Tuesday 13 August 2013

The blue corduroy coat

Lincraft was having a sale and it would have been wrong not to go in, fondle the fabric, and take some home with me.  The navy corduroy reminded me of a coat pattern in Australian Smocking and Embroidery from 1994 that I have always liked

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I didn't want to do any smocking (because I knew if I did, this coat would have ended up with the two smocked dresses I haven't yet finished - the first started in 2000 and the other, more recently, in 2007) so I hunted the pattern collection.

In this Japanese pattern book 

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I found this coat 

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So, I made the 110cm size and added pink velvet piping between the yoke and front and back pieces

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pleated front panels



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pleated back panel

The facings were finished with matching pink bias binding. I was going to finish all of the seams with bias binding but I am lazy, and the seams were just too bulky and didn't look as tidy as the overlocker edge finish.


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And yet more pink....

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Side seam pocket.  The corduroy is a deep navy, not grey like this photo.

After I attached the collar and the facings I realised that I had placed the collar all the way around the neckline and beyond the centre front marking (although if these were indicated on the pattern when I traced off the pieces, I wouldn't know!).  Because of my boo boo I wasn't able to close the coat with a decorative button at the neckline because the collar pieces overlapped.   So I sewed 3 hidden snaps to the facings instead.  

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this photo is a better colour match


and 2 snaps were added to the cuffs

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And when this coat was finished, I started working on a jacket for a friend's 10 year old daughter.  It is still a work in progress 

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"Paris" short wool jacket 
No. 30 Ottobre 6/2007



although here is another field trip t-shirt I recently completed

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4 comments:

  1. Oh that coat is divine. Great job, and thanks (not) for showing me a Japanese pattern book I don't have, and obviously now want/need.
    The robot knit is awesome. can I ask where you found it? I adore the Lillestoff knits but just can't get my head around the price...

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  2. I think I bought this pattern book in Tokyo last year and I tried searching for it on Amazon last night but didn't see it. Hopefully you'll have better luck finding the book than I did during my quick look.
    The fabric is from the Ottobre etsy store. I agree that the prices seem high (try using the pacific peso to buy things overseas!?!) but they are very wide - around 150-170cm. I can usually get 2 kid's t-shirts out of 1m which makes the fabric seem more economical. The etsy store will also cut smaller or larger quantities if you contact them and 1/2m (or just over) may be enough to make a shirt in the extra wide fabric. The other place I have bought this fabric is from dotsnstripes.co.uk. The prices are similar (in £) and the service is really good!
    I justify buying these fabrics (for other people's kids!) by comparing the prices I would pay for a t-shirt at a fancy store and I still reckon I'm better off. And that's ignoring the fun factor of making it yourself.
    Excuse the waffle

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  3. It's amazing how something plain like corduroy can look so smart when tarted up with some piping, bias binding and the right pattern. Beth from Sunnygal studio recently finished a jacket edges with overlooking in a contrasting thread and it looked very smart, like bias binding. You should check it out. Just an idea
    I do love the second jacket and the t-shirt is delightful. Once again it's the fabric choices which lift this from the ordinary

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