Rainwear

Now that it's summer, I'm sewing a coat.  A raincoat.

I would have liked to have it finished ready to leave tommorrow, but that is not going to happen.  I will show you some pictures though, because I took photos of some of my construction methods today.

I bought a beautiful waterproof fabric from EmmaOneSock.  At least, they said it is waterproof.  I haven't tested it with anything more than a sprinkle yet.  It looks too pretty to be cyclone proof, but that is okay, because I have already have a Gore-tex parka.  This raincoat is going to be more of a fashion item.  An about-town sort of raincoat more than a battle-raging-flood-waters sort of raincoat.

It took me a lot of quality time with my magazines to decide on a style.  Eventually I settled on this Burberry Prorsum cape, as styled by Vogue Australia.  So it is not actually a coat, but a cape.  The cape has never made it to my list of must-haves before, but the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like the way to go.  Where I live, it rains in summer.  When it is hot.  When I am mostly wearing sleeveless garments.  When I don't want to put on a sweaty raincoat, but I am sick and tired of feeling damp all the time.

  

The fabric I bought is very lightweight, and my cape will be unlined, and I can stick my arms out, so I'm thinking it will be a lot cooler than a traditional raincoat.

I took home the whole stash of Burda mags from my library to find a pattern (and I apologise to all the other Burda readers in town...they are back now).  The Burberry cape has raglan seaming details, so I used Burda World of Fashion 02/2009 113 as a starting point.

I eliminated the underarm shape on the sleeves and side pieces and sewed the sleeve edges to the front and back sides.  I reduced the centre front from double breasted to single breasted.  I shortened and widened the front flappy bits (not sure what they are called).  I extended the collar stand to to make the collar and ties.  Instead of cutting the collar stand on the fold, I put the ties on the straight grain and put a centre back seam on the collar stand.  This centre back seam is on the bias.  I lengthened the whole thing.  I reduced the curve on the centre back piece (essentially reducing the back darts to make the coat less fitted).

I decided to use fell seams, because the coat is unlined and I didn't want water dripping through the seams.  I used a fold and sew method to do the fell seam, which is a little different from the standard method, so I thought I would show it to you.

I cut my pieces with 1.5 cm seam allowances.

I pressed a 1 cm fold on one length, RS (right side) showing.  I used a Weet-bix template to help me do this.

After burning my finger several times with the steam from the iron, I made a denim finger glove to make this task a little more enjoyable.

Then I sat the second length of fabric inside this fold, RS up (so you can see the RS of both lengths of fabric).  The second length butts right up against the fold of the first length.  I use the right-hand guide lines on my sewing machine presser foot to stitch almost 1 cm from the fold.

I press this seam, first flat and then I open out the seam and press the seam allowance to the left, encasing the raw edge of the first length.  Stitch the seam again, this time using the left-hand guide on the presser foot to stitch close to the folded edge.  I use my hands to pull the fabric horizontally in opposite directions as it is fed through the machine, to ensure that the seam remains flat as it is being sewn (not shown in photo because I needed one hand to hold the camera).

Press again.  This next photo is really just to show off the lovely clapper that Peter made me for Christmas.  I have been using this piece of jarrah for a while, but now it has smooth, rounded edges and a groove to hold it.

This is what the seam looks like from the RS.

And lastly, a shot from the WS (wrong side).

I have just noticed that my tense changed partway through those instructions.  Which is okay, because I started this raincoat in the past, am still working on it now and will be finishing it in the future.  The instructions are just zenning with my process.  I hope that my English teacher never reads this.

Lipstick pink zebra print

I bought this Just Cavalli lipstick pink zebra print from EmmaOneSock.   Just for fun.  Just because I could.

To keep it fun, I chose a very simple pattern, Vogue 8552.  The fabric arrived at lunchtime.  I washed it, dried it (well almost, it was still a tad damp) and had it sewn up before dinner and still found time for a swim and to read stories to my children.   I omitted the back zipper and cut the back on the fold.  I left off the pockets, even though they were the reason I bought this pattern.  There was enough going on with the zebra print without adding pockets.  I used a neck binding rather than facings.  I cut the sleeves double with the bottom edge on the fold, so that I would not have to hem them.

The dress construction is a little atypical.  Instead of back darts, a wide tuck is sewn down on the outside.  This is difficult to interpret from the pattern drawing.  Some of the other reviewers found that this caused the fabric to bubble above and below the tuck.  It worked fine in this knit fabric.  At the front neckline, the facings are added before the pleats are formed.  I didn't like this idea when I read through the instructions, but it gives a frilly sort of effect in this knit.

The fabric was a generous width, but in getting the print to sit where I wanted, I was left with strange shaped remnants.  I didn't want to waste any of this gorgeous fabric.  Which led me to...........zebra print knickers.  But of course!

This knicker pattern was adapted from the centre back seam bikini pattern at Patternschool.