Make your own Shoulder Pads!

I will never buy those crunchy polyester ones again!  This was just waaaaaay too easy.

STEP ONE : Make your pattern
This was super simple.  I measured my coat along the shoulder seam from the arm to the neck, which was 5 inches, so I decided shoulder pads needed to be 4.5 inches to work.  So, using some paper I cut a semi-circle that had a radius of 4.5 inches, then another one that was 4 inches, and another one that was 3.5 inches, and a final one that was 3 inches.

STEP TWO : Cut out the bits

Using some cotton wadding (the same stuff I used to interline my black coat) I cut out the three smaller circles so I had two of each.  I cut mine on the fold so I ended up with circles, but if I wanted smaller shoulder pads I would have cut them as semi-circles, not full circles... hope that makes sense!

Then I cut the biggest circle from the same fabric as my coat.  I figured this way they would totally blend in to my coat.  And even if I had cut semi-circles from the wadding, I still would have cut a full circle from the coat fabric, to totally wrap around the wadding.

STEP THREE : Stack em up!

At this point you can hand sew the circles together, but this fabric is fairly 'grippy' so I wasn't really worried about things getting out of shape.  So all I did was fold it over like a taco and pin it closed.

STEP FOUR : Sew it together

I used my zipper foot so I could get right up close to the first layer, and sewed all the way along the open curve.

STEP FIVE : Sew them in

To secure them into my coat, I sewed them to the seam allowance of the shoulder seam, and I also tack the corners to the seam allowance around the arm hole.

HOW EASY WAS THAT!!!!!

And they make such a difference!!!

(excuse the quality of the photo - I had to lighten it a fair bit...)

The left side (as you look at it) has the shoulder pad in, the right side has no shoulder pad.  And its hard to tell but there was an obvious need for the shoulder pads because there was excess fabric and it was all sad and droopy...

MUCH better with, I guarantee you!!!

Anyone else made their own shoulder pads before?

Beccie
xxx

The 1940s Coat

This coat came together really quickly despite all the Hong Kong Seam Binding that needed to be done... and all the catch stitching that needed to be done (around the hem, the facing on both fronts, AND the sleeves!) and the shoulder pads I needed to make.

And can I tell you, I just love this style!

 

The wool flannel is so thick and springy that you don't even notice that its not lined!

And because I had to make it extra long because of the dress, it flicks nicely when I walk!

And the shoulder pads I made are just the right size I think!  I'm going to show you next week how I made them - SUPER simple!

But here is the dress that started it all

I know those look like flowers - but they are a red and a cream elephant with their trunks intertwined!

I really just can't believe how well this 1940s dress fits me!  And the rayon!!!!  Oh my goodness I am in love with rayon - its light and slinky and sexy and it swishes... oooooo its DIVINE!!!!!

I did find a couple of small holes when I was ironing it, but shhhhh!  I won't let that stop me from wearing it - its just too gorgeous.

So now, after making three coats this season I'm really looking forward to sewing something else!  

Beccie

xxx

How Much Bias Tape???

The coat sewing odyssey of 2013 has not finished people!  Rather, I have one more coat to go - this one:

Yes, I'm going to make the dress too - but I need to make the coat first!

The reason I started looking at 1940s coat patterns was because of a vintage dress I purchased back in May.  I thought it was black when I saw it online and the colour wasn't mentioned in the listing, and when it arrived it was actually dark navy blue.  Of course I wanted to wear it right away, even though it was winter, so I started to look at vintage 1940s coats.  Unfortunately none of the ones that were the right colour were long enough... and my dress hanging out below my coat is almost as bad as my petticoat hanging out from under my dress - total no-no!  So the only solution was to make my own coat.

Here is the dress that started it all:

It has an adorable peak-a-boo style front - the ruffly bits are bows!

And the print on the fabric is pretty special - its elephants with entwined trunks!

So with the pattern on the way, the hunt was on to find a lovely wool fabric to make it up in.  And I found the perfect thing at Gorgeous Fabrics (or course!)

They still have 8 yards available here

This fabric is the loveliest wool fabric I've worked with this year.  Its a flannel, and its thick and a little bit fluffy, and oh my goodness I bet its going to be warm!

Back to the pattern - this coat is actually a redingote.  This weird word started out in english as 'riding coat' and was somehow turned into 'redingote' by the French, and now thats the term we use to describe a lightweight coat open along the entire front to reveal a dress worn underneath it.  And because its a light coat, it isn't lined.

This is where the bias tape comes in.

Because the coat is unlined you can see all the seams... eeek!!!  To make them neat I need to bind them with bias tape.  With finer fabric I could sew the seam then bind both edges together, but because of the thickess of the fabric I was afraid this would make far too much bulk at each seam, so instead I have to do this:

Excuse the colour - by the time I got to this point it was quite late...

So as you can imagine, to bind each edge (apart from the arm hole seam and the hem) of each piece on a mid-calf length coat takes A LOT OF BIAS TAPE!  I bought 15 metres and ran out with the two side backs and the sleeves to go.  Thankfully I got more this morning.

I am going to do a tutorial on the method I use to get it neat and even.  It might seem a bit over-the-top but its worth it for a nice finish that everyone can see.  Look out for that soon, as well as photos of the finished black coat!

Beccie
xxx

UPDATE: I've just been told by one of my Facebook peeps that this type of seam finish is called Hong Kong Seam Binding!!!  It has a name!!!  I googled a bit and found out that because of its labour intensive nature its only used on high-end clothing, and that its especially suitable for thick fabrics and summer garments that you don't want to line.  So there you go!!!