Self Drafted Grayscale Coat

While I settle the disagreement between me, the camera remote and camera focus, I'll share something I finished last week and not last year. Shocking, right?

One day, a woman came by the studio with a woolen coating fabric which she bought somewhere in the 70's or 80's and wanted me to make her a coat. But she said she had no idea what she wanted. So little by little we started to determine the make and look of the coat. First the season. Winter or spring/fall? Neither, more like something to wear between the two seasons. The shape-simple and straight, long enough to hit her mid thighs. Single breasted or double? Double. What about the collar? No idea. She couldn't decide between a simple straight collar and a lapel collar. After the first fitting she decided to go for the lapel collar, and this is the final look.

A simple straight coat with double-breasted buttoning and slight shaping at the waist. The coat has princess seams, a vent in the back and pockets in the seam between center front and side front panels.

The main fabric is a lovely 100% wool vintage coating and filled the studio with the most delicious wool smell whenever I approached it with steam.

I top stitched all the seams but the stitching is virtually invisible in the woven pattern. The only topstitching seam that is sort of visible is the one at center front and collar.

The thing about this fabric is that the seams and details blend in so well with the asymmetrical pattern, it almost looks like it's made of one big piece of fabric. The pockets are virtually invisible. And to think I did zero print matching. Simply pressed the fabric, trued the grain and blindly put the pattern pieces onto the fabric and cut.

The lining is a grey viscose lining with a cool pattern composing of squares and circles. To add a bit of more warmth and keep the wind from blowing through the fabric, I added a layer of interlining.

 I also made a breast pocket into the right side. For that I cut the right front facing with a little extra area for the pocket. This way there's less seaming and the pocket is stronger and more stable. There's a small tab for the button so that the pocket can be closed.

I also sewed a hanging loop between the collar and back facing. I hate it when people hang their coats and don't put them on coat hangers but what can you do. Besides, in some places, the coat holding desks don't accept coats without a loop to hang it with(looking at you, theatres).

This coat was a delight to make and I seriously loved the fabric. Working with an all naturally made coating fabrics is a rare occasion around here. It's just so darn expensive to buy nowadays.