Present Joys

Here it is: The project I’ve been working on for the past two months. My first genuine tailored coat. I’d made sack-coat-like garments before, but nothing with interlinings and padstitching and all those other things that go into a fine garment. I began my creative process by spending three weeks drafting coat patterns and cutting muslin test garments, with the help of a lot of old, digitized tailoring books. Then I bought fabric and dove right into the construction, working as purposefully as I could. It was a wild ride.

This garment was really cheap to make because the fabric isn’t that great. The suiting is brown hopsack 100% linen from Jo-Ann Fabrics, which I bought on sale. I didn’t use any actual hair canvas on the inside; all the interlinings are various loose-weave muslins which I just pretended were hair canvas and handled as such. The nicest part is the lining, which is real Bemberg rayon.

It turned out pretty great. Setting the sleeve was a nightmare, as was making buttonholes. (They look awful, I’m afraid! That’s 90% of the reason this is a one-button coat.) But overall it looks better than I hoped it would, and it fits really well. Turns out three weeks of pattern fitting and adjustment really pays off. If I were to do this exact same project for a second time, I think I could do a much much better job. Despite its flaws, though, this is still the best-fitting coat in my closet, and because of that, the most comfortable. I’m already itching to start another!

It’s been so warm lately that my hair keeps falling in my face, making me sweat and making it very difficult to work. So I made a little cap to keep my hair on top of my head while I’m working.

It looks a little silly, but it does the job. And it’s breathable: made from left-over tobacco linen and lined with lightweight cotton voile. Sewn by hand, without any machine stitches. Perfect for summer days spent working over a hot iron.

The last shirt of the summer, made from a 100% linen fabric I got on sale at Sew to Speak in Clintonville. It’s very good quality stuff, extremely springy and lineny. It was also a giant pain to work with: all the areas where I had to match stripes, like the sleeve plackets, had to be carefully basted by hand before they could be stitched together. But I think it was worth the extra work. The fabric itself was woven with stripes running not parallel with the selvage, as with most fabrics, but perpendicular to it. As you can see, this meant that all the stripes on this shirt run 90° to the way they’d be on a “normal” striped shirt. This presented an unusual challenge.

As you can see, there is no attached collar. The collar band has buttonholes on both ends so I can wear a separate collar attached with studs. I’ve got a couple white cotton collars in my closet I made a few years ago that fit pretty well, and I plan to make a few more detachable collars from what remains of the linen stuff. Perhaps on labor day.

Having no attached collar means this shirt’s neckband will always need to be fastened. So I figured I’d play up the formality aspect and make french cuffs instead of the usual barrel ones. I don’t particularly like french cuffs, but I enjoy wearing cufflinks every now and then, and I thought this exceptional fabric would look nice with fancier cuffs. There is no breast pocket, because this is a dress shirt, in the true sense of the term.

I’m taking my vacation this very last week of summer before school starts, so this shirt concludes my one shirt every week project! It’s been a really fun and educational summer! I feel much more confident in my shirtmaking abilities. I also feel good for having documented my work every single week. Thanks for following along with my adventures!