Warning: picture-heavy post ahead. This is my last post about constructing Vogue 1335, which I started sewing way back in March. Hopefully I’ll get some pictures of it in action soon.

Vogue’s version of this style has optional tab closures made from scraps of leather and poppers. The pattern also has marking for snaps inside the jacket which are supposed to provide the real closure mechanism. The tabs are just decorative.

I originally wanted to use the tabs on my version, so I made these from some faux leather I got on eBay. However as the project wore on I started to think that the tabs I’d made were a little too yellow against the winter white shell fabric I was using. When I finally came to the stage where the tabs had to be stitched on I decided not to use them and looked for something else.

Much internet searching and several failed purchases later I acquired these things:

The fasteners are from Macculloch and Wallis and at the time of writing are available here. One of the difficulties with finding them was that there doesn’t seem to be a standard name for this type of fastener. Macculloch and Wallis call them ‘trigger lock’ fasteners, but if you google that term you’ll mostly find a slightly different type of gadget intended for attaching straps to handbags. I’ve seen the coat fastener variety called ‘hook and dee’ or ‘fireman’ fasteners on US sites but had no luck finding them for sale under those names.

The rivet setting tools came from Amazon. I also got a pack of extra rivets which provided useful practice material before taking the hammer to my jacket and fasteners.

The rivets were quite tricky to install. Thumping them with the hammer wasn’t difficult but keeping them straight was. The results aren’t entirely straight and square but luckily that’s not obvious unless you get very close indeed.

One nice and unexpected thing was that it turned out that two external fasteners are enough and I didn’t need to install the internal snaps. I am useless at sewing snaps – they never stay attached for long! I’ve had to reapply the snaps on my Burda coat more than once. This jacket sits perfectly without snaps; probably a testament to all the extra interfacing in it.

So that’s it for construction. I’ll try to get some pictures of the jacket being worn soon.