Simplicity 2172 - Coat (Part 1)

Hello again! As promised, here's the first look of the coat.  The pattern is from Simplicity, who is jumping onto the Steampunk bandwagon and producing simple genre-inspired patterns like this one.  I'm only making the coat from this pattern.  I'm not particularly thrilled with the skirt or the corset, but I might find a use for them later on.  The coat is not really complicated, but it certainly looks difficult.  I cut these pieces out a while ago and just never found time to sew them up.  Now I find the fit is a little tight and I sewed a smaller 3/8" seam in the back to accommodate my size, though most of it fits without too much trouble.  It's cut out in size 18, if I was smart (and more honest about my figure) I should have done a size 20.  Why is it so easy to put on weight, but so darn hard to take it off!
The coat is going together surprisingly fast, so I feel pretty good about this one!

Stats:
Fabric: all of it comes from Jo-Ann's

• Medium-weight Cotton (or a high-content cotton blend) with a small textured check in a chocolate brown (sorry I can't give you too much info on this fabric, I thought I wrote it down somewhere but I can't find it)
• Posh Lining in Wine (100% Polyester)
• Symphony Broadcloth in Red Hot (65% Polyester, 35% Cotton) Decided not to use this as it didn't go with the color of the lining.
• Pellon Fusible Interfacing, Featherweight

Thread: lost-label from stash, most likely an all-purpose polyester
Changes: Aside from stitching a smaller seam allowance on a the back seam, there have been no changes yet.  There will be some though, just haven't decided on which ones.  :-)

This is only the top portion of the coat.  I'm up to sewing together the lining.  I also encountered two problems.  Both were my fault but they turned out well in the end.

First, when sewing the flaps for the pockets, I forgot to cut one of the corners to make it easier to turn and ended up ripping the fabric. It was easy enough to fix and I eventually sewed everything together, but it just goes to show that sometimes you need to slow down and make sure you got everything trim, clipped, or snipped.  The good news is that the rip doesn't effect the coat at all and even if it was visible, it will give the coat a more worn-out look, which would make the costume even better. (Look at JJ in the back, he's upset that he can't play in the craft room!)



Second, turning the strings for the loops in the back.  I believe that turning loops is the bane of my existence with these costumes!  Because the fabric is a textured cotton, it was very difficult to draw the loops through themselves.  I fought for a good hour and a half trying to get those stupid things turned.  And sadly, there will be more loop-turning in my future.  I need to find a better method because I love clothes that tie in the back.





There's no real collar to the coat since it relies on the ruffle to finish that portion.  I'm doing the ruffle in a bright red to contrast nicely with the chocolate brown.  Here's another view of the back and side.  The fabric looks really good in this pattern and gives it that sort of rough/military feel I was going for.  I need to get some good close-ups of this material, because I really like it!  I found it with the military-esque fabric that Jo-Ann's sometimes carries.








This is the front.  Can't wait to get the lining in to really see the structure of the coat come together.  I'm not sure what kind of button closure I'm doing.  That's one of the things I'm playing with.  That's all I have for the coat!  Until next time!