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Making your own Coat:: Part 3




Just to recap- what I've done so far:  interface the pieces, serge the edges, sew the outer fabric shell, sew the details like the pockets and collar, turn up the hem, sew the lining shell, and put them together.  Now, you turn the coat, right side out, and voila!  It's magic!  All of the raveling edges and interfacing is long forgotten.  Here is what the inside looks like:

Here is the back:






All that is left is the buttons and a little handstitching to whipstitch the openings in the lining closed.  For the buttonholes, I thought about doing bound buttonholes, but my fabric is so thick, that I decided bound buttonholes would just add to the bulk, so I did a regular machine stitched buttonhole and used Fray-Check on the buttonhole before I cut it open to try to prevent excessive ravelling.   Here is a close-up of the buttons that I used.  Note that they are buttons with a shank.  On a thick coat fabric, you either need to start with a shank button, or make a thread shank that will bring the button up by the thickness of the front and front facing together.  Otherwise, your buttons will be stressed by the thickness of the fabric, and are more likely to pop.


Making coats is really a lot of fun, and not difficult once you know the process. Although I"m not an expert by any means, please feel free to ask me any questions that you might have and I'll gladly give you my 2 cents worth.  For more information on my process, see Making Your Own Coat, Part 1

Comments

  1. Your three coat making posts are very helpful Ann! That is on my "to do" list for the year as I got some gorgeous wool coatings from Fabric.com this past fall and need to give my first coat a whirl. I know, little bites at a time will accomplish anything. :-)

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  2. Fabulous looking coat! This motivates me to get into my wool stash from fall. I've haven't made myself a coat. This year I am going to do a lot of new things. One of those is sew for MYSELF instead of sewing gifts and for my grand children.

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  3. Fabulous! I have been thinking of making this coat and finding your pictures has decided for me. Thanks!

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