Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Still alive... sewing progress on my Lady Grey Coat

While I have been absent from blogging land for a little while, I have been sewing like mad. I had a serious yearning to make another Lady Grey coat, using Gertie's tailoring tutorials. I'm getting there. 

Equipped with 3.5m 100% wool boucle, 3.5m 100% silk, 2m of lace, 2m of hair canvas, silk thread, regular thread, interfacing, buttons etc etc, I have:
  • Interfaced by hand-stitching all coat pieces with hair canvas;
  • Marked and stitched the lapel roll line;
  • Pad-stitched the lapels;
  • Stitched the seams down flat to the coat (I didn't topstitch them as I thought the stitching wouldn't show anyway).  
  • Stitched together the coat shell pieces (not the collar or the sleeves);
  • Stitched together the lining pieces (not the sleeves); and
  • Hemmed the lining using lace. 
Most of this has been done by hand, and phew, I'm beat from it. Here are the pad-stitched lapels (my first time pad-stitching - you can tell!):


The hair canvas interfacing:


The lace hem and lining fabric:


 I still have to:
  • Mark and stitch the collar roll line;
  • Pad-stitch the collar;
  • Attach the collar to the shell;
  • Hem the shell;
  • Do the belt and belt loops;
  • Do the lining and shell sleeves; and 
  • Attach the lining to the shell. 
Do you think I can get it done before baby time? I still have to finish Michael's b'day shirt and finish my baby quilt, and I'm due on the 26th April. 

My pregnancy is going well - I have some pelvic instability which is slightly painful and a real nuisance - I have to wear a brace - but bub is getting bigger and bigger (as am I!!). I should be finished the quilt soonish, so I'll post some pics to show you - the quilt colour-way will also reveal if the baby is a boy or a girl! 

Hope you're all doing well, and I'll post more progress pics soon!

14 comments:

  1. Oh my god, that looks amazing. I think I'm too scared to attempt something like this. And a quilt, and a shirt? Wowee. Glad you're doing well. Can't want to see piccies!

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  2. Wow! Big job. You have been busy. That is a lot of fabric. If you don't mind me asking, I'd love to know how much it costs to sew a coat yourself of this quality. Don't mind if you keep it a secret though.

    I hope the rest of your pregnancy is smooth-sailing. Wishing you well.

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  3. Your Lady Grey sounds like it will be fabulous! I'm sure you'll finish everything before baby time. I hear you go a little crazy nesting at the very end- maybe that will help you tie up all your loose ends.

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  4. The coat looks like it is going to be amazing :) Love the colours :)
    Glad the pregnancy is going well, and I hope the rest of it goes well :)

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  5. I guess you will finished it on time, well...even if the last 15 days of pregnancy are not very confortable (that happened to me), better to hurry up and try to finish it soon but it is a lot of work doing all the tailoring proces, I did my lady gray but it was not very well done hehehe

    Nice to hear your pregnancy is going good , I hope it continues like that.

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  6. Thanks everyone! Yes, it is a big job, but hopefully will be worth it!

    Bernice - the coat materials cost just under $200. I got the wool on sale for $25/m, the silk on sale for $15/m, $6 for silk thread, hair canvas was $30, interfacing about $10 and $5 for buttons. I made my other version much more cheaply - about $100, but this one will be much nicer, and hopefully last longer.

    Well, back to sewing - can't let it sit for too much longer!

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  7. That's going to be a beautiful coat! Interested in your comment above, didnt your other one last long? Or do you not love it any more knowing you could do better? (Speaking from experience on that topic!)

    My negroni is nearly done too - buttons, buttonholes and hem to go. phew !

    lore
    x

    ps - my guess is its a boy. Just putting it out there!

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  8. Interesting guess Lore - you'll know soon!!

    My other one is still fine, but because Michael and I kind of banged it together so quickly last year, and he did the hand-stitching (he'd never hand-stitched before), I have had to do a few minor mends along the way. My guess is it won't be a coat that will last forever. I hope this new one is though (especially with the amount of effort I've put in!!).

    Can't wait to see your Negroni -- I have to clear my head of the Lady Grey before going back to mine - but I've got til April 16th to have it finished. xx

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  9. It's going to be beautiful - you must get it finished before birth day or you never will!!
    I have some of the cherry silk you are using for the lining. Maybe I'll use it for lining in the RTW tailoring sewalong - I initially thought it would end up as a blouse, but black doesn't look right on me these days!

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  10. I agree Sherry, its now or never! Plus I want it for this winter.

    The cherry silk is pretty divine - great for lining - it wasn't too slippery to sew which was a relief. I have almost a metre left over, and was thinking about a little singlet-like top. I saw it available in red too....

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  11. Wow - so impressive Rachel! I still have my Lady Grey sitting un-cut in my stash. IK'm such a bad sew-a-longer ;-)

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  12. Your Lady Grey is going to look amazing!

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  13. Thank you Victoria, Alana and Nichola!!

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