Burda WOF 9/2005 102 Coat

Can I tell you how excited I am that the coat is finished? Let me count the ways...Seriously, I'm thrilled with this coat! The fabric is the most luxurious I have ever experience, no itchy wool here. The fabric is a (I believe) wool/cashmere/camel blend, which I bought at PA fabrics back when there was an outlet a couple of miles from my house;they had this wonderful sales where if you bought over a $100 worth of fabric you payed for half, yeap those were the days.



My very last struggles had to do with the hem and back vent. After I had bagged the lining and got it all through the sleeve, I tried it on and the hem was doing all sort of weird things. I had to rip the hem stitches to see what was going on in the construction. It turns out after I attached the wigwam according to the instructions in a Threads magazine, I neglected to actually sew a hem, duh!! Once I corrected that I sewed the hem by hand this time and all was well. The way my lining is going around the top of the vent does not satisfy me, but at this point I will let it be until the coat comes out next season to be worn. Even after reading tutorials I'm having a hard time visualizing how the lining should be attached to the vent, so I need to put it aside.

I'm also thrilled with the silk lining which came from G street Fabrics. It reminds me of the old fashion linings I used to see in my grandfather's and my father's jackets; all their clothes were made by tailors, those were the days.



What I learned during this project:

1. Bound buttonholes

2. Welt pockets with flap

3. Padstitching undercollar and lapels

4. Tailoring techniques in general, as I have discussed in previous posts, including using hair canvas.

5. Applying wigan to hems

6. During collar construction, adjusting for turn of the cloth.



As far as changing the pattern, besides adding all the tailoring, I cut the under collar as a two piece cut on the bias. Of course I had a lot of help from the Great Coat Sew Along as my muslin was analyzed by Marji.


Anyways I know you have heard plenty about this coat so I'm sure you are glad to see it finished too! I will have a brand new coat to wear next season.

Green!

Yesterday I got to spend the day in Washington DC with my family. We went to the Botanical Gardens, the Native American Museum and a brief visit to the National Gallery. I love going to the museums in the winter! We got there around 10:00 am and parked across from the gardens, no crowds at the gardens and lunch at the Native American Museum was delicious and with plenty of room to sit and relax.


Primeval

The best part of the trip, I was surrounded by the color green for a few hours! I really needed that dose of tropical weather. As a bonus they had at the gardens a special orchid exhibit, so not only did I see green but a variety of bright beautiful colors too!





Teenager at rest


Ignore my goofy look and notice that I am now the short one (at 5'6") in the family, DS1 on the left is 15, DS2 on the right 12.


The obligatory shot at arm's length


I'm holding off on showing you the coat, I'm so close to finishing!

Another knitting FO

During our power outage I also finished this Drops Cardigan 97-5. The yarn,Silk-Tweed from Garn Studio I bought when one of our local yarn shops closed a year ago with no ideal what to make with it, until I found this pattern browsing the Garn Studio site.



This was a very easy pattern, the yarn feels kind of rough, like raw silk, but I liked how it knitted up. I ended up with a cute vest, which is pretty warm, and reduced my yarn stash :-)

Vogue Knitting Tunic

This is the first time that I make and wear a knitted garment from a current magazine!

This was a really easy pattern, mindless really, but I loved the pattern. This is one of those instances where I was more interested in the end result more than the process. I really, really wanted this dress and I wanted to wear this winter because since it is so trendy who knew about next season.


I used Knit Picks City Tweed Yarn in Jacquard. I lengthened the bodice to fit my longish torso and I also lengthened the hem. This was finished during the long 3 days without power we had last week, it helps that one of my hobbies only requires human power.

This is not a dress to wear when you are looking for body definition, and I'm totally okay with that. I wore the tunic today for work and it was soooo comfortable and warm!

Here is another picture to show the underarm shaping. Another progress report on the coat later!

Double welt pockets with flap and bound buttonholes

I have finished with two of the techniques that I had challenged myself to learn while making this coat.

I finally decided on making double welt pockets because I figured out after practicing what Burda magazine was trying to say. They inserted the flap in between the coat front and the top welt to give the look you see in the pictures. They were nerve wrecking to construct but I did it! I'm so glad I overcame my fear. The flaps I made following Kay Y, the Sewing Lawyer's tutorial, which works beautifully.

The bound buttonholes were a piece of cake after the welt pockets. I watched Sandra Betzina's Foolproof Buttonholes. She does a wonderful job showing you this easy method which Summerset, from Pin and Needles also explains in her tutorial. I bought the DVD a while ago and I still think it is a great investment, Sandra has a way of empowering you that I love.

Now on with attaching the collar.


Yes it is still snowing here. For this blizzard we have had power which we lost during the first blizzard. Two and a half days and two nights with only the fireplace to heat the house was rough. I did finish one knitting project and almost done with the other.

Clio

Clio, our beagle, is afraid of cameras (actually the camera flash, and also thunder, lightning, wind, flashing lights on the school bus, snow plow...you get the picture),therefore we have very few pictures of her.

The above was taken by my 10th grader who is taking photography in school. I don't know how he managed but I'm glad he did.

I'm able to share this picture with you because at Christmas I got the scanner I have been wanting and I'm learning how to use it.

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I took advantage of the start of our snowed-in weekend (expecting up to 30 inches!), and worked on the welt pockets. They are done!!!! They look really good and so do the flaps. Tomorrow I'll follow up with pictures, just hope that we don't lose power. Of course if we do I'll just have to switch to knitting and reading.

It's starting to look like a coat!

If felt wonderful to sew seams...and I'm happy with how the it is coming along. I like having the seams marked, even though it is very labor intensive to thread trace. All the pieces are fitting in so nicely.

I also made a sample of a double welt pocket. I decided to follow the directions in Tailoring:The Classic Guide to Sewing the Perfect Jacket. For me it had the clearest instructions and pictures to go with it that made the perfect sense to me. I am really pleased with the way the pocket turned out and I will use this type and method to make under the flaps on my coat.

Practicing the welt pocket

The above show my first attempt ever to make a welt pocket; I'm glad I finally did it! While it doesn't look perfect, the width is not even across the welt, this is easily fixed, I just wasn't extremely careful when folding the welt. There is no bunching or pulling at the ends, which makes me happy. This is a single welt with the flap sewn on top. One thing I like about it, that if the welt is not perfect to my eyes, it will be covered up by the flap.

I want to do a little more reading about the technique, since I have made one I think it will be easier now to see what the tutorials are talking about.

Two outfits for the same interview

So, out of the blue I get a call from the public school system (World Languages department) for an interview for the position of long term substitute for Spanish class. I already have two part time jobs that keep me pretty busy, but I figure it wouldn't hurt to go to the interview. Anyways I get to the high school for my 8:40 am appointment to be told that they are very sorry but they have me schedule for the following morning. They apologize I say ok and leave. So now I have been seen in this first outfit so I have to come up with another for today. This time around I decide on a more casual outfit, because from what I saw there I would still be overdressed in comparison (and I was).

Anyways outfit for day one is the skirt and jacket from Simplicity 4500. I wore a RTW long sleeve-t.

Outfit for day two is New Look 6429 which has been made and reviewed so many times I never bothered to review it myself. While I wear it a lot because it is very comfortable the torso length for some reason is short on me, so the band which is attached falls too high and really makes me crazy every time I look in the mirror. I made it so long ago I don't know if I lengthened it but I always do. It was cold today and the neckline is a little low, so in the spirit to be sort of conservative I wore a turtleneck with it.

Ready to padstitch

I finally had some time this weekend to work on my coat and you can see how far along I am in the pictures. I am now ready to padstitch, I actually started late last night. Once that's done I'll finish shaping the coat front(applying tape to the lapel and securing the hair canvas).

Next I'll practice with bound buttonholes. It seems it would be easier to do them now before attaching the side and back, but all tutorials I've read wait. Is there a sound reason for waiting? I hope my more experienced readers can enlighten me ;-)

To a healthy day

Wednesday night my poor DS the youngest came down with (what I hope) a 24 hour stomach flu. By 6:00 am on Thursday it had been so bad I called the doctor's office to be told that I was looking at taking him to the ER for dehydration, so I had to be on the lookout for signs. I'm thankful that he was able to keep enough fluid down to avoid that trip.

I was never any good at pulling "all-nighters" when young, at this age the warning "do not operate heavy machinery" certainly applied. Come to think of it, "handling light machinery" also applied.

Enjoy your holiday (for those of us in the US) and stay healthy.

The weekend and a couple of hats

I made these hats for my nephew. It was nice to start and finish a project in a short period of time, I'm used to having a project on my needles for months. If you are interested here are the links for the patterns:

Snowflake hat
I used leftover Plymouth Encore yarn in worsted weight

Fair Isle hat
This pattern only uses two colors but I wanted to use several. I also repeated some of the patterns all the way to the crown. I bought the yarn for this project, Berroco Comfort DK which is really soft and washable.

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On Saturday I spent my morning with Cidell. It was a last minute thing and great fun. I met her at her ballet class to observe and then we got together for coffee. We hardly talked about sewing but we had plenty to chat about, imagine that! :) I also got to ride in Nigel (her new car), what a fun car! I planned on taking her picture next to Nigel, I even had my camera in my bag, but somehow it didn't happen, oh well.
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Not much happening as far as sewing, I hope to have some progress to show on my next post.

Thread tracing in progress

Well I was hoping that this post would say "thread tracing done", but no such luck. Anyways I have done the majority of it. I am taking extra care in marking pockets and buttonholes, I want to make sure these come out as nice as possible.

I really had to squeeze all the pieces of the coat in the cut I had, I only have left scraps that will be used for the welt pockets and bound buttonholes. No waste with this project!

Looking ahead

Yesterday after spending almost two hours fusing the pieces of my coat (and I'm not done yet!) I decided to sit for a while and try my hand at a Granny Square.

One of my goals is to become a better crocheter. I made this skirt which I love, but it took many months of work (I felt like Penelope, who knitted during the day and undid her work at night). Right now all I want is a Granny Square blanket, not the one from the 70's but the modern versions which are bright and cheerful.

I first followed the instructions from the book the Happy Hooker, but I wasn't getting it so I turned to You Tube and I got my Aha! moment and then I was able to follow the tutorial for the blanket I'm coveting

If you look at the sample above is not quite right, I messed up on the count, but I'm happy I figured it out and now I can start dreaming about the colors I want.

Happy New Year everyone!

The Undercollar

I spent yesterday working on the undercollar and I'm thrilled on how it turned out. It's amazing that those little pad stitches can shape so nicely. I had padstitched before using sewing machine methods, this was the first time I did it all by hand.


As you can see I'm also thread tracing (not as nice and straight like Tany's), so although I'm hoping that I will have a fabulous coat to wear at the end this project is all about the process.

Here is the collar so you can see the roll line, the stand and the fall. My pattern did not include a roll line so I figured it out by looking at my muslin.


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So based on all the responses I have received to my previous post and my own preference, I'm going with "design feature" for this coat.

More to come...

So here is my dilemma...

To make a long story short, I ended up with tailor chalk marks on the right side of my coat fabric. Yes the white color disappears with pressing/steam but no matter what I have done the imprint is still there, most obvious when you look down on the coat.


So instead of crying over ruining this beautiful wool/camel coating I've decided to use the wrong side of the fabric on the panels that I ruined.

Difference between sides is not extremely obvious

Here is what it would look like, I shaded the pieces that would show the reverse of the fabric by necessity (they have marks) and I figure to balance it I would make the tabs on the sleeves out of the reverse.


The right side of this fabric as you saw in one of my previous posts is fluffier almost like a velour.

So what would you do? I'm calling my solution a "design feature". Would you just use the reverse and call it a day?

Really this coat needs to be made, it has been weighing on me for far too long

Feliz Navidad

A todos mis lectores les deseo muchas felicidades y salud. Que disfruten estas fiestas en compañia de sus seres queridos.

Les doy gracias por leer mi modesto diario y espero que sigan visitandome el año que viene.


To all my readers of my very modest blog I wish health and happiness. I hope that you spend these holidays with all those you love.

I hope you continue to visit me the coming year!

The coat's lining

I am very relieved because I finally started cutting the Burda coat. I finally admitted that I was fearful to cut into my "good fabric" and I was trying to read everything that might help me with this coat and in doing so delaying my actions. So the lining has been cut, the fabric is a beautiful silk lining, and I only incorporated one modification to the pattern that I have never done before. I read in Connie Long's Guide to Sewing Linings that the lining in the kick pleat can pull and distort the fashion fabric so she basically lowers the back by 1/2 inch at the hem and then blends in towards the front, she also lowers the start of the pleat. Eugenia has a great sketch showing this alteration which she used on a skirt.

Since we'll be snowed in tomorrow(it is still snowing here on our way to a couple of feet), I'm sure I will have time to cut into the fashion fabric. My next fear to conquer will be the welt pockets, but I will make a sample and there are a number of good tutorials on the net as well as in a couple of my books to guide me.

The Staghorn Cabled Tunic

Quite the name don't you think? Anyways this pattern is from WEBS, I purchased the pattern and yarn (Valley Yarns Northampton) at Stitches East two years ago. It was finished a while ago but took me a while to block and then sew the seams. I'm missing the buttons on the bodice (just for show), I was going to drop by Joann's today but my interpreting job took longer than I thought and I had to get home because my oldest forgot to take his house key.

I think it is a cute tunic for casual days. I enjoyed doing the cables and although it was pretty simple to do, it had enough going on to keep one interested.

Help!

The first image shows what I believe is the reverse of my wool/cashmere coating, the second is the loftier right side? I know you are just suppose to choose the side you like and go with it but I would like your opinion on what is the right side of this fabric. You can see part of the selvage on both pictures.

Thanks!!

First Snow

Today we got our first snow of the season and while I was excited about it, I hoped that it had started on Sunday instead. Today at my friend's shop Large Marge Yarn Shop there was a gathering to raise funds for Helping Kids at Hopkins. There was a silent auction and I had made the above knitting needles and crochet hooks holders to help with. I got in my car around noon and the wheels started spinning as I was getting out of the garage...ok not a good sign but maybe the roads were better. Well I made it half way up the hill and decided I needed to go back home. Thankfully Large Marge took pity on me and came to rescue me. We had a great time and we raised $1,400! Not bad considering the bad weather that I'm sure kept some away.

Burda World of Fashion jumper+turtleneck

Pictures are not the best quality, my camera is not working and we used my sons.

I finished these two pieces a while ago but then the weather got warmer so I hadn't had a chance to wear it, I wore it for work today.

I love this combination! It is a very comfortable to wear outfit but stylish (at least I think so!). Both fabrics are from Gorgeous Fabrics.



The jumper (9/2007 121)is made of a rayon jersey. The jersey is very lightweight and a little slippery to work with but it feels wonderful against the skin. I didn't pay attention when I was cutting the pieces and almost didn't have enough fabric to cut the skirt pieces, my compromise was to make it shorter and I'm happy with the length.



The top (9/2204)I made in a poly knit. It has an unusual raglan seam, very curvy as you can see in the line drawing (no line drawing, archives don't go that far back). I basted it by hand before sewing it by machine and had good results. I'm not convinced with the zipper on the seam going up to the collar, I thought it was a cool detail but I struggled with it and I still did not get a perfect application. If I repeat this top I will make sure the collar is cut big enough to fit over my head.