Butterick 5824, Finished!

Hi all! As promised, here are pics of me modeling my finished version of Butterick 5824. To see all the posts on the making of this coat, please click here.

I'm loving this coat! My only regret is the way I did the contrast band on the collar. I now realize it would have been wiser to wrap the black bias band around to the bottom of the collar so you can't see the undercollar fabric peeking out. My method would have worked in a thinner fabric, but this one is so thick that you can see the layers of the collar, despite my best pressing, basting, and steaming efforts. Live and learn?

I'm already scheming another version of this coat, in a lightweight wool. The lace/boiled wool fabric I used here has a lot of body, and I'd love to have a drapey version that could double as a dress. Perhaps in a silver-colored wool gabardine?

The fit came out nicely, though with a bit more ease in the waistline than I anticipated. This works well for outerwear, but for my dress version, I'll be nipping in the waist a bit.

The whole thing is lined in Kasha satin (flannel-backed lining fabric) so it's very warm.

I can't wait to wear it out on the town!

Thanks to all who are participating int he sew-along. I can't wait to see your versions!

Coat Sew-Along: Hemming and Finishing!

Hurrah! We're there! The last steps of Butterick 5824.

Let's get this thing hemmed. First, you're going to do a line of basting stitches 1/4" from the bottom edge of the coat. I put a heavy duty thread in my bobbin since my fabric is kind of thick--it helps with pulling up the basting threads (so they don't snap and break). Because this hem is so flared, we need to gather up the raw edge to reduce the extra ease in the hem allowance. (Sorry about the weird  colors in the photos; I shot them in the middle of the night!)

So when you turn up your 1-1/2" hem allowance, you'll have some of the bias strip of fusible interfacing sticking out at the top.

Next, go section by section on the skirt, pulling up the bobbin thread and pinning the hem allowance in place. (Measure the hem allowance as you go, of course.) I used a t-pin to pull up a loop in the center of each skirt section, and then gathered up the hem allowance enough that it will sit flat.

After the whole hem is pinned, you'll use a lot of steam to set those gathers and shrink them up a bit.

I would normally do this hem by hand, but I found I had a perfect storm of circumstances in which I could use a blind machine hem: a thick fabric with enough texture that it won't show the stitches.

So I got out my blind hemmer foot and did it that way!

You have to flip back the body of the coat, and use the blade on the foot to make sure you are catching just a teensy bit of the coat fabric. Definitely go to your machine's manual for complete instructions if you want to do it this way.

It ends up looking like this. (Yay, we're back to daylight pictures!)

Nifty, right? It's undetectable from the outside.

If your fabric is thin (or you just prefer to hand stitch), get cozy on the sofa and hem that baby up with a slip stitch or catch stitch.

Once you're all hemmed, it's time for step 36, where you'll catch stitch the edge of the facing down to the hem. First, note that this is a raw edge. If your fabric unravels, you can finish it with a little strip of seam binding or bias tape first.

Step 37! That little bit of the bottom edge of the front lining that's not attached yet? Slip stitch it to the facing.

Step 38! French tack your lining hem to the coat hem at the side seams.

To do this, use a hand needle and a long strand of strong thread. Take a little stitch from the top of the coat hem, and then a little stitch from the bottom of the lining hem, leaving 1" of slack between the stitches. Repeat these two stitches so you have several strands of thread between the two layers of fabric. Then cover those stitches with blanket stitches. Here is a diagram from the Reader's Digest Guide to Sewing that will help!

If you're making machine buttonholes, do them now.


Sew your buttons on so that they correspond to your buttonholes.

Lastly, give your coat a final press and then remove any basting stitches. Don't forget the basting in the center back pleat of the bodice lining!

Whew! The coat is done. Now it's time to take pictures!

Coat Sew-Along: Bound Buttonhole Finishing and Steps 33 and 34

Hi readers! My apologies, I've gotten slightly behind on our sew-along schedule. The good news is that we are definitely in the home stretch. I anticipate this being my penultimate process post!

Did you make bound buttonholes on your coat? If so, the time has come to make openings for the buttonholes in the front bodice facing. Here's how I did mine.

First, pin all around your bound buttonholes, ensuring that all your layers are where they should be. You're pinning all the way through to the bodice facing behind the coat front. My bound buttonholes are in black below, and the pins are red.

Next, insert a pin into each corner of each buttonhole. Stick the pin straight down, making sure it's not at an angle. This will find the exact location of where the openings need to be on the facing.

 On the facing side, use the pins as a guideline to chalk-mark a rectangle.

Remove all the pins and open out the facing from the rest of the coat. Machine stitch around the chalk-marked rectangle, pivoting at the corners, and using a short stitch (about 1.5). This will reinforce the opening. (Note: this step is quite difficult because of the sheer size of the coat. If needed, do this step by hand with a tiny back stitch.)

Next, cut into the opening, snipping into the corners of the rectangle.

Turn the cut edges of the rectangle inward, exposing the back of the bound buttonhole. Slipstitch the  edges in place, stitching to the back of the buttonhole fabric. The goal is to make it look as neat as the front of the buttonhole.

You can also do this step with a silk organza scrap to produce a perfect little window. (This is the method I write about in my book.) I'd recommend looking into this method if your fabric is fray-prone.

Okay, step 33!

We've already done the first part of this, now you just need to tack the lining in place at the waistline and the shoulder. Do this by hand, using a short running stitch that piles up on top of itself. You're tacking the lining to the seam allowance below, not all the way through to the outer coat. Do enough stitches so that the lining feels securely in place.

Step 34! Sleeve linings.

With the coat inside out, make sure that the sleeve linings are not twisted and that the seams match the coat's sleeve seams. Turn the sleeve lining in 5/8", and match up the raw edge to the coat sleeve hem's raw edge.

 Pin in place.

 Slip stitch the fold of the sleeve lining to the coat sleeve hem.

When worn, the sleeve lining will sag down a bit beyond the slip stitching, forming a pleat for wearing ease.

Okay, next we're on to the hem and finishing!

Coat Sew-Along: Inserting the Lining

The wind is howling and the rain is pouring, but the power is still on--and so's my sewing machine! Let's move on to step 32 while we can; I'm going to show you a few things you can do on this step and the next to get your coat to look really professional.

Thank goodness for these illustrations, because the coat is really too big to take good pictures of at this point!

Start by pinning the lining/facing unit to the coat (right sides together) at seamline matchpoints. It's a good idea to start at center back and then work your way out on each side of the coat.

Make sure you also match the waistline seams.

You may wish to mark those stitching lines at the bottom of the skirt facing. You'll stitch across the hem with a 1.5" seam allowance, and then pivot at your usual 5/8" seam allowance on the side of the facing. Here's my stitching marks, with the hem at the top.

Once you're all pinned and marked, it's time to stitch this baby! Start at one bottom edge, and go all the way around to the other.

After stitching, we need to do some serious notching, grading, and trimming.

First, the notching. You need to make notches on any seamline that curves outward, like our shawl collar. About every 1/2", make a slim notch.

Next, we'll trim and grade the seam allowances. Grading means trimming one seam allowance shorter than the other to reduce bulk. The longer seam allowance should always be the one closest to the outside of the coat (so it pads the shorter seam allowance underneath it, to prevent a ridge showing through).

Anytime you have a roll line (a collar that rolls outward at some point) the shorter seam allowance switches sides at the roll line, because the collar flips out and the facing side is then showing. 

I've made you a handy diagram to show you how it works on this pattern (click to enlarge).

The waistline seam is the roll line on this design, so that's where the turning point is. Below the waistline point, the facing seam allowance is shorter. Above the waistline seam, the facing seam allowance is longer.

Here's what my graded seam allowances look like. Trim the shorter one to about 1/4", and the longer one to about 3/8".

At the bottom of the skirt facings, you'l cut away the excess.

Once everything is notched and graded and trimmed, I recommend pressing that whole big seam open. This helps get a crisp seamline. I used a point presser under my seam to help press it, and then switched to a tailor's ham underneath the curvy collar. Here's the bottom of the skirt facing, supported by a point presser.

After pressing, flip the coat right side out, and stick the sleeve linings down into the sleeves.

At this point, it's a great idea to baste the whole opening edge and collar of the coat to get the seamlines to roll to the underside. I used diagonal basting around my edges, using my thumb and index finger to roll the seamline to the underside of the coat/collar. I used silk thread for this purpose, since it doesn't less prone to leave indentations when steamed.

Here's a close-up of the basted side of the shawl collar. See how the edge is nice and neat?

On the side I haven't basted yet, the facing is trying to peek out from under the seamline. Naughty!

This basting will go all the way around that huge seam we sewed--from the bottom one skirt facing, all the way around the collar, and down to the bottom of the other skirt facing. (Remember that below the waistline point, the facing side will get rolled to the underside. Above the waistline point, the coat side will be rolled to the underside.)

After you're completely basted, give the whole thing a good steam and then leave to dry overnight.

If you did bound buttonholes, the next step is to make windows in the facings for them. (Do this before you tack the lining in place in step 33.) I'll write about my process of doing this in the next post!

Does this all make sense? How are you doing, sew-alongers?