It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Peacoat!

Friends, I never thought I'd say this, but I'm starting to like tailoring!

The trick, for me at least, is to work slowly.  I'm actually forcing myself to stop relatively early in the day so as not to push through this project too fast.  I'm trying not to go more than four hours at a time (On some projects I've sewn twice that.).

A few details:

My undercollar, which I'd steamed and left to dry overnight wrapped around my tailor's ham, is now beautifully shaped.



I'm taking the time to pre-shrink my hair canvas and twill tape.  Is this really necessary?  I don't know, but in the scheme of things it doesn't take that much time.  Better safe than sorry, right?

I chose not to padstitch my lapels because I want them soft rather than rigid.  I still did all the basting of my hair canvas to my coat fronts, as well as to the pocket edges (plus catchstitching edges to shoulder and side) and have added twill tape to stabilize the edges of my lapels.









The book I find myself using more than any other is "Tailoring: The Classic Guide to Sewing the Perfect Jacket."  It's written at a level that suits my sewing experience.  I recommend it, though it's certainly not the definitive tailoring book.

I may treat myself to a copy of "Vintage Couture Tailoring" by Thomas Von Nordheim.  Are you familiar with it?

There's still a lot to do.  I'm going to draft my own lining pattern as I had a few problems with the peacoat lining the first time around (which I made following the Japanese pattern book).  I haven't decided how much structure/support I need at the shoulder -- I hadn't planned to add shoulder pads, but I may add a thin one to help support the sleeve.  Likewise, I may add a layer of light sew-in interfacing to the sleeve cap area; still some research to be done about that.  The tentative plan is to have my buttonholes done at Jonathan Embroidery this coming Friday, which means I have to attach my facings tomorrow; we'll see how it goes.



Readers, that's all for now.  I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel -- almost.

Have a great day, everybody!