August MAGAM Completed - my Oriental/Russian/Mongolian Coat?

For "Artful August" my Indygo Junction's Trench Topper started out with an oriental flair but has turned into something quite different.  I think it looks more Russian/Mongolian rather than Oriental.  Could it be because I changed the collar to a stand-up collar and that the collar and cuffs are made from fake fur?  Who knows!

The finished product:

Should I be holding a sword in this picture?

I love the mix of prints and patterns in the coat.

Oh and yes - when I actually do wear this coat, I'll be wearing pants or a skirt underneath it.  It was 103 degrees outside this day when I took the photos so I wasn't about to venture outside in a coat trimmed in fur to take some pics!  It was hot enough inside with shorts on and my hair pulled up!

Back view is super cool!

And I'm just throwing this one in for kicks.  Every seam in the coat is topstitched, although it's hard to see in this photo.

So lets review how this whole project started out.

Here's my starting bunch of fabrics.  The main fabric in the middle was my inspiration fabric and I recently purchased all of the fabrics to the left of it to coordinate.  The inspiration fabric was purchased at one of the guild's sewing garage sales a number of years ago.  There wasn't alot of the fabric and I thought it might turn into a purse or totebag one day, but I really like the coordinating fabrics that went with it so it was destined to be this coat!  The fabric stack to the right are ones I pulled from the stash that matched, but the only one I ended up using was the fake fur.  The polka dot on the bottom I used as the lining, and I only trims I used from the starting pile were the two ribbons in the top middle.


After drawing a few pictures and figuring out the fabric placement, I finally settled on #3.  I did end up changing that red sleeve to a blue sleeve and the tab I had planned for the collar just didn't work.

I pinned the pieces to my dress form as I cut them out.  This really helped  make sure I had the right pieces in the right places.

And here it is as it was coming along with the main body sewn together, the bottom panel pinned on, the belt pinned on and I was starting to play with the ribbons and trims.

The buttons, closures and belt details:

For the buttons, I knew I wanted to use the square buttons in the coat as they were my Grandmother's buttons - they may even been bakelite but I'm not sure.  The square buttons looked a bit add next to all of the other circular shapes though so I found these black buttons at the store that would work well behind my square buttons.  The square buttons had a rather large shank on the back and the black ones are curved so the shank fits in it's little dip just perfectly.

I used small round elastic to make loops for the buttons.  

The button on the belt has a snap closure behind it.  I had one black covered snap set in the stash so this worked out perfectly.

The mock belt is trimmed with yellow/red piping and stitched into place around the waistline.  

The lining:

Isn't the lining fun!?!?!?  The pattern doesn't call for a lining, but I added one.  The facings are trimmed with the same yellow/red fabric I used for the piping around the belt.  

Back view:

I happily added my label to this coat.

The ending:

That fake fur (along with other threads) was everywhere when I finished the coat!


I am super happy with how this project turned out.  Now if the weather would ever cool off, I might be able to wear it!  And for everyone following along with my stashbustin quest - here are the latest numbers:

Stashbustin stats:
Total yardage for this coat (outer fabric and lining) = 6 yards
YTD yardage = 59.16

Happy sewing everyone!

Star

August MAGAM Challenge - Artful August!

I am very excited about this month's MAGAM Challenge theme - "Artful August".  Drawing my inspiration from the cover story of this month's American Sewing Guild "Notions" magazine, I will be attempting to copy the coat in the bottom left hand corner - which is a copy of a Desigual design.  

Using Indygo Junction's Trench Topper pattern - I'll add some more seamlines and modify the collar so it stands up more.  I think this will be a good pattern to start with as I have made it before and really like the fit.

And here is my initial inspiration fabric - an upholstery fabric that I purchased at the Sewing Garage Sale a couple of years ago.  I don't have alot of it, but using it in a scrappy way will stretch what amount I do have.  Isn't it gorgeous!

And here are some more fabrics from the stash that I'll throw in.  The polka dot on the left will be the lining fabric.  The fabrics on the right are all plain colors, except for the fun fur on the bottom.

And I couldn't resist a trip to the fabric store to see what else I could find.  All of the fabrics on the left in this picture are my new purchases - that red and white one is reversible too!

And, grabbing what coordinating trims I have in the stash - here is everything I'm starting with!

Now wish me luck!  This should be a fun project!

Star

Sewaholic Minoru Jacket

Today marks the beginning of September in California and what a perfect time to make a winter coat - 100 degrees outside and not a cloud in the sky.  I won't be modeling this one due to the weather, but luckily, my trusty Mannequin decided to volunteer to do the modeling instead.

This fabric is a quilted poly (I think) that I purchased during a vacation in Vancouver, Canada a number of years ago.  I remember wrestling with the fabric, trying to make it conform to my carry on bag and hoping the bag wouldn't burst at the seams in transport.  It's stitched with a variegated thread in a swirly, floral/paisley motif.
I questioned using this fabric for this coat because it was so bulky, but I thought I'd give it a go and I'm glad I did - I absolutely love the way it turned out.

I opted not to sew in the optional hood because of the fabric's bulk - there was no way it would fit into the collar without looking like I had a pillow around the back of my neck.

I special ordered a zipper to get the perfect purple color.  Originally, I ordered a plastic molded zipper because I was afraid that a brass one would snag the stitching, but coincidentally, was sent a brass zipper instead.  After e-mailing the company and having them send me the correct plastic molded zipper, I ended up using the brass one they had originally sent.  The brass pulls out the orange color on the thread so nicely I think. 

The coat pattern doesn't come with pockets so I decided to draft my own.  Rather than do a square pocket, I rounded the corners on the bottom to better match the swirly pattern of the stitching and added a lining to them as well.

Here's a look at the back.  The jacket has raglan sleeves with elastic filled cuffs on the sleeve ends and elastic 3/4 of the way around the waistline.

I stitched thru the middle of the elastic to help keep it in place.

But here's the best part of the jacket - the lining!  I just love it!  This fabric too was in my stash and the colors match perfectly.   

I even fussy cut the inside pockets to match.

And added some bias tape to the bottom of the hem to help tie in the light blue color.

Here's another view of the inside front all zipped up.

And the back view.

The loop on the back is some grosgrain ribbon.  I tried to make a loop from the quilted fabric, but it was just too thick and I figured it would feel like I had a knot on the back of my neck when wearing it so I changed it to a ribbon loop instead.

This puts me at sewing 24.625 yards of fabric during the 2014 Stashbust.  I have another 5.375 yards to go to hit my own personal goal of 30 yards.  With that said, I better get busy!

Until next time - Happy Sewing!

Simplicity 2057 Coat

My Chenille Coat Experiment



Front view showing in-seam pockets

This coat started out as a bit of a disaster.  I found some beautiful chenille fabric in the back of the store, clearance room, dig deep in the pile, "We really need to get rid of this fabric" table at a local fabric store for a whopping $1.00 a yard.  So, I splurged and bought 10 yards of it.  It had a wonderful feel to it, very soft and pliable.  I had no idea what I was going to make with it, but it was such a good deal, I couldn't pass it up.

Upon arriving home, I immediately threw it in the washing machine to pre-shrink it.  It rumbled and tumbled in the washing machine making lots of noise as the machine finally came to the end of it's cycle.  I think the fabric was actually crying "Help!" while being tumbled around in there.  I opened the machine and gasp at the wrinkled, shriveled up mess my "very expensive" fabric had become.  I threw it on the washing line to dry while I decided what to do with my now permanently wrinkled mess.  I figured anything else I did with it couldn't hurt since it was pretty much already ruined. 



Close up of coat front

I decided to embrace the new texture of my fabric and work with the wrinkles.  I ironed on some inexpensive Pellon interfacing to the back side, manipulating the wrinkles as I went.  And actually, it was turning out to be quite a nice surprise.  The picture above shows a little bit of the new texture.  I was now glad I had purchased so much of the fabric since it had now shrank to about 1/2 it's original size in width.

 

I then proceeded to make the rest of the coat.  It's a fully lined, knee length coat with in-seam pockets, a waistband, separate mock flaps on the front and a flap on the upper back.



Close up of jacket front with pocket flaps



The mock pocket flaps on the front I backed with a nice oriental satin fabric - this helped reduce the bulkiness of my now very heavy fabric.
  

Oriental lining on mock pocket flap

I used the satin for the undercollar and the back flap as well.



Oriental lining on undercollar

Of course I had to add in a wild print for the lining as well.  This fabric had been in my stash for about 10 years and I was glad I could finally use it!

My crazy lining!



All in all, I think my coat turned out very nice.  It's definitely warm with all of the additional interfacing and polyester lining!  



Back view





Happy Sewing!