I chose a pattern from Burdastyle magazine 1/2011 that I already liked when the issue came out. It is the coat on the title, which comes in petite sizes:
I made some alterations, though. I thought that three-quarter sleeves might be a bit impractical, so made long sleeves instead. Then there is some gathering under the front and back yoke, which I turned into pleats (after several days of thinking if pleats or gathering would be better; I still am not sure if I took the right decision), and also I shortened the coat at the hem.
This time, I had to make several muslins to get the fit right. But I got a lovely, but pricey structured pink wool fabric at my favorite fabric store in Zurich and did not want to mess that!
This is what I have so far:
Still not too sure about the pleats!
I decided to try my luck at tailoring techniques and to make the coat following the instructions for custom tailoring in this book. So I added a hair canvas interfacing to the front:
The original Burda pattern asks for snaps to close the coat, the buttons are only for decoration. I want to use my buttons, an tried bound buttonholes for the first time, I am quite satisfied as I think they didn't come out too bad!
And this is the undercollar, padstitched, shaped and steamed on my pressing ham! It went better than I expected and took less time than I thought it would, and at the moment I am so happy about it I can't stop looking at it!
The only thing I am really worrying about this coat is the hair canvas: it has really thick and stiff hair in it, I just hope that the hair will not prick through the outer fabric at the edges, making the garment uncomfortable to wear. Let's hope the best!
