A Study in Coat - Finished

[jessamygriffith]

Though these are only my iPhone pics and not anything orgasmically GQ, the coat is done. Okay well, I must put in the sleeve linings but I can do that at school tmrw. Free time, whee.

First I must bitch about the sleeves. The original drafted ones were shapely but too narrow - I would never have got a suit jacket into them. I recut a test sleeve (revamped the cuff to something so simple I think I must have been an idiot when I made the first draft). They are lovely, roomy. I set them. One is puffy in the shoulder. They are bunching weird in the armpit. I LOATHE THEM with the poisonous hatred of a thousand hissing radioactive spiders.

"Fuck," says I. But this project is charmed. Why, you say? Must be some Sherlock magic, like he's standing there and saying, 'You're an idiot, but you can do better.'

I agree, Normally a 'real' sewing project for something of this magnitude involves a trifecta culled from the following:

a) Frustration
b) bleeding (makes the gods happy, oils the sewing machines of Satan.)
c) Tears.
d) Throwing the project across the room. I did this once to a commissioned piece and I sulked, It stayed there two weeks.
e) holes in fabric from tearing/ accidental cuts/ ripping things out over and over

I had heaps of frustration but all in all, learned tons. I would definitely use some of these techniques in tailoring again. And I understand completely about how the underlying architecture of a garment makes it look so much better.

I ripped those damned sleeves out and tried again, recutting the armscythe. And hey presto, it worked, I stuffed in the shoulder pads and Bob's my uncle.

You are spared the pics of me fighting the sleeves and instead get a tip for perfect pleats. Do a huge ugly stitch down the pleat to hold it in place, the steam and press the garment with your wooden clapper. Hammer the wool with the clapper if it's really thick.

And now the finished pics, not really nice, but with the Sherlock ones to compare.






That's it folks. The Coat.
Originally by Belstaff for Sherlock BBC. Copied by me.

And yes, it's not as big in the chest as Benny's because, fuck it, I don't want to SWIM in it.
Houndstooth wool, plastic buttons and all materials bought respectively in Nippori Fabric District, Tokyo, and Okadaya, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Notions from Yuzawaya in Yokohama.

Now I can be tortured by not having The Scarf.

Comments

[jessamygriffin.livejournal.com]

Weird, I just answered this on another mesage. Is it the time of year to make coats?

I think at the time I had bought what was on the bolt, which was 6 meters and a bit. Because I screwed up the armscythe and had to redo the sleeves, and also the upper back, I used it all.

Since a meter is 1.09 yards, 6 is probably a safe number, If you look at this Vogue coat, which is actually a bit fuller in the skirt than the Belstaff, you'll see the wider wool recommended estimate is over 6 yards.

http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/v8346-products-5658.php?page_id=265

I'd also recommend going to the Real prop Forum and checking out what people are saying there about making.

http://www.therpf.com/f24/sherlock-coat-opinions-info-136738/

Lastly, if you decide to make or not, I put up a bunch of links for commercial patterns and places you can buy replicas, in case you decide not to do the challenge. It is a challenge, doing this,

http://crimsongriffin28.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4p1glc