A Study in Coats - 4

[jessamygriffith]

Bit by bit, when I feel like it, the coat comes together. The next bit concerns the support for the front of the coat, interfacing, which is made of wool and goat hair which helps it adhere and grab the wool of the coat. It pissed me off, too, because it cost more than the fecking wool itself, but I swore I would try actual tailoring stuff and this was part of it. NOT CONVINCED.


The whole understructure of a good coat is the reason they are so bloody expensive. I've made slapdash coats before, and this one is taking three times as long because of the understructure. Better be worth it.

So, basically, your interfacing gives the coat a good drape, supports it (especially good for buttons and those welt pockets) and keeps the edge and front nice and crisp. You can get iron-on interfacings, except I couldn't find decent ones - the only ones I ever find end up pulling away or bubbling and are crap.

So - full on hand-sewn interfacing, people. Using catch stitching - I grab just a thread or two of the coat wool so it doesn't show on the outside of the coat. Again, the blue tape is where the lapels of the coat will roll. I don't know exactly why it is needed, but I am just trying techniques out. Perhaps it keeps the wool from stretching as it folds back? who knows.



All that fecking hand sewing. And it turned out I needn't have done the entire front of the coat, I cut away a chunk of the side bottom interfacing.
I watched three eps of the first season of Supernatural while I did this.



Got the back of the coat cut from the wool, the darts sewn in, the vent in the centre added. Being such a thick wool, of course it needed ironing. Well, not ironing, you'll end up with shiny or burnt wool. Steam - it helps shape wool, and even shrink it if needed (like in hem turn-ups.) The cloth is a pressing cloth to avoid damage. I steam the crap out of it and then....

*Thump! Thump* I use a clapper of wood to beat beat BEAT the creases and darts flat, then press with the wood until the fabric cools, and don't move the fabric until it is cool and dry or you distort the fabric while it is all wet and loose. YEAH. Sounds like sex really.

And then, having let the fabric cool, I flip it over and check to see if the crease in the vent is sharp enough. YUP, looks good. I also do a stay-stitch around the whole of this, so the edges don't stretch out of shape.

And that, kids, is not all of what I've done this weekend on the coat, but I need to take more pics and thank god for the better cam on this new iPhone. It's not great, but so convenient.

Comments

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

I make quilts entirely by hand, but then for some reason I just love hand-sewing. If you don't then yeah, sucks :D

If you wear this coat for years then yes you will definitely appreciate the extra work involved in the understructure. Will also help the coat survive washing.

Are you going to add a lining too?

Enjoy! :D

[jessamygriffin.livejournal.com]

I will wear the coat for years I am sure. Or three or four at least, I abuse my coats terribly. I have a long ankle length one that looks smart, was slapped together and I have worn the fuzz off the wool. I am considering doing the Dickensian thing and picking it apart and turning the worn wool to the inside. It's like a blanket, that coat. I sit on the ground in it.

I probably won't do that to the Sherlock coat, if it turns out nice. It will have just a light lining - winter isn't cold in Tokyo, so I would rather just layer up.

I like hand sewing, but I like it to be where people can see it! I've done costume pieces that were entirely hand done for research purposes - amazing how tough they are, I still wear the linen chemise for bed on cold nights.

I am sure I am the great disappointment of my mom's life - she adores quilting, and is constantly wistfully hinting she'd love to share pieces with me. I will have none of it though. I do send her patterned cotton from Japan though. She has my niece to do it with, however.

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

Japanese pattern calicos are the hot thing in quilting these days :-)

The nice part of the lining on a wool coat is it allows the coat to slip nicely over your clothes, instead of the wool grabbing at them.

Quilting will catch up to you. You will be sucked in eventually, like the rest of us. I took a class from a man who resisted strenuously for years, until he saw some art quilts which opened up the world of possibilities in fabric art for him.

Through your costuming work you will learn about the ancient Japanese quilting (they invented it) for armour, or the under-layers of armour. And then you will match it with your love of clothing, and costuming, and art and it will all come together into something amazing :D

[jessamygriffin.livejournal.com]

Ha. I have to disapoint you on this score. If years of trying has not worked to get me into quilting, nothing will. I've seen the Japanese stuff, I like how they did sashiko and the quilting for the firemen's coats. I like the traditional cottons and linens and prints here.

And yet...

My mom brought me to an art quilt show with the same thought - 'Aren't these beautiful? wouldn't you like to do it? It's not just all blocks and squares!'

I admired them politely, but without the smallest scrap of desire to do them myself. Totally uninspired.

It's not my bag. I am a lost cause to the world of quilting, and this is fine. Lots of other people can take up the gap for me.

I may make another winter coat. I have one in mind based on a piece in the Victoria and Albert museum, a Victorian one with lovely military style frogging.

[alltoseek.livejournal.com]

Ha! back. You are young yet ;-)

Maybe I should commission a coat from you. Hmmm... :D