The Monochrome Dream Coat : Part 1

You've all heard of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, right?  Well this is the first part of my story about my Monochrome Dream Coat.

As soon as I saw the photo of this coat a year or more ago I wanted it.  Like really, really wanted it. 


That particular coat would never be in my possession though, for one thing it's a Vivienne Westwood coat, and for another, I don't think was still available even if I could afford it. 

I dreamed about it for ages, I think I even wrote about it here, and then at the Knitting and Stitching Show last October I bought some fabric to make it.  The Simply Fabrics stall had this black and white polka dot coat weight fabric that seemed too good a match to turn down, so I bought 4 metres.


And the fabric sat in the cupboard for a year while I searched for a pattern to use as a starting point and generally procrastinated.  I'm very good at procrastinating. 

Then, this weekend I decided to make a start.  I didn't have a current project underway and I wanted something I could get my teeth into.  I dug Vogue 8505 out of my stash and decided to go with that.  It's a 1990's pattern, but has pretty much the basic shape I want.



My copy of course is one size too small for me, and this is also a dress pattern, not a coat pattern, so my first step was to trace the pattern, enlarge it slightly and then make a straight toile without any design alterations.

This is my initial toile.


As you can see from all the pins it needs quite a few adjustments.  It's too wide on the shoulders - I thought it would be - and I gave myself a little too much extra room in the waist.  I want to be able to wear a sweater under the coat, but I still want a fitted look.  I don't wear hugely thick sweaters anyway, I prefer a few thinner layers. 

The whole coat also needs lengthening about 4 inches, but I had already taken two out of the bodice length before I cut the toile out so I anticipated needing to add length back at the hem. 

I then moved onto the collar, using the collar pattern piece from a Burdastyle coat as the basis, mainly because it was to hand. 

I started off with this one, and thought it was pretty good.



But then when I looked at my inspiration photo this morning I realised that the collar wraps right over on the right front, so I redrafted it and replaced it with this.



I'm pretty happy with this one.   I just need to try it on myself - rather than on Rosie - to make sure it's not going to choke me. 

My next step is to work out the drape on the side of the skirt.  I've already marked an area I'm going to cut away from the original shape (you can see that in the photo of the full toile above) and then I'm going to try my hand at draping a new piece to go in it's place.  I'm not going to add the flap at the top of the hip, I have enough bulk there myself without adding to it! 

Once I've got that right I need to pre-treat my fabric, order some interfacing and lining and get started!

I'm not sure of the best way to pre-treat the fabric (I'm not actually sure of the fibre content - the price I paid leads me to believe it's probably mostly synthetic).  For the last coat I made I steamed the fabric first, so I'll probably do that, but if anyone has any other suggestions please let me know. 

10 comments

  1. It's looking good so far and I definitely like the second version of the collar - it's got more style. I like the drape on the original coat and that way button line. It looks, as it should, very designer. I look forward to see what you come up with - clever girl!

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    1. Thanks Fran, I'm pleased with what I've done so far... now onto the difficult bits!

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  2. it looks great! i would cut the side panel on the bias to get that lovely drape. you could even widen the collar slightly on the right hand side (as i am looking at it in the pic) - the VW coat is definitely wider there. is the hip flap a pocket? i would definitely want at least one pocket in a winter coat personally.

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    1. I'm not sure if that hip flap is a pocket. I was wondering that, but it seems to me like it would hang weirdly if it didn't have a fastening - kind of flop open? I don't need additional bulk on my hips, so I'm not going to put a pocket there, but I will add one pocket at least to the left princess skirt seam and possibly to the right as well depending on how the drape section hangs with a pocket there as well. I definitely need pockets in coats!

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  3. The asymmetrical sleeve heads are fascinating! Are you going to recreate that design feature? Karen

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    1. Hi Karen, no I'm not going to do the asymmetrical sleeve heads, just doing them both plain. I don't suit puff sleeves!

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  5. SO excited you're actually making this, Sam! Really love this coat and ever since you showed it to me I've thought how much it would suit you. One thing about the collar - can you make the bit that crosses over the front left to right go down a bit more at an angle? It's quite horizontal from the looks of it on the toile. I think it'll be much more flattering if it points down at more of an angle and would also be less likely to strangle you as you suggested. I def agree with Sew Little Time re widening the right hand side - it'll balance it out more. So excititng!

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    1. Thank you love! Yes, think I will slant the collar down a little more, it is very straight and I'll widen the other side a little. It was too wide on my first attempt but it looks like I took too much away. Thank goodness for toiles!

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  6. Fascinating to see the making of your coat. All those pattern drafting lessons are really coming in handy.

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