Finished Lady Grey!

Look, it's done! I got to wear my Lady Grey for the first time yesterday, and I felt both cozy and fabulous. Even better, it fills a big gap in my wardrobe—I needed something heavier than my navy cotton jacket and lighter than my red winter coat.

Here's a closer shot. I decided that it required at least two brooches, preferably three.

And the back!

Hey, look! I actually bought a handbag. Gone are the days of free tote bags as my purse. It's made out of leather and everything. I feel so grown-up.

Well, after so thoroughly documenting the making of a garment, there's really not much more to say.

I'm looking forward to seeing all the other Lady Greys in the Flickr pool!

Finishing Touches for Your Lady Grey

Okay, this is it! The stuff leftover is all little finishing things, so I thought I'd put together a little checklist.

1. Hem your sleeve lining. I turned mine up an inch, and then slip stitched it to the coat fabric. As the pattern says, you should let the lining hem billow out a bit, so you can slip stitch behind it, creating a "bagged" effect. Mine ended up a little flatter than they should be, but it's all good.

2. Optional: Secure your lining princess seams to the coat allowances below them. This really helps eliminate bulk, and makes your coat feel sleek and slim. You can do this by turning your coat inside out and then pinning the princess seams on the lining to the seam allowances of the coat. The seamlines should "kiss" each other, so make sure they're properly aligned. See the pins along the back princess lines in the photo below? Repeat this on your front princess seams.

Next, pick stitch "in the ditch" of the lining princess seam. You'll catch the seam allowance of the coat below it, but not the outside of the coat.

3. Optional: catch stitch your lining hem to your coat hem. I'm using a catch stitch to secure the lace on the lining to the coat hem.

4. Make your belt, following the pattern instructions.
5. Make and apply your belt loops, following the pattern instructions.
6. Sew on your buttons. On the inside of the coat, you can use a flat plastic button since it won't show.
7. Remove basting stitches from your coat.
8. Model your new coat! Take pictures and upload them to the sew-along Flickr group and the Colette Patterns Flickr pool.

Well, this has been fun, readers! I hope you've enjoyed my sew-along posts. I will, of course, still be here to answer questions for those in the earlier steps of the sew-along. And I'll have pictures of my own coat imminently; I'm just finishing the final touches myself. It turned quite chilly here over the weekend so I hope to have it done VERY soon. Brrr!

I'll be announcing the next sew-along soon: it's for beginners!

Finishing Your Bound Buttonholes

Okay! You've made lovely bound buttonholes on your coat, and now you need to finish the backs of them (on the facing) so that you can actually put buttons through them. Unfortunately, it's kind of hard to see very well with my fabric, but hopefully this will still make sense to you. Here are the steps:

1. Position the coat so that the buttonhole front is facing you. Mark the buttonhole rectangle on the facing side of the fabric by sticking a pin through each corner. My pins are indicated by blue arrows below:

 2. Turn the coat over and connect between the pins with chalk.

 This rectangle is indicated with yellow below:

3.  To reinforce the rectangle, handstitch around it, using a back stitch. I went around my rectangle twice to give it extra security.

4. Cut carefully through the center of the rectangle, and out to the four corners, being careful to only cut the facing fabric. This forms little triangles on each side of the rectangle.

 The blue arrows below show your cutting lines:

 5. Fold the triangles under and pin.

 6. Slipstitch around the rectangle to hold the triangles in place.

That's it! Your buttonhole is now accessible on both sides.

Pip Disapproves of Your Choice, Project Runway

Can't you see the look of derision on her face, Michael Kors? Nina? Anyone?

Seriously, people, I am stunned. I had Mondo pegged as the clear winner. He was robbed! My head practically exploded when they announced their choice.

In other musings, what was up with guest judge Jessica Simpson? Had she just had some major dental work done? She was mumbling like her jaw was wired shut.

Well, enough TV chatter. I may as well tell you that this was supposed to be a Lady Grey post about how to finish the back of your bound buttonholes. I came home from work yesterday and dutifully documented the process on one side of the coat. After the Project Runway finale, I uploaded the photos . . . aaaand they were all blurry. Yikes. I was too sleepy and dispirited to begin yet again. I'm sorry, peeps.

This has been one of those weeks. There's been so much going on at work that I feel comatose at the end of the day. Not the best sewing week, but that's okay! We'll move onward this weekend.

As you can see in the photo above, I did add the lace to my lining hem. I left the room briefly and Pip promptly decided that my coat was the perfect place for a little nap. Only the finest hand-tailored bed for my little princess!

I'll be back this weekend with more Lady Grey goodness. No tricks, only treats!

Inserting Your Coat Lining

Hey, Sew-Alongers, we're getting pretty close to the end! Before I get to the lining, though, I noticed one thing I needed to fix on my coat. The pockets were drooping down below the hem, and I've heard that a couple others had this problem. All you need to do is tack the pockets in place so they don't sag down. I tacked mine to the hair canvas and the top of the hem.

Okay, on to inserting the lining! How's everyone doing with sewing the facings to the lining? The back facing is a little tricky, because the seam is so curved. Just take your time, pin well, and clip if necessary. Here's what your back lining will look like:

And here it is from the front.

This is where things get bulky! Put the lining on top of the coat, right sides together.

Pin all the way around the neckline and down to the bottom of the front facing. Your lapels will be pinned together, and the collar will be sandwiched between the layers. Then stitch all the way around.

Next, trim and grade your seam allowances. You want the seam allowance that will be closest to the outer coat layer to be the widest. When you get to the neckline, the seam allowances are going to be really bulky. It helps to trim them with your scissors on an angle, "beveling" them.

Don't forget to notch around the lapel!

Flip your lining to the inside.

You'll want to eliminate some bulk from your lower front facing. You can trim off about an inch off the hem, as shown below, but don't let your trimming extend beyond where the facing will fold back.

Now, fold the facing back and pin in place. Angle the hem at the bottom of the facing up a bit, so it doesn't show on the right side. (My lining doesn't cover my hem. Anyone else having this problem? I'm going to buy some wide lace to sew on to cover the hem up.)

Next, you'll press around the edges of the coat, favoring the seams to the side that doesn't show (like we did on the collar). Baste in place as you go, with diagonal basting stitches.

My basting stitches are in light thread below; I hope you can see them!

Do this all the way around the facing edges, where I've sloppily indicated with teal "paint" below.

Press the back facing in. You can also understitch it by hand to keep it in place! Another bonus handstitching thing you can do is to sew a pickstitch in the ditch all up the lining princess seams, attaching them to the coat seam allowances below them. This keeps the layers from shifting around and keeps your coat from feeling too bulky. I'm definitely going to do that on mine. (Perhaps save this until after you've finished the inside of the bound buttonholes, though.)

Here's how my coat's looking now, with the basting still in place. So close!

Up next: finishing the bound buttonholes on the inside and hemming the sleeves. If you're caught up, go ahead and make your belt!

Repost: Interlining for Warmth

Happy Sunday, sewing friends! I'm not interlining my Lady Grey, but I know some of you are. Hence, I wanted to draw your attention to this post from last winter on how to interline a coat for warmth. Enjoy, and let me know if you have questions!

Interlining is a subject that caused me a lot of distress when I was first approaching this business of sewing a tailored coat. But it all boils down to just two major things you need to figure out: 1) what kind of interlining to use and 2) how to attach it.

To figure out which type of interlining to use, I took a swatch to the store with me and tried layering it with a couple different options. I opted for lambswool, which is very warm and will keep me from freezing as I walk back and forth to the subway each day. Next, I decided to attach my lambswool interlining to my lining pieces and then sew them all together as one, which is the method my tailoring book recommended and it made the most sense to me. Watch as I demonstrate each step in this video!

I purchased my lambswool at Greenberg & Hammer here in New York. You can order from them by mail, if you're interested. Update: Greenberg & Hammer has sadly gone out of business, but lambswool can also be purchased by mail order from Steinlauf and Stoller.

Sewing Your Lining Back Pleat

Hey Sew-Alongers! I've gotten a couple questions about the back pleat in the Lady Grey lining, so I thought I'd demonstrate how I did mine. A coat or jacket back lining is typically slightly bigger than the coat fabric, and the excess is formed into a pleat at the center back. This allows for movement of the arms and keeps the lining from coming apart at stress points.

The pattern instructions read: "On the back lining, form the back pleat by bringing lines together and pin into place. Stitch pleat for 2" at the top, waist, and bottom."

So, first let's look at the pattern piece. See that line that goes all the way down on the right, next to the arrows indicating "place on fold"? That's the pleat line. It's an inch in from the fold line all the way down. Since we know that, there's no need to mark it on your fabric.

Cut out your lining fabric and pin it down the fold line so it doesn't shift.

Now, mark where you'll be stitching it in place. Make two-inch lines at the very top of the pleat line, at the waist, and at the very bottom. Use a ruler and chalk to make the lines one-inch away from the fold (since that's where the pleat line is) and two-inches long each. These chalk marks are now your stitching lines.

Take it to your machine, and stitch along each of these two-inch lines, making sure to secure each row with reverse stitching at the beginning and end. Remove the pins as you go. Open out the lining piece and press the pleat to one side. That's it! You have a back pleat. This is the wrong side of your fabric.

Make sense, everyone?

Next Step: Accessorize!

Readers, this next sew-along step is VERY IMPORTANT. Wouldn't you agree that the Lady Grey coat is just begging for glam accessories? So, I don't want you to get so bogged down in your impeccable pad stitching that you forget this crucial step of planning your accoutrements. Being the self-indulgent type, I went ahead and bought myself a couple pretty little things to complete my look when my coat is finished. I'm pretty sure I deserve it.

The first step was gloves! The bracelet-length sleeves of the Lady Grey are perfect for showing off a pretty new pair. I opted for the grey ones below (love those lavender buttons!) from ModCloth. They also come in red! Luckily, long gloves seem to be in style these days, so it's not hard to find a pair that will go up above your wrists.

Second step: brooches! I love to accessorize my coats with vintage pins, and the wide lapels of the Lady Grey are the perfect backdrop for some baubles. In fact, wouldn't it be cool to wear a few brooches in a little cluster? But let's start with one. I ordered this little guy on Etsy:

Etsy is practically crawling with vintage brooches to be had for cheap.

I have a beautiful pashmina that will keep my neck warm. All I need now is a nice hat, though nothing's really caught my fancy yet. All I know is that I want to look as adorable as Emma Pillsbury does in a tam:

How will you be accessorizing your Lady Grey?

Hemming Your Lady Grey

Hey everyone! So, just to recap, I've decided to hem my coat before assembling and inserting the lining/front facing (that will come next). I did this on my last coat too, and found it was much easier to work with the hem without the lining in the way.

I've put together a little video on the hemming process. But first, let me say that this method is ALL SHARON. Thank you, Sharon! It works like a charm. Make sure to check out the photos at the bottom of the post too.



So, here's what the seam binding will look like on the hem. First, sew along the lower edge of the seam binding, pulling it taut as you go. (Your seam binding goes over the row of gathering stitches, holding your easing in place.) Second, secure it in place with another line of stitching at the top of the seam binding. Update: in response to a couple questions: do *not* stitch the seam binding through all the layers of the coat. Isolate the top of the hem (like you did to steam out the excess fabric, but with the right side of the hem facing up as you sew at the machine) and stitch just through the hem layer.

Now it's ready to catch stitch in place. Instead of catch stitching it flat (like we did on our seam allowances on the coat front), you can catch stitch a hem between the two layers. Use your thumb to hold the top of the hem down as you go, and take the first "bite" of your stitch in the hem (indicated by the yellow arrow below), and the second bite out of your hair canvas (blue arrow).

Remember not to hem all the way to your front edges! You'll need a couple inches free to sew the front facing to.

Next, you'll want to hem your sleeves. They don't need to be eased, since the pattern allows for the difference in the hem circumference. Simply "pin-baste" your hem near the bottom, steam it, and catch stitch as above.

Don't forget to put in your shoulder pads, if you're using them. They're very simple to insert. Just try on your coat (doesn't it look pretty?!) and slap 'em in there. Wiggle the pads around until you're happy with their location. Pin them in place on the outside of the coat, along the shoulder seam. Take the coat off and turn it inside out at the shoulders. Your shoulder pad will look like this:

 Slip stitch the top of the shoulder pad to the shoulder seam allowance.

Turn the coat right side out and tack down the edges of the pad (see blue arrows below).

That's it for now, friends! If you're caught up, go ahead and start assembling your lining. Don't forget to add some fusible to your front facing. I know a couple of you have had questions about the back lining pleat, and I'll address that when I'm able to get to that part this weekend.

If you're not caught up, no worries! You don't have to keep this pace. The tutorials and the Flickr group will still be there for you for support.

Sewing and Tailoring the Upper Collar

Ready for your next collar steps? So now you've pad stitched and steamed the under collar. Time to complete this part by sewing the upper collar to the under collar. First, stabilize your upper collar with a lightweight fusible.

Next, stitch your upper collar to your under collar, right sides together. Trim and grade your seam allowances so that the seam allowance closer to the upper collar is the wider seam allowance.

Before turning your collar right side out, press open the seam allowances. I used a seam roll to aid in my pressing.

Now, turn the collar right side out and make sure the upper collar is on top.

Arrange the collar as it will be on the body (with the roll line formed, as below) and turn the collar seamline so that it's on the underside of the collar. Work around the outer edges of the collar, rolling the seam between your fingers so the seamline is facing the floor. (This is called "favoring," if you're curious.) Does that make sense?

Next, stitch a diagonal basting stitch around the edge of the collar so that the seamline stays in place the way you arranged it in the last step. My basting is in light pink thread below. (Be careful not to pull the stitches too tight!)

After basting, steam the collar without applying any pressure.

Now, baste the raw neckline edges of the collar together. Your raw edges may not match up perfectly anymore due to the turn of cloth, and that's okay. Trim off any excess if needed.

Machine baste the collar to your coat between the pattern markings. You can leave your diagonal basting stitches in until you're finished constructing the coat.

That's it for this step! Next, I'm going to move on to hemming the coat and sleeves. You see, I realized a little glitch in my scheduling. I prefer to hem the coat before applying the lining; it's much easier to maneuver that way. Since this coat is flared, the hem involves easing in excess fabric. I'll put up a video post in the next couple days to help you.

If you've moved ahead, now would be a good time to start assembling your lining. As always, let me know if you have questions!