Red plaid wool coat Part 3, completed

It seems to me this is the third time since I began blogging that I have done a very similar thing, which is to finish sewing a wool coat just when spring is arriving here in N. California. While our coat wearing season is fairly short compared to other places, back in the second week in February when I started this I thought I would get a few chances to wear it. On the day these photos were taken the temperature had been almost 80 ℉ here so that is not very likely. However I will be ready for the Christmas holidays in December!





The light was just going in the evening so I did lighten up some shadows, and in some of these pictures the colors look not quite right.



There are two blog posts previous to this one that talk about construction, the first one is about fit and shows the pattern drawing (it's a Burda Easy coat that I downloaded about a year ago). The next blog post is about doing bound buttonholes and a few interfacing details.

The fabric is from Mood Fabrics in NY. I ordered in December when I was in a holiday mood and to me the color is just the perfect shade of red. It's definitely a plaid and I treated it as such, with all that involves. Considering some of the changes I made for fit after I cut it out I'm really happy with the plaid matching result (check out that first blog post for the fitting info).



This was the only photo with the front unbuttoned, which is probably the way I will most often wear it. I really searched for some red buttons or something else interesting but now that I see it I really like the black buttons. Which were in my stash :)




Ok my dislike of what I call novelty linings might be know if you have read this blog for a while, I prefer lining to be a solid and matching or coordinating color. But I was stuck at home recuperating from the flu, well enough to sew, wanting to finish this coat, and this pink satin lining was sitting there in my box of lining fabric just saying "pick me, pick me". It's the exact weight and type of lining that I like for a coat so I just let go of my desire for a matching lining and went with it. Maybe it coordinates, instead of matching.





SO pink! Lining is hand sewn in all around. I used the same pattern pieces as the coat, added a small pleat in center back and then adjusted the front to account for the facing. There's a photo in my previous post showing how I "free-form" the lining.






You can see I have my hands in the pockets, after all what is the good of a coat with no pockets?
Yet this version didn't have pockets, the front flap things are just decorative.



But I took care of that little issue with some side seam pockets. By the way, I almost always put lining instead of fashion fabric on the back of pocket flaps (or even faux pocket flaps). I just think they are less bulky and press nicely that way, of course they are interfaced to maintain the structure.

See, hands in pockets. And what am I looking at? Probably a wasp building a nest under my patio cover, even the wasps think spring is already here.




To show that this is becoming a habit - by that I mean making a winter coat when winter has all but fled my part of the world here are the previous episodes.
Shawl Collar Coat from March 2015  and Spring Coat from May 2013. Hmm both of those are Burda and so is this coat. AND my best every Tricolor Coat, also Burda. Are we sensing a trend? Burda has some really great coat patterns and I would make even more but I have no possible chance to wear any more!

Time to run, my garden is sadly neglected since I was sick with the flu for the majority of February. I did get some dahlias planted but have a long list of tasks to get to. Plus I have two pairs of jeans about 80% completed which I sewed as examples for my recent jeans class. Now it's onward to spring sewing, both here in my sewing room and at Hello Stitch Studio. Here's the link for all the classes we have coming up in the next few months.





Stay well everybody!
Happy Spring Sewing,
Beth

Today's garden photo - this year's first tulip and it coordinates so well with my new coat.