Dear readers,
For the final project of my third semester of the Draping Certificate at FIT, I looked at a lot of coats. I scoured the internet and visited Saks and other department stores (sales attendants are so nice, they let you take pictures of every detail pretending they don't see you)! Finally, I fell in love with this coat from Reiss. I even went to the Reiss store to try it on and get a closer look at it.
The requirement for the final project was to use one of the sleeves that we draped in class and this coat fitted under the "princess grown-on sleeve". Basically the princess lines of the body extend to the sleeve. Therefore the piece also has an undersleeve. Here is my version:
On the advice of my professor I changed the seam on the hip line to avoid acentuating that horizontal line and instead curved to meet at the side seams and used this line to conceal the pockets.I like it as much closed and open. The olive wool is Marc Jacobs from Mood in NYC (similar to this one and also still available online) and fully professionally fused in the Garment District with weft from Guide Fabrics . The gold lining is also from Mood.
I made the pattern using a mixture of Draping and Flat Pattern, mostly using the Müller and Sohn patternmaking book on Jackets and Coats. This book is really AMAZING, I got it through interlibrary loan (thank you New York Public Library). I wish there was something similar in French or in English about drafting the linings and facings...I used the technique described on Fashion Incubator to bag the lining and make a clean finish of the vent and the junction between facing and lining. Piping and buttons are from M&J Trimming.
I made bound buttonholes for the first time but because I'm used to welt pockets it went ok. Just ok because the reverse side is not that pretty... Topstitching thread is silk but I'm not very happy happy with the topstitching although I did it on an industrial Juki machine at FIT. I think I'm really going to have to start to hammer the bulky seams to get better results...
And finally, silliness in action at the photo shoot:
People in the street thought I was crazy. They may be right...