Here is a brief progress report on the black winter coat. I am LOVING this project!

First I’d like to rave about the fabric. It is a very lightweight wool, a crepe I think. It’s so fine that if you hold it up you can see a fair amount of light through. It’s very soft and slightly fluffy. On the downside it magnetically attracts cat hair, but you can’t have everything! I bought it on my recent trip to Sydney, at Tessuti in Darling Harbour. I thought it was a bargain at $29.00 per metre, even though it’s only 114cm wide. I didn’t get enough and had to order more over the phone. I have to say it was a very easy experience and the extra fabric arrived the next day.

I fused all the pattern pieces with sheerweft which will stop any sagging and provide a little extra body in the coat. The entire bodice, as well as the front of the skirt is interfaced with lightweight shapewell. In addition, I pad stitched the interfacing to the under collar by machine, using the same method as I used for the gold silk jacket I made earlier this year.

The pattern was a bit more traumatic, with all my to-ing and fro-ing. I am so glad I got the extra fabric and went with my original plan. I love this pattern. I have to say though, what the %^&* were Simplicity thinking when they made up their sample garments? Apologies to anyone who likes the photographed models, but I particularly find that pink corduroy thing to be hideous. Thank goodness for websites like Pattern Review – I have fallen in love with many patterns that I would have overlooked if the pattern envelopes were all I had to go by.

So without further ado, here is the coat so far. I cut a 12 at the top, tapering to a 14 at the waist and below. The fit is great, but if you live in a climate that warrants an ‘overcoat’, you may want to go up a size from normal. Lucky me, I live in Perth where the winters are pretty mild so my winter coat only needs to fit over a thin jumper (sorry, sweater – I was born in England!).

The front so far:
And the back:

Obviously it still has a way to go, but I hope you’ll agree it’s looking pretty good. I plan on unpicking the back waist seam and taking in the skirt pieces a little to get rid of the ease – I don’t like the drag lines. I hope this will help. I know that historically women would have worn a little pad to support high waisted things from collapsing in the back so I may have to make a ‘modern’ version by sewing organza or something similar into the back to give it some ‘oomph’. I have not put any intrfacing in the hem either - but I think it needs it.

I hope to get this finished on the weekend, so I at least have a slim chance of wearing it this year!