Quilt Coat toile and a little bit of life around the Lyon home

I am skilled at taking something simple and making it complex. So, the quilt coat…. First, what pattern to use? I didn’t want darts, fancy seaming or lots of pieces. After culling through my existing patterns, I settled on the Tamarack by Grainline. I initially rejected it because it has a curved hem. I am not fond of curved hems, but I liked the rest of the pattern. I initially redrafted it to have a straight hem, only to then decide that the curved hem wasn’t so bad after all. I kept the curve.

I realized too that I needed to take the time to make a toile to dial in the fit. And then I realized there are other things to consider, like seam finishes. Since this was my first coat, should I invest in beautifully finished seams? Or should I make it reversible? Maybe I could make the bias binding around the edges something particularly fun. And a hood would be nice too! Oy. I’ll take this one step at a time.

So the toile; so far it looks like it is a decent fit:

At this point I have set in just the right sleeve. It is hanging well. I am using pre-quilted fabric from the J word, $3/yd on sale. Working my way around the coat:

It’s too long for my frame, I need to shorten it to hit at high hip.

I want to roll the sleeves, so the pattern length is perfect for my short arms if I roll the cuff.

It’s designed to have a dropped shoulder. Not a fan, but I am not going to redraft the entire arm scythe. It fits as intended here.

I forgot to do this on the toile, but I will fix this for the actual coat. My old lady shoulders thrust forward a bit. I will lengthen the back shoulder seam1/2″ and shorten the front 1/2″ so that the seam will hit at the ear.

I have a bit of a background in garment sewing and even though this is a super simple garment, I will or have used all of these tools. I am thankful to have a full compliment of proper pressing tools.

I am especially grateful to have a Laurastar ironing system; dang that thing rocks! It is especially useful for things like beautifully setting in arm seams and other curvy garment bits. It makes quick work of pressing out pre-washed fabrics.

I have the smart board which can puff up air or suck it in, depending on your needs. If I’m pressing quilt blocks, I’ll set it to suck the block to the board so it doesn’t scoot around. And if I am ironing out yardage, I puff it up and I just swipe it once over the fabric and the wrinkles are gone. I just love that thing. I could go on….

Meanwhile, the quilting is almost done:

a simple meander will do.

I hope by next week to be making some progress on the actual coat. I’ll have to make decisions on seams, finishes, making it reversible and whether it will have a hood.

And just a quickie here:

I made a quick trip to the Bay area with three purposes in mind: shop at a renowned comfort shoe store, bring Christmas presents to my son (we won’t see them for Christmas) and, most importantly, see my grandson.

I drove in a torrential downpour, but who wouldn’t do that to see their grandson??? Among the things we did, was go to the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, CA. What a great museum! There are lots of fun things for adults and it is a fabulous place for kids. We had a blast!

It was a major score of TWO pairs of shoes from The Walk Shop in Berkeley!

So of the 3 To Do’s, I accomplished two. Sigh, I forgot to bring the Christmas presents. I was punished severely by having to mail a big box in the midst of the Christmas rush for a zillion $.

Meanwhile, a few random vignettes around the Lyon house at Christmas. I don’t do a lot of decorating, so these are carefully chosen shots😊

I’ll share at:

Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday
and
Finished or Not Friday