A Bit of Winter Sparkle

Hello there! I'm behind with my blogging and have several things to show you guys, so expect a flurry of posts in the next few weeks. To start - I made a coat! As usual there's a bit of a story behind it. I bought this coat about 10 years ago:

It's by a brand called Libertine, who at the time specialised in customizing high end vintage clothes with graphics. It was hugely expensive, but I managed to get a massive discount, and proceeded to wear it to death as it was SO WARM!!!! There were no labels inside - naughty Libertiner-s took them out and replaced them with their own - but I assume it was a cashmere or cashmere mix. It's also hard to determine the era of the coat without the labels; looking at the construction techniques, it could be from any era between the late 60's to the 80's. 

The coat appears simple, but there is some interesting sleeve. armhole, and yoke construction:

Back armhole and sleeve detail

Besides the name on the back, there's also some symbols on the sleeve cuffs:

But as you can probably see in the photos, the coat has seen better days - it's threadbare all over the place, some of the buttonholes are frayed, and I won't show you the lining because it's disgracefully worn out. But I've hung on to it for years because it was an investment and I can't bear to part with it, even though it's pretty unwearable. So I've kept it's memory going by remaking it. Here's the pattern which I made through a combination of measuring and tracing - it looks weird:

The pattern - that's the sleeve on the top right

I was considering taking the coat apart and using the pieces as my pattern, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it - am I the only one sentimental about clothes this way?

I used a sparkly wool that I picked up last summer on a flying visit to Abakhan's in Manchester:

It has a sort of boucle texture with random bits of silver sprinkled throughout. And it frays like crazy when you work with it, so pinking shears were used for most seams. 

And here it is:

I have been wearing this constantly since I made it - it's so warm and comfortable! I didn't quite manage to transfer all of the fullness of the original to my version, but I think it still retains the shape of the original. I lost the front button band - never liked that bit - and added that to the front section. I also made it a good 5 "/12.5 cm approx off the length.

I totally forgot to take any construction photos as I went along, but I used iron-on hair canvas for the interfacing on the front, yoke, and collar. Because I'm a bit 'belt and braces' in general, I trimmed away the seam allowances of all the interfacing pieces to reduce bulk in the seams, and then herringbone stitched the interfacing to the coat pieces. I also placed 3" bias strips in the hem for weight and 'crispness'. Then I turned up the coat hem, and herringbone stitched it to the interfacing before inserting the lining. 

The coat goes together pretty quickly - it's just a series of rectangles, no tricky round sleeves, etc. The only tricky bit is the junction of the sleeve seams under the arm. It took a couple of goes, but I got there in the end!:

Hard to see, but this is what the seams look like under the arms

I was considering interlining the coat for warmth, but then decided it didn't need it. Instead, I used a heavy-ish satin that I found in  local shop in Dalston for a bargain £3 per metre. I don't think it's meant for lining (it seems to have some stretch in it) but I don't care because I like it!

I cut the lining using the same pattern pieces, but with the facings and collar accounted for. It was put together on the machine, but then applied to the coat by hand:

Where the lining meets the coat - you can see my little hand stitches

Where the lining meets the centre back facing, with a pleat for ease of movement.

I topstitched around the centre front collar and yoke, just like the original. I also avoided button holes by using big black press studs:

Top stitching and press stud detail

I made the cuffs a bit deeper than the original:

I think that's everything! As I said earlier, I've worn this coat constantly in this cold weather, and it's kept me warm and toasty. You can throw it on with anything, jeans and a t-shirt or something fancier. I'm actually going to miss wearing it once it gets warm!

See you soon!

Pauline Trigere Coat - Finished Just in Time

Pauline Trigere for McCall's, 1956

I started this coat a while ago, then got distracted by a load of things, like Christmas, snow, knitting, blah, blah, blah. It started to become one of those unfinished things that was hanging around, reminding me how I don't finish stuff. But I didn't let it defeat me, and here it is today:

Me half-heartedly trying to recreate the pose on the original packet.

The coat is really very simple, but the sheer massiveness of its swingy shape makes you feel totally glamourous wearing it. It swings and swishes as you walk; if you turn too quickly, it swings out, threatening to knock small children over:

Arty action shot!

As you may have noticed, my version is not exactly like the picture on the cover of the pattern. It seems that the pattern cutters at McCall's left a few things out and changed some details. The pocket on mine has a scalloped detail, there is no split in the hem of the cuff, and I left off the cape, as I didn't like the way it sat:

The cape - just not sure......

The pocket - not really like the one in the picture

The reason the coat took me so long to finish was the amount of hand sewing and inner construction involved, which I got a bit bored with at times. But as soon as it started snowing, I got back into it!

I decided to use canvas for all the interfacings, as well as reinforce the cuffs, pockets, and hems with the same canvas cut on the bias:

3" canvas bias strip, for reinforcing cuffs

This involved loosely catch stitching each piece to the inside of all the hem allowances.

Pocket hem reinforced with canvas

Revers reinforced with canvas

 Doesn't sound like much, but when your hem is about 12 feet, it can be tempting to leave it and watch T.V.! I spent so long hunched over it, I started to get bad neck ache:

But it was all worth it in the end! 

The coat is a raglan sleeve construction, which meant the seams had to be clipped to make them lay flat. The coat is really heavy, and I was worried that the clipped seams would not withstand the weight. Solution - I reinforced the junction of the seams with some ribbon, which just happened to be some Trumpers ribbon from an old Christmas present Mr Needles received:

Ribbon reinforcing underam seams - I don't throw anything away!

And finally, the buttons. I'm never very pleased with the buttonholes on my machine, I've tried doing them by hand, but I'm terrible at it, and I really don't have the nerve to do bound buttonholes. So I took a leaf out of Marc Jacobs book, and avoided them altogether by using press studs sewn underneath 2 large buttons:

Press studs under the buttons

I also added this little chain at the neck, but I doubt I'll ever use it - I never like hanging coats and jackets from those little loops as they pull the neck out of shape. But it just adds a nice finishing touch:

There you have it, a glamourous winter coat. I'm off to swish about in the snow!

It's Coat Time - Pauline Trigere for McCalls

 The turn in the weather has made me realise that I need a new coat! I have a few already, but most of them are really only suitable for mild weather, and my one really warm coat is looking a bit worse for wear (thread bare around the cuffs, etc).

A brilliant excuse to make this coat:

 


I've had this pattern for at least 15 years - I can't remember where I bought it, but I can't have paid much for it because I seem to remeber buying it when I was a penniless student. I'd never heard of Pauline Trigere, but a few years after acquiring it, I noticed a familiar name in the credits of 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' - 'Miss Neal's gowns by Pauline Trigere'. Cool!

'I'm a very stylish girl...'

Patricia Neal in a Pauline Trigere dress

Since then, I've managed to find out a bit more about Miss Trigere - she was an award winning designer, based in New York. She was a very outspoken lady, and kept working into her 90's. Originally from Paris, she bought a bit of French sophistication to post war American fashion, and her pieces are much sought after today, especially her coats. Apparently, she popularised the 'swing' coat shape, and it became her signature shape. Read more about her here.

The late Pauline Trigere

I've taken this pattern out from time to time, but only now do I feel 'mature' enough to really pull it off. After an indecisive visit to the fabric shop (I get in a panic when confronted with all the possibilities), I decided on this:

Close up of black and white wool

And for the lining, I went for this scarlet satin:

From previous experience, I know this is going to take some time. I'll probably use a combination of techniques - as well as follow the instructions, I'll probably use some ideas that have worked previously for me, such as padding the hems with canvas, and sewing them by hand. But don't be surprised if you see me make other things at the same time, because I'll probably get bored of all that hand sewing and will need a break!

UPDATE - 

You can see the finished coat here