Made by Me: Mother of the Groom outfit

Warning, this post is picture heavy!

It's been over a week since I've posted here, so what have I been up to?

Well, as far as sewing for myself, I'm working on 2 garments, neither of which have gone quite to plan.  I'll tell you about those later, but today I want to share the wedding outfit I've been working on for a friend, which is now finished. 

I'm pretty pleased with it, so there are quite a few pictures. 

In my last post about this project I showed you the half completed dress and coat/jacket and here we have the fully completed outfit.

 The neckline of both the dress and coat is piped with the shiny side of the satin backed crepe used to make the dress (the dress has the matt side as the right side).

It was worth putting in all the preparation time before I cut the coat out, because I've matched that front pattern pretty well I think.

There's not much to say about the actual construction, both the coat and dress are fully lined instead of using facings.  For the linings I just used the same pattern pieces again, and actually made them first and used them as the muslins.  Luckily the alterations needed were small enough that I was able to use the original pieces I'd cut out and didn't need to recut anything.

When I hemmed the coat I was able to fully enclose it, stitching the outer fabric to the lining, so no stitching showed on the outside.

However, I had to hem the lining and outer fabric of the dress separately.  I just used a double turned hem on the lining, and finished the outer fabric with bias tape which was then catch stitched to finish.  You can just see the tiny stitches on the outside if you look closely.  Hopefully though no one will be crawling round on the floor looking at the hems!

I also made a little clutch bag to go with the outfit, using this tutorial.  It was the first such bag I'd made, and other than needing 2 or three pairs of hands when it came to gluing the bag into the frame, it all went smoothly.

 

 

 

 

As a final finishing touch I've made a matching covered coat hanger.

This has been a somewhat nerve-wracking project to work on, largely because the fabric was so expensive I was scared of spoiling it.  I have enjoyed it however, and my husband tells me it is the best thing (or things) I've ever made.

I definitely learnt that preparation is key, it might be boring, but it saves time in the long run to have everything properly prepared.