Continued!

Well, here we go again. So I've been sewing today, busy little bee that I am. Continuing on with my lovely coat, the next step was constructing the sleeves and lining.

The sleeves take shape

I'm thinking that the hem on the sleeve may be a little long - I might have to shorten it a bit - longish sleeves drive me nuts. Almost as much as a sleeve that's too short. But this is the beauty of making your own coat - customize!

Measuring for the sleeve hem.

 I have to say that creating the right amount of ease in the sleeve caps so that they'd sit perfectly within the coat wasn't easy. I've determined I hate 'ease'. But, the sleeves are in.

Working out the 'ease'.

Sleeves are in! 

So, now that the sleeves were in, I went to work on the coat lining. As I've said before, I'm using this -gorgeous crepe-backed satin in a wine colour. So nice.  Anyway, I started on the back lining, and got to basting in the darts. I hate hand sewing! I'm not very good at it!

Hand sewing - not my forte...

I completed the back lining and front lining sections; in the next few days, I'll attach the two sections, add the sleeve linings, work on the collar and then finish the coat!

Back-inside lining sewn together; my little clips look funny.

Finishing the front lining.

The journey continues in another couple of days ;)

And the sewing starts!

Well, the first stitches went in on the weekend. How exciting! First to go in was the interfacing in the front sections of the coat. I'm not convinced yet that the interfacing I bought isn't too stiff, now that I've got a bit more of the coat done; when I make this coat again I think I'll use a lightweight interfacing instead of medium weight - I think it'll hang much nicer. But, we'll see when I'm done.

First stitches go in!

And then in go the pockets!

Yay for pockets!! Look at the pretty lining :)

So far the pockets seem to hang a little funny. But we'll see when the coat is actually put together. Hmmm.... Anyway, then I stitched the back together, pressed it, and then top-stitched it. 

Yay! The back is together.

Top-stitching the back side of the coat

So far, I really love the wool. It's been easy to work with and presses pretty well. The colour is of course fantastic. I was worried about aligning the herringbone pattern when putting everything together, but the pattern is so fine that it really hasn't been a problem. 

More to come after this weekend; I'll be putting the sides together, the collar on and starting on the lining. It feels like it's coming along rather quickly!

The cutting begins...

Cutting is always the worst part of any sewing project in my opinion. It takes forever, it's tedious,  and it's damn scary! I can't get away from checking 2 or 3 times before cutting. But then, my dad always said "measure twice, cut once!"

After a whole day of washing and drying and ironing my material, I was finally ready to start my first sewing project of 2010: Vogue pattern #V7979 - a fully lined double breasted car-coat length pea coat. YAY! I love coats - I'm addicted to them. Coats make me happy, so happy that my hubby cut me off from buying anymore of them. Grrr. And so I'll make them - he didn't say anything about me making my own - mwa ha ha ha ha!

Pattern A (purple)

So, I decided to line the coat with this gorgeous deep-purplish maroon crepe-backed satin - nice and heavy for cold winter days and nights. Gorgeous to work with, it's my favorite type of satin. I like it's weight for handling - it doesn't shift and slide as much when I'm working with it.

Patience is a virtue I don't really possess - so pinning and cutting is my least favorite thing to do during a project. It's something you can't rush, either.

Pinning and cutting SUCKS!

I started with interfacing and then moved to cutting out the lining pieces - then on to the tedious job of transferring the pattern markings to the fabric in a delicate manner so as not to mark the right-side of the fabric. 

Coat lining - all cut!

Then I moved on to pinning and cutting the outer fabric of the coat - a herringbone pattern baby-pink wool. I LOVE this material. Nice and thick and fuzzy - although just laying it out I had issues with dog hair attaching itself to it! I'll have to keep a lint roller handy at all times with this baby. 

The fabrics du jour...

It's an awful lot of work to pin such a huge piece of fabric; I ended up moving to the floor where my fabric would stay put - I was trying to work on my dining room table and it kept slipping and sliding all over the place. Trying to keep the dog away from delicate onion paper and nice clean wool while mom was on the ground was a bit of a chore. He thought it was play time.

The chaos of pinning mass amounts of wool...

So, then it was time to cut and mark the patterns. Again, tedious!

Cutting!

Getting ready to mark that material!

Well, on to the sewing now! YIKES! I'm already freaking out about the buttonholes - I've never done them before. I've done a lot of things - zippers, clasps, corsets - but never buttons. And it's one of the last things I do, so it'll be a nice thing to f*ck-up right at the end. EEPS!

Fall Sewing Projects...

Here we go!

McCall's Retro Apron: M5643

Gift aprons pattern

My apron pattern!

And here's the material I bought for dirt cheap in the States at Walmart (I <3 Walmart!)

Uber cute stuff.

Yay! My future coat... (A-the purple one...)

And my Christmas dress! Yay! (Far right)