A Charming Coat

I had high hopes for this Charm Pattern.  And while I did end up with a wearable garment that looks pretty good, this project gave me a lot of grief.  Considering that it is a fairly simple design, that was not something that I was expecting when I first chose the project.

I had enough wool yardage leftover from making this skirt for a short jacket, and a swing coat seemed like the perfect silhouette.  It would also accommodate many of the dresses that I wear with a petticoat, so it was an obvious and useful choice.

The wool is rather thick, so I pulled out my clapper to help with pressing.  That, and a lot of steam is the way to go with wool.

And I can't resist a patch pocket!  I find it much easier to hand baste pieces like this in place, especially when I will be machine sewing them into place.

As an added bit of stability, a length of fusible interfacing was added to the area at the top of the pocket placement on the wrong side of the fabric.  This gives some extra oomph to those corners that tend to see wear/pulling.

And so far I was liking the way this was going together.

The sleeve went in without too much grief, although I probably could have removed a bit of the sleeve head excess.

This design has the option of adding some rather theatrical cuffs.  And since I had enough fabric, why would I not?!  They are substantial, and I believe added to my aggravation later in the process.

The facing was interfaced with a fusible, just standard construction stuff.

And, of course, I went for a bound buttonhole.  Because of the bulk of my wool, I used a coordinating piece of cotton to create a window in the facing side of the buttonhole as I didn't think turning in a narrow fold of bulky wool would look good or lay flat enough.

Lining is in short supply around these parts, but I do have a roll of striped silk that I found at a garage sale years ago and it definitely comes in handy.  I dug around to see what color dye I had on hand, and thought that a blue would contrast nicely with the bright green wool.

The lining went together without any issue.

And I did remember to switch needles, since the wool is so much thicker than the silk.  No silk was pulled or snagged in the sewing of this lining!  Microtex needles are pretty phenomenal.

I didn't have quite as much of a hem as I would have liked. but it still works.

Next is a bit of hand sewing.

At this point, the garment is usually finished.  But in this case, there were some issues that cropped up and were too much to ignore.

Those cuffs, however fabulous, are quite heavy.  The pattern piece is essentially a rectangle, but it should be shaped as they want to restrict the sleeves when folded into place (the fold of the cuff should be wider than where it is stitched to the sleeve to create a larger circumference that doesn't push the sleeve in).  But the major problem is that the lining is no match for the heavy wool and the lining has no choice but to pull on the sleeve.  This creates huge drag lines.  This is the fault of the instructions, in my opinion, and unfortunately, the sleeve lining is cut to have a 5/8" seam allowance which means there is no extra length to work with.  If you are to follow the instructions, the edge of the cuff is stitched directly to the sleeve lining.  A properly drafted coat lining includes extra length at the hem and sleeve hem edges to create an extra fold of lining so that nothing pulls or drags.  The fact that the lining is significantly less weighty than the wool (especially multiple layers of wool cuff) exacerbates this issue.  I suspect that leaving the cuff off would produce a slightly better result . . . but it would still be an issue.

I had dyed a limited amount of silk for my lining, so there was no way to cut out two extra sleeves.  And I really didn't feel like redoing my lining at this point.  My only other option was to add a strip of extra fabric along the lining sleeve edge.

It's not an elegant solution, but it works.  And I was so disgusted with the project at this point that I didn't even bother to take pictures after I had corrected the issue.  You can see how the wool sleeve bags at the point where it meets the cuff.  Essentially, the lining is too short and is restricting the wool sleeve from hanging naturally.

Now that the coat has been in a time-out for almost a year, I have decided to forgive it and myself.  What really aggravates me is that I knew this was going to be an issue as soon as I read through the directions.  But did I trust my gut?  No, of course not!  I won't be making that mistake with a coat lining again, that's for sure!  In the end, I have a very wearable wool coat, and I am thankful for that.  I just thought that this was going to be a drama free and easy project to stitch together, and it was definitely not that!

Added Flair

I finally got around to wearing this blouse, and I am pleasantly surprised with the results.  

It feels somewhat removed from my usual style, but in a good way.

I definitely have plans for more antique silhouettes in my future sewing.  Then again, the list of queued projects continues to grow, so who knows when I will actually get around to it.  And the fact that it might require fabric shopping means that I will probably have to wait (I'm really trying not to buy new fabric if I can help it since I have so much of it on hand).

I think that the embroidery placement was quite successful, so that's good.

And I do love a good flounce . . . or two, or four . . .

The only issue is getting outerwear over the extra fluffy bits.

There are a few more of the "historical" patterns that the Big 4 produced over the last 20 or so years that I have stashed away, so I may have to pull those out and see where they take me.

Because this was a fun project!

I believe that I have given new purpose to my 1980s tablecloth and napkin set, and I hope that whoever once used these linens would be pleased that they are getting a new lease on life.

This may just get me back to my apparel sewing roots, since historical costume is what initially made me want to start using a sewing machine!

Blouse:  Made by me, Butterick 3417
Skirt:  Made by me, Simplicity 8458
Shoes:  Remix "Miranda"
Earrings:  Nicky Butler

The Tale of a Tablecloth

Years ago I found a listing for a box full of table linens that someone was giving away.  The minimal photos looked somewhat promising, and the pickup location wasn't too far away, so I headed out to see if there was any treasure to be found.  As you may have guessed, this blouse was made from a tablecloth and matching napkins that I found in that box.

I would also like to state that this is clearly a machine made textile.  I'm not sure I would ever be comfortable cutting into an antique, but I certainly wouldn't do so with a pattern that I have never tried in a style that I am not sure that I am going to love.  In fact, I have since seen a duplicate in someone's house which confirms that this is not a precious antique that someone spent hundreds of hours creating.  There is a trend to upcycle antique linens and it hurts my heart when they are made into something that is not going to stand the test of time, especially considering that the textile has managed to survive for close to 100 years.  Obviously, anyone can do whatever they like with the textiles that they have in hand, but it would be nice to think that their refashion is going to last more than a wear or two.  Rant over.

Getting back to this particular project . . . I had an idea in my head and went rummaging through my patterns to find something Victorian themed.  Obviously, this is not 45" or 55" yardage, so I wasn't entirely sure that I would get a blouse to fit in a way that could make the embroidered motifs shine.

Thankfully, there were a few matching napkins that made it possible to include the sleeve flounces, because that detail is really why I chose this particular pattern.

After spending some time reflecting on how best to use the embroidered bits, it was time to put everything together.

I hand finished the edges of the shoulder and sleeve flounces because I love any excuse to add hand stitching to a project.

After staring at the edges of the napkins for some time, I decided to add an extra ruffle to the collar edge, mostly because it seemed wasteful to scrap all of that extra embroidery.

I was slightly concerned that the ruffle was going to be too much, but in the end, I think it finishes the upper edge quite nicely.  And as a pigment challenged individual, it's always nice to have a clear contrast between the edge of the fabric and one's skin.

I went ahead and used the finished edge, so no additional hemming was required for my mini ruffle.

This blouse buttons up the back, and I knew that bound buttonholes were not the best fit for this project, so I pulled out my vintage buttonholer.

If I feel the need to use machine buttonholes, I will only use a vintage buttonholer.  I have had nothing but bad luck with contemporary buttonhole feet, and I do not have plans to use one ever again.

For the buttons, I have plenty of cream colored options stashed away, so I found something I felt was a good match without overthinking them too much.

And that's the finished blouse.

It's a lot of look, but I feel myself drawn more and more to antique silhouettes, and this project was a nice way to dip my toes back in with more historically themed silhouettes.

So I thank this tablecloth for its service, and welcome it to its second life as a frilly top in my wardrobe.

80s Does 40s

This is a more recent vintage reproduction from Butterick.  It is one of those 1980s designs that clearly draws inspiration from a 1940s silhouette and what immediately caught my attention, especially View D.

I purchased this rayon challis a couple of years ago, and it gives me vibes that channel both the 1940s and 1980s, so it seemed like the perfect choice for the pattern.

It's a fairly simple design that uses pleats at the waistline and the shoulders to shape the bodice.

But I will say that this pattern did make me stop in my tracks when I first pulled out the pattern tissue.

Taking inspiration from vintage patterns that were often single sized, this reproduction pattern has a printed zipper pull and teeth notated right on the pattern tissue as I have seen on quite a few 1970s and 80s patterns.  But to my surprise, the zipper was printed on the center front of the skirt piece.  My immediate thought was "that can't be right."

Most people would probably have noticed that the pattern includes a jumpsuit version.  To my credit, I did notice the jumpsuit - it is just not something that I was planning to make, so my brain wasn't focused on where the zipper opening for that particular version would have to be placed.  And obviously, the most common way to get in and out of a pair of pants is a front fly . . . and there you have the front zipper opening.

Once I had made that discovery, I also realized that the front bodice was left open (another detail that had escaped me on my initial inspection of the pattern illustrations).  So you have a short zipper from waist down a few inches into the skirt/pants, and that's as far as the closure takes you.  To be fair to the pattern, there is plenty of ease created with the numerous pleats drafted into the bodice, so the garment would definitely be wearable as-is, but since I was planning to insert a side zipper into my dress, I thought closing up that center front bodice seam for at least a few inches would make the garment much more wearable.

I used a bunch of different seam finishes on this dress.  For the side zipper seam, shoulder seams, and the front skirt seam that opens into a shaped hemline, I used a standard seam that was pressed open, and finished the raw edges with seam binding.  And I used French seams anywhere I could get away with them.  The enclosed seams are fantastic on a lightweight fabric like this challis.

The front facings were finished with seam binding and constructed as shown in the instructions.

I did want to close up that front bodice slightly, and I contemplated using a snap as a closure, but in the end, just hand stitched the finished facing with a ladder stitch after trying the dress on and figuring out how far I wanted that center seam closed.

The hemline and armholes were finished with a narrow hem and stitched into place by hand.

The left side seam was reinforced with a strip of interfacing before inserting a zipper with a hand pick-stitch.

Side openings are not my favorite technique, but this dress has plenty of ease so getting in and out isn't nearly as painful as other side zippers can be.

And I opted out of adding shoulder pads because I didn't feel like the dress needed them.

The sleeve length slightly extended, and obviously, I went for the longer skirt length.  I had enough yardage for the full length version of the dress, and it seemed silly not to use it and be left with an unusable amount of leftover yardage.

The finishing touch is a self-fabric belt.

The belt really finishes this silhouette nicely.

And I really do think that this dress and fabric combination was mean to be full length now that it's finished.  I just love when I find the perfect fabric to pair with a pattern, even if I had no idea of the combination when the fabric and pattern were initially purchased!