Self Drafted: Men's fall/winter coat

Sometimes I feel like I'm Eddard Stark. There's always a voice in my head telling me that the winter is approaching. Even during the (short) summer when there's 30 degrees Celcius outside. And I hate winter. I hate the cold and dark time of the year. And here it's about 8 months every year. Right now it's pitch black outside at five in the evening. No joke. But if there's anything I like about the cold season it's making coats(not wearing them, getting dressed during the fall/winter is a chore)

So here's a winter coat I made. This was a bit of a challenging/nerve wrecking project. The person who I made it for lives in London. I have never seen him and he couldn't come in for fittings. Yikes. So his wife came here, gave me his measurements(after I had given her detailed instructions on what I need and how to take them) and then I started the work. Luckily she brought a coat that fit Mr.London but that coat had raglan sleeves so...I had to improvise a lot.

The coat has wide peaked lapels, a classical collar, side pockets with flaps, a vent in the back and pockets in the front facing on both sides. I also added a buttonhole and a button on the lapel so he could close the front in full length when the weather gets particularly nasty.

As I didn't have to do any fittings, I drafted the coat like I would with any project, cut it out with 1cm seal allowance on all seams and started the work. Usually the pocket placement is determined in the first fitting but this time I could make the pocket before I attached the front to the back piece so it was so much more comfortable to sew. Less bulk on the table=win. Also for menswear the sleeves are cut out after first fitting(at least I'm taught like that) and now I could cut out the sleeves at the same time as the rest of the pieces so there's another win for ya.

Pocketzzzz

The front pieces, front facings and collar pieces are fully interfaced, the back pieces and sleeves are partially interfaced. I also used additionally a heavyweight interfacing to support the breast area. I could have used hair canvas for this but on coats it's not necessary and interfacing will do the job just as well and without adding too much bulk. I did use hair canvas to shape the lapel and the bottom of the collar.

I also did quite a lot of top stitching for this thing. I am one of those weird people who actually loves top stitching. So the back seam and the front, the lapels and collars and pockets are all top stitched. I think it gives a very nice classical look to a coat.

And again: My favorite way to make pockets to the front facing and then connecting the facing to the lining. This right here is my jam, people.

And guess who forgot to take a picture of the back of the coat? This girl!

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On a personal note. I have some news! If you are following me on Instagram you already know this, but I GOT ENGAGED! Mr.Man popped the question and promoted himself to Mr.Fiance. We are thinking about summer wedding and I will be making both his suit and my dress. I'm thinking lace, corsets and vintage vibe.

Almost Finlayson.

Almost two months ago Thread Theory released their new pattern: The  Finlayson Sweater. And I felt gravitated towards buying it. Mr.Man has a huge issue with buying hoodies as he has all these standards to them and can't find anything that he actually likes. Prude. So for a while now I have been meaning to make one for him but it has all been held up because of patterns(or lack of). I didn't feel like making one myself and so far I hadn't found one either(meaning no one has shoved a pattern into my face and said "LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOK!")

So I got the pattern, yay. Only it had one problem. Mr.Man's nr1 criteria for a hoodie is that it has to zip up and not be a pullover(picky I know). But Finlayson doesn't have a zipper option. "Idon'tcare" I said to myself, I'm going to make it happen! So after some thinking, pattern hacking and actual sewing this thing came to life

Front

Back

It's a secret(almost) cosplay of Desmond Miles. Who doesn't like secret cosplay? I know-I know. It's not 100% accurate, but meeeh. It's not like he can wear white at work anyways. Well he could. But his work sometimes includes working with metal and the white would be not so white after one day. So practicality over accuracy.

In order to make the sweater into a zip up hoodie, I had to change a few things. First, I cut the front bodice and the kangaroo pocket out with a seam line in the center, instead it being on fold. For these two pieces I didn't add seam allowance to the center line as the zipper would fill out what I lose with sewing the zipper. But I did have to slightly change the hood shape. I calculated how much I would lose when I skip the overlap of the hood bottom and just gradually connected the new seam line with the old one. Everything else went according to the original pattern pieces.

Kangaroo pocket+cuff details

Floral twill tape inside the pocket cuz I say so.

For the grey base fabric I used a cotton-viscose blend with fuzzy white layer on the inside, so this thing is bulky and so warm. For the sleeve and bottom cuff I used red cotton ribbing and for the hood lining I used some red viscose jersey I had lying around. I sewed the whole thing together on my sewing machine and I stitched all the seams down as I wanted to reduce bulk on the seam lines. And because they are stitched down there's no need for serging the seams.

The zipper is unfortunately slightly darker than I would have liked but let me tell you. I am happy that there's a zipper there at all. This Finlayson comes with an epic tale of zipper fails. First I bought a nice perfectly red zipper. Only to discover that I had a short episode of terrible math. The zipper was five cm too long. No biggie, Past Me decided. I'll make the zipper shorter. Easier said than done because not did I only have problems with math on that day, I also had problems with thinking about what I was doing and I completely ruined the zipper. Go me(not)! When I finally gave up on that particular zipper, I realized that the fabric/notions shop was closed for the day and was closed on the next day. So I gathered all of my patience and put the project on hold for the time being. Come Monday, I went and got a new zipper. "HiIneedaredzipperforahoodie50cmlongplease" I basically screamed at the lady at the counter. She found the zipper, I gave her the money and practically ran back to the studio. I felt like finishing this hoodie asap meant life or death. So I stood at the table, started to pin the zipper and it was TOO SHORT!!! Dammit, the lady accidentally gave me a 45cm zipper. So I RAN back to the store and I never(and I mean NEVER) run. I got there only to realize that the only 50cm red zipper was this dark red one. Fine, I'll take it.  So that's the story of the NotQuiteRed zipper.

I did this to EVERY seam. Geeeeeeeesh, the patience.

The hoodie was kindly modeled on Randy as Mr.Man is a bit camera shy and would rather be behind the camera. I guess I could make him do it but I won't torture the poor man.

Overall I really enjoyed making it, I have never in my life made a real hoodie before but I think it looks quite sharp and it got quite a few compliments from people who saw it on Randy while they popped by the studio. I'm sure I'll make another one sometime in the future(I guess I have to as well) and I have a bit of this fuzzy and comfy knit left so I might make something warm for  myself. Knit blazers, anyone? I also think that I'll rise the front neckline a bit next time so that it won't be as plunging.

What about you? Have you made a Finlayson yet? Are you planning to?

Self Drafted Linen Mens Blazer.

 This post is long overdue but better late than never, right? Riiiiiiiiiight???

Remember when I blogged about these Linen Dresspants and I mentioned that I would be making a matching blazer so that Mr.Suit would have an awesome suit? Well here's the blazer! Modeled for you by Mandy as his husband(fiance at the time) wasn't here yet. So please mind all the horrible fit issues as it's not really meant for Mandy. Oh yeah, Mandy got married to Randy, my new male dress form. We have a weird arrangement going on between me, Mr.Man, Mandy, Randy and Mini-Me. But it's all cool.

I drafted the pattern myself and it's a pretty classic style and shape. The only thing that did make me pull my hair out was the fact that Mr.Suit didn't want to have the classical horizontal pockets that mens blazers usually have and that's a bit of a problem. You see, for men the drafting process is a bit different and the pocket height is predetermined and drafted before fittings. It doubles as half of the breast dart and helps to shape the blazer. So it's cut right in the beginning. But now I didn't have the pocket. See my problem? After spending hours watching the pattern, and spending many hours at night thinking about what the heck I was going to do, I just decided to wing it, change the shape of the seam line a bit and hope for the best. And it worked! YAY!

Guess who forgot to take pictures of the whole back? THIS GIRL. Amateur.

The blazer has vertical pockets hidden in the side front seam, a single vent in the back, tiny vents in the bottom of the sleeves and one pocket on the inside of lining on both sides. To attach facing to the lining I used a method where the raw edge of the facing is finished with a bias tape and the whole thing is topstitched to the lining.

Look at that tiny sleeve vent! JUSTLOOKATIT! That pesky little thing is so annoying to make, but it sure does look nice.

Pocket on the inside of the lining sewn through the front facing and lining. This might just be my favorite kind of pockets. No joke.

I can already feel the confusion. Where are the inside shots? Where are the explanations on what really goes on in menswear blazers? I know, I know. I promised that I would try but here's the thing. Menswear blazers and coats have a lot of pesky little details and steps and weird things going on. Which take time. And photographing  them takes also a lot of time. And time isn't something I have a lot lying around when I'm on a deadline. Which is always when I'm working on customer projects. So I had an idea that started to brew when I was making this blazer and that keeps popping into my head when I'm working on a coat I'm making(if you are following me on instagram you have already seen a few sneak peaks).

I was thinking about making a series of posts on things and steps I do in mens blazers/coats. I mean everything from shaping, pressing and support to pockets. So if you guys would be interested in something like that, I could make that happen and without the pressure of getting a whole blazer done withing 50 hours, it seems an achievable goal. So let me know if you are interested in the series.

Self Drafted Linen Dresspants

So I'll break this sewing post hiatus with a bang. This week I finished a pair of dresspants for a customer who I'll name Mr.Suit. And the pants were....wait for it..from linen. Yes, I sewed something from linen. Even though I've had years of dislike towards linen, I think it's starting to pass and I think it has a lot to do with having a few victorious projects with linen.

So the pants. The pattern is drafted by me. The pants has slant side pockets, invisible button fastening and classical men's waistband with belt loops and a ribbon on the inside to  have a clean finish, classical look and good fit(I really have no idea what it's called in English. Even here a lot of the stores don't have it anymore and it's hard to find but it really takes the pants to another level)

Back view

Inside shot. The white is the ribbon thingy

I encountered a problem when I was cutting out the pants. The pattern didn't fit the fabric. And this is one of the reasons why you should always contact your seamstress/tailor before you go and buy the fabric. But luckily there's a method how I was able to fit all the pieces on the fabric. When sewing trousers, you're allowed to cut the back piece in two pieces if needed. On the inside leg seam(if you look REALLY closely), you can see a little triangle. That's the back piece and the extra seam I created to be able to get the pants out of the fabric. If you're ever in the same situation, remember, if you start to measure from the inside leg/crotch seam and measure a triangle that's up to 7cm wide and 14cm long(after sewing, so remember to add seam allowance according to your pattern), you can save a lot of fabric and time. And when done right, you won't even notice it there.

Can you find the extra piece?

I serged all the seams and hand stitched the hem with invisible stitched. I also sewed the pocket seam twice for security.

Pattern: Self drafted
Fabric: Linen (and cotton for pocket fabric)
Time spent: About 4 hours (3 for sewing + 1 for pattern drafting)

And the best part it that Mr.Suit was so happy with the pants that he ordered a suit jacket as well(hence the name Mr.Suit). So if all goes according to plan, there should be a post about a classical men's jacket popping up sometime next month. And it's also from linen(same fabric as these pants), so it's going to be one good looking summer suit(and major linen therapy for me).

Stay tuned!

This post has been linked up at Sewing Saturdays where you can see other this week's awesome projects from all around the sewing community.