very glad I decided to add the flannel underlining to the back. I think it really made a difference. [...]
Category: japanese coat 5-8
The home stretch — finishing the lining
The rest of this project is all about handsewing, some of which is simple, some.... not so much. Here goes. Up until now the back vent has been basted closed. In order to work the lining around the vent the basting is removed. The left vent (which is on the right when working from the [...]
Resurrecting the pea coat
Wow, this coat is way off track. God willing, I hope to wrap it up this week. Even though I haven't been posting, some progress has been made. I ran into a major roadblock when I realized that I had screwed up buying the shoulder pads for this project. I'm a horrible shopper and picked [...]
Hemming — (yawn)
OK, I know, this isn't exactly exciting stuff. I've described this process on other coats, so this is primarily for the benefit of my sew-alonger. These techniques are taken from The Bishop Method of Clothing Construction, a book from 1959 that I refer to often. The author, Edna Bishop, comes across as an imposing but [...]
Putting it all together — The BIG SEAM
I've mentioned this before, but what I'm about to do has NOTHING to do with the instructions in the book. It's just a technique that works for me. It gives a nice clean finish to the inside of the coat, and almost eliminates any hand sewing of the lining. Before getting started I've learned to make [...]
Building the collar
The collar is the last tricky bit of sewing left on this coat. After making our muslins, both my sew-alonger and I felt that the collar was too small. While working on my muslin (made from an old bed sheet), I had to stretch and clip the collar like crazy to get it to fit. [...]
The coat lining. Why do I hate this so much?
I've said it before, I'll say it again, I HATE working with polyester lining material. This crazy stuff was $2 / yd and comes with the added bonus of a little lycra. The stretch is probably a good thing for wearability, but makes it difficult to press. Hey, but it was only $2, right? The [...]
Revising the front facing
I'm really deviating from the pattern / instructions at this point. My issue is that I'm going to be inserting shoulder pads, and I only know one way to do it! It involves pad stitching the shoulder pad into haircanvas which extends across the upper chest to the armscye. I used this technique on both [...]
The back vent
Three of the four designs in the Japanese coat book have a back vent. This is my third time around the block so I'll share what I've learned. Hopefully, it will make it easier for anyone either sewing along on this pea coat, or working on another coat with a back vent.On your pattern, extend [...]
Finishing up the welt pockets.
As planned, I completed the welt pockets this morning. A couple cups of coffee and I was ready to go. I find it much easier to work on difficult things when I'm fresh. Here is the pocket all basted into place. I find the little extra time this takes is well worth it. With everything [...]
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