Pressing Forward

OK, I know that's a bad sewing pun. But it describes what I have been doing. I haven't finished anything, but have been working.

This week I have been continuing to plug away on the UFOs in the sewing room. Today I worked on the bodice for my Burda dress, but also worked on the coat that I started for my husband last year.

The most time-consuming part of the coat is the incredible level of STRUCTURE that is in it. I haven't sewn a single seam yet, but have been sewing like mad. Not only that, but there is so much hand sewing. So far that is all I have been doing.

The first step in making a coat like this is to have the fabric pre-shrunk. My dry cleaner is used to my nonsense now and will happily steam a length of fabric for me or block seams on a stubborn fabric in a half-finished dress. To preshrink the fabric, I had them steam the wool unmercifully and dry clean the silk for the lining. You can also shrink wool by soaking some towels and putting them in the dryer with the wool on the hottest setting.

While your stuff is at the dry cleaner, you can make a muslin! When making a muslin for a coat it is best to use a very heavy-weight fabric. You want your muslin to have a similar weight and body to your fashion fabric. One of the only good fabric purchases I have ever made at Wal Mart was an incredibly heavy unbleached muslin...almost a canvas or denim. Seriously, every other fabric I have purchased there has been complete crap. I bought a black denim for pants that actually pilled in the wash. It PILLED! How does that even happen on denim?? Anyway, here is the muslin, put together oh so long ago:



Excellent fit, if I do say so myself! Once the fabric was cut out and marked, then all the hand work started. Make sure that the pieces are all well-marked, because your pattern includes lots of information, including markings for the collar roll line:


The pattern for this coat also included completely separate pattern pieces for the interfacing. It also indicates that hair canvas should be used for interfacing:


Hair canvas can be purchased from places like B. Black & Sons, who carry a brand called Hymo. You can also purchase coat "kits" from them that include sleeve heads, shoulder pads, under-collar felt, pocketing....anything you might need. The hair canvas that I am using has a grid printed on it, and I used a pencil to draw in the roll line and the stitching line.


Then I started my pad stitching. Yes, my pad stitching looks like it was done by drunken monkeys, but it serves the purpose. Essentially, you roll the collar over as you are stitching so that the interfacing holds it in the shape that you want it to be on the coat. You can roll it over your hand, or a pressing ham, whatever is going to give you the shape that you want.


After the pad stitching is completed, you add a strip of twill tape to the roll line. I then cut back the interfacing to the stitch line, and added twill tape around the edge of the hair canvas. This will help the lapels keep their shape and make sharp points.


I also cut back the canvas to the stitch line because that will make the seams less bulky. Now I am ready to continue working on the shell of the coat. Next up, welt pockets. Oy.