I remember being told as a child that ‘we must suffer to be beautiful’. Well I hope my new coat is going to come out beautiful. It’s certainly causing a little suffering right now! I am sparing you a photo of my left hand, which currently sports an iron burn and several nasty pin scratches. Also I will not show you my right ring finger, which I managed to stab deeply with a needle while sewing the pockets on. I’m pretty sure I didn’t get any blood on the coat. It would show on this fabric.
So here’s where we are so far. Body sewn, collar and pockets attached, sleeves sewn but not set in. I totally forgot to add a hanging loop when I sewed the back facing seam. I am not going back and unpicking it. The pockets aren’t perfect but I hate hand-sewing with a passion so they’re not getting a do-over either.
I was worried about sewing through all the layers around the collar but my machine coped with it without so much as a wobble. Look at all those thicknesses!
It’s not all bad. I’m pleased with the way the corners came out at the front. Sometimes you turn out a point and it just goes perfectly with no need for poking. Both corners did that; I wish I knew what I did to make that happen! And I still love the style. I think when it’s done I’m going to really enjoy wearing it.
Hopefully the blood sacrifice will make the rest of the project go a little more smoothly. I’m about to set the sleeves in; wish me luck!
Catherine Daze's Blog 
The sewing gods will be pleased! It looks great so far. A girl in my sewing class is making the same coat, with the same colour wool. She omitted the bottom piece because “long coats are for old women”. She’s 15 🙂
You certainly are doing a beautiful job with the grading and other construction details. Remember, if you get blood on the fabric, saliva breaks the enzymes in the blood down. But I hope it doesn’t come to that!
That is proper ‘suffering for your art’! Amazing work! This is going to be one beautiful coat. 🙂
looking fabulous
That looks like it’s going to be amazing Catherine, can’t wait to see the finished item.
It’s looking fabulous. Worth the sacrifice!
Pockets, look fine. Everything looks fine actually. If in doubt, iron the sh*t out of it XD It will be awesome.
Coat project always seem to go on forever for me, and working with the heavier fabrics has its challenges. You are making wonderful progress and I think you will be very happy with your coat when it is finished. Go girl go!
So far it definitely looks like the suffering is worth it! It’s looking great!
Beautiful and perfect so far!
Your coat looks great! If you ever do get blood on your fabric, spit on it! Your saliva has enzymes that help get rid of blood stains. It really works (not on other blood stains though, only your own).
It’s looking fantastic! I love the coat pattern and the fabric is delicious. Wait until you can’t even feel the pin pricks on your fingers. That’s the scary part.
looking very good.
Stunning job so far – What machine do you have to go through all those layers so easily?
Thanks! The machine is a Singer Heavy Duty – which despite the name is just a domestic model. I guess it has quite a good motor on it because it’s fast compared to my Elna.
Oh! This is going to be such a beautiful coat. I’m very sorry to hear about all the blood being spilt along the way (BTW, did you know that “spilt” is being flagged as a misspelling?! Whatever has happened to our English language spell checks?!?) But you’ll have such a stunning coat when all the pain and tears are over!
It’s looking very good! Hope you’ll have no more injuries!
Gosh, this is looking lovely…so worth the suffering methinks ;o) What machine do you have? I’m impressed it handled so much thickness!
It’s looking really fab!
It looks to be a very nice coat!
This is looking freaking amazing! I am super impressed with how flat and evenly your collar is sitting- it is awesome!
oh, poor of you! I hope this don’t hapen again. The coat looks great! abd it looks also it is really warm. Everytime I see your progress makes me feel to do the same coat!
Gorgeous gorgeous coat! All those seams match up perfectly. I see no need to redo the pockets. Everything looks great, and I’m sure your sleeves will go in beautifully, too.
It’s going to be gorjus! One trick my mother passed on to me, (and she was born of a expert French Canadian sewist,) was to take my first Vogue Designer Pattern suit when I completed it at 15 to a good dry cleaner—not for cleaning— but for an expert pressing. He was a Frenchman who appreciated tailoring and he pressed the thing so well, it looked like I’d walked off a runway.
All your hand-stitching quibbles will disappear if you give your beautiful coat the final touche, just because you both deserve it. It’s wonderful.
This is looking UNBELIEVABLE!!!! I’m utterly in love with the structure and elegance of this style, and the deceptive simplicity of the fabric… wonderful, wonderful stuff! 😀
Oh wow but bugger about the injuries – the coat is going to be gorgeous.