Spy versus spy: Bur6erry trench coat revealed

I already wore it and love it. To my great surprise, even though it's lined only with a thin, non-insulating lining, it kept me warm even in fairly cool temps earlier this week, I think because of its double layer water- and wind-proof cotton twill.  It's sure to become a great inter-season topper.

 

The lovely striped lining!

Can you tell I'm pleased?  Especially with my new boots.  :)

I'll post some construction details later.

Incognito: trench fedora à la Vogue 8844

This weekend I visited Montreal for a day.  Fortunately, my hostess is an avid fabric artiste and was happy to give me the full run of her workshop, not to mention her two very capable hands. 

Before I went, I prepared myself, cutting out the trench coat's facing and full lining, and checking that the remainder would indeed suffice for a hat.  I selected the pattern (V8844, view A), stuffed the fashion and lining fabric along with some fusible hair canvas in my oversized purse, and hopped on the bus! 

Making a hat isn't that difficult. Fusing interfacing to all the bits (top, crown, and rim), and ensuring that the hat's top is smoothly basted and then stitched to the crown were probably the biggest challenges:  one psychological (boredom!), the other technical (stiff, unyielding fabric).  The first was greatly lessened by the fact that I had a cheerful like-minded conversationalist in the room, who became more & more enthused as construction proceeded, and eventually traced a version for herself as well:  yay!

The real treat, though?  You'll never guess.  It was getting the opportunity to use her 30 year old Bernina 830.   Wow:  whisper quiet and smooth as silk.  Apart from a couple of dropped stitches, which were probably my fault as I didn't bring an appropriately heavy, sharp new needle appropriate for my project, it worked tirelessly and fabulously.   I loved using this delicately responsive piece of equipment, especially when applying reams and reams of topstitching to the rim. Coming back to my noisy, clackety, equally old Kenmore:  meh!

I brought the hat home just in time to hand sew the lining into it model it over dinner.   And?

1.  Magenta doesn't quite do it: I'll add a ribbon made out of the coat's lining to the hat;
2.  I predict there's a new sewing machine in my future;
3.  my young boy wants a fedora just like mine!

Inside view:  topstitching and lining.

Without the silly magenta ribbon:  much better!

The coat's nearly finished: shhhhhh!

Trench coat: progress and details

The hardest part of making anything, especially something made up of many complicated parts, is, actually, making the decision.  And decisions.

In this case, stuff like:
 topstitching:  single pass or double?  single.  Self or contrasting?  darker than self but not in your face contrast.  Normal thread or jeans/heavy weight?  I went with extra strong, which thinner than jeans weight, but some small fiddly things like belt loops are stitched with self coloured regular weight thread - the heavier thread didn't seem appropriate on the very small stuff.

Aside from choosing to make two piece sleeves, one of the more interesting questions I had posed myself was the construction of the yoke and gun flap.  It occurred to me that it would be sort of cool if this piece could be simply free floating on the coat itself, with neckline and armscyes  being the only seams where it's attached to the coat.  To that end, I added a "mini gun flap" to the left side:



I deliberately cut the lining a little larger than the FF, to allow for potential fraying during handling. 

The order of construction was, stitch left and right front flaps to the yoke, press shoulder seams to front and topstitch them, add the epaulette carriers, and only THEN attach the lining.  This way the lining smoothly sits between the yokes and the coat itself.   The shoulder seams of the coat itself are pressed to the back which minimizes the thickness at that point.

There are no buttonholes on anything yet; I usually do those as the very last step.  That button is just sitting pretty pretending it's attached.

A word on this fabric.  (aside: is this really what Bur6erry uses in their trench coats? it seems heavier than what I saw in stores recently).  This fabric is like milled cast iron, it's that tough and strong.   It's so ......um, stiff, yeah, there, I said it - when it comes right down to the nitty gritty it's pretty much stiff as a board, and I do hope it softens in wear.  See that epaulette below? It isn't even interfaced, and doesn't it have super legs?

So, after dithering for a bit (decisions, decisions), I decided not to interface the facing.  I was afraid I'd feel I was walking wrapped in cardboard if I did.  Instead, I added a wedge of fusible hair canvas to the lapel area of the CF, pinked off at the lapel fold diagonal line. Should I tape it?  Any advice on that? (I didn't)

Things are coming along.  I'm almost at the point of cutting the facing and lining layer.

Jan 2015 update:  a few detail shots of the finished coat.

Collar tab buttonhole is non-functional, so I left it uncut.

Shoulder tab:

 Left gunflap:

 Sleeve and belt buckles, pocket, topstitching details:

Two piece lower collar, cut on the bias for a nice chevron pattern:

And, note the nice high collar stand.  Great for keeping the wind off my neck!

Trench coat: pattern test drive

As the saying goes, there's no time like the  present.  Killing two birds with one stone, I cut out jacket length (5255 D), though I plan to use all of the pattern details of jacket C, for a snazzy red jacket to test drive the 5525 body with the sleeve from Simplicity 4084 (another great trench coat pattern), and basted it all together.    

The body is a straight size 12, with the back neckline dropped a whole 2.5 cm (1") to compensate for my over-erect (yes that is the correct technical term!) back.  Good thing I did that - it brought the shoulder seams to where they should be:  when I forget this step, my garments show a severe backwards drift:  yuck! 

The fit is great - but I like more ease (the stuffed sausage look is So Not For Me), so I narrowed the SA's a tad at the front and back  princess seams starting at the hip bone, leaving the CB and side seams per original design. That added about 4 cm (1.5") to the hip area. 

I also intend to lower the CB vent by about 2-3 cm (~1"), as I do NOT want my butt's high water line to push it open!

The sleeve took a bit of work:  first I measured the original 5525 armscye circumference & compared it to the 4084's.  In the latter, the circumference is 15 mm smaller and the sleeve length 2.5 cm (1") shorter.  So I added 4 mm to each of the half sleeve sides, and lengthened them by a breathtaking 7.5 cm (3").  Just as well!!!!!  

 In the above pic, the sleeve hem is folded 5.5 cm (2 1/4") from the bottom, and it doesn't look too long, does it?   The lovely purple elastic, you ask?  it's there to imitate the sleeve tab/belt, which serves to cinch the sleeve and keep freezing rain and wind off my bony wrists.  

There was no way to ease this sleeve into the body.  The fabric is totally non-easable, so I made a few tiny pleats at upper back (you can see a couple of them in the pic).  However - I think what I'll do is add a little more ease at the side and front princess seams for my bust, just the upper 10-15 cm, and that'll increase the armscye a bit and make the task of sleeve easing easier ;) in the actual construction.  

So, what next?  

I need to decide on a whole lot of things:

1. do I need to interface the whole fronts, per pattern instructions?  this fabric is like iron - maybe interfacing isn't necessary?  maybe I could, like I did with my most recent jacket, just underline with silk organza and add a bit of hair canvas to the lapel bit of the underlining? 

2. do I need to worry about waterproofing all the seams?

3. for the red jacket, what sort of lining?  fancy silk (dig through the stash, Digs!), or basic black bemberg (which I already have)?  

4. what about the topstitching?  contrast or self colour? self or thick thread?

4. how about some amazing piped edges (for the red jacket only)?

So.  This was a well spent Sunday.  I think, since I really-Really-REALLY want to have a trench COAT  before the month is out rather than a JACKET, I'll now set this little red baby aside and plow straight into the tan.  :)   :)  :)

Trench coat plans!

A serious Bur6erry ;) knockoff has been on my to-do list for a long time: ever since Michael had a sale of the raincoating fabric, which I think was some time in early 2008.

Fabric:

The fabric is amazing. It's made out of two layers of cotton twill bonded together, one plain colour, the other patterned in a nice tan/black/white/burgundy stripe.  Both sides are waterproof and shed water beautifully. [Edit: when I started to wear the coat I discovered the double thickness and waterproofing make the coat very windproof as well, and consequently surprisingly warm.]

I bought three lengths, in tan, red, and blue, all from Michael's, plus a length of matching lining from Denver Fabrics.  I still have the receipt for the latter, dated June 2008!  

Tan coating on the right (4.8 m) with matching rayon lining (2.4 m) on the left.

Sky blue (1.6 m) and fire engine red  (3.0 m)

I'm not quite sure why I got these lengths. It was in the early days of my sewing, and I was building up a stash, maybe? Or, probably more likely, I had had no idea whatsoever what lengths were needed for say, a coat (the tan), or a jacket (the red)?   I think the blue was destined for my baby boy, but ahem, he's much bigger than I now, way too big now for such a miserly length to be useful for him.  But, blue combined with the tan could make a colour-blocked jacket perhaps. 

I love how water beads on this fabric - clearly it's been waterproofed!

Patterns:  

I have two - the Simplicity 4084 (Threads) and McCall's M5525.  I know there are others - Jalie, Marfy, and Burda, and may find them eventually for info purposes, but I plan on using a combo of the two I have.  

Alterations:

I like the M5525 upper back yoke and front gunflap, and the rain tab on the collar stand.  I prefer 4084's two piece sleeve, the direction of the side front pocket welts, and the buckle on the belt.  In addition, instead of what these patterns provide, I plan to make fold-over epaulettes (skinny underside), buckled rather than buttoned sleeve tabs, hanging tabs on the belt, and four instead of two belt holders.  

The under collar will be bias-cut and show the wrong side.  Buttons and buckles will be classic horn style.  Top stitching?  perhaps burgundy, to match the thin stripe of the underside and lining.  

I know some of you out there have used this cloth - I'd love to post links to those successful projects, so if you know where they are, please post in the comments section - thanks!  I'd also love to hear your comments and advice - this is a big project and your help will definitely go a long way to giving it justice!