Spring Pink Coat

A tailoring project for my next Mood Sewing Network project, that has been a long time coming.  The fabric was moved all around my sewing room, just waiting to be made into a fabulous spring coat.  What fabric did I select?  This fabulous Mood Fabrics' Marc Jacobs linen-cotton

I knew right when I purchased this fabric is was going to be a coat, Vogue 8884, in fact.

source Vogue Patterns

 The fabric seems to yell, "good-bye winter, hello, spring."  Or in my case with the Summer solstice approaching, "good-bye spring and hello summer!"  Whichever one you say, this fabric is fabulous to work with and tailor into a coat

My first step for this jacket was cutting out the fabric in a single layer, very important with the design.  I wanted to match all the key parts.  This took some time but if I had not done this, I would have been very disappointed in my outcome.  I followed many steps from a tailoring book and used Karen's e-book for bound buttonholes (fabulous resource) and an Colette Pattern's tutorial  (coat progress links found here and here and here and lastly here)

The plan was the longer view on the Vogue pattern but my daughter, Meredith and I decided that it was just a bit too much coat.  This was a good decision, the length is perfect for a spring jacket.

I applied interfacing to each piece for underlining, as the fabric is a loose weave.  Do take care when moving the pieces before you apply the interfacing.  I would move the piece to the ironing board, lay the pattern piece over the fabric to make sure there was not stretch.  Then I applied the interfacing.  

With this project, I enjoyed each step and realized the importance of back stays,  horsehair canvas for the shoulder area, roll line.  My husband would come into my sewing room and I would tell him, "look at this step, see I matched the arm seam so nicely."  He would respond,"oh,yes" and hurry out of the room before I kept going on and on.

My only moment of panic, the lining.  I had some off-white bemberg in my stash but it was too transparent and not a good look for the coat.  I went to my fabric stash and had just ordered Mood Fabrics' Aquamarine Solid Silk Crepe De Chine, oh the feel of this fabric.   

I was thrilled having this on my shelf and it was a perfect contrast for the pink. 

I added piping to the facing and this is such an easy step with great impact, I will use this all the time with jackets.

One picture with the jacket unbuttoned

Here is one more picture, hands on my hips and my big smile, I love this jacket!

Thank you all for the kind comments during the construction phase, I really appreciate the comments and the encouragement.  For those of you new to tailoring, I highly recommend the book from my first post, I learned so much this go round with a tailored garment. I am more of a visual learner and the pictures are plentiful and helpful.