There's nothing like a deadline.

So very little was accomplished on the coat over the holidays, or the weeks that followed for that matter. It wasn't until I was faced with the reality that we were heading to our first con of the year this week that I grew concerned about my progress on this. So last night night I pulled the coat off the coat form and spent a few moments pressing seams and planning the next steps.

Today I set about to finishing. All that was left was to topstitch the side seams, hems and cuffs; place and stitch the four pockets and deal with the buttons and holes. I had no buttons on hand but got lucky with a quick lunch run to the sewing store. There wasn't much to choose from but we did find one style with enough stocked to work.

So with what may be a rather anti-climatic final push, the Mighty Coat of Productivity is ready to be worn. Tomorrow it gets packed into a suitcase in time for our trip to New Orleans.

Next I will consider if I want to design some embroideries for it.

It's starting to look like a coat

After the turmoil of the collar escapades I took a bit of a break from working on this. It didn't help that I had a massive pile of fezzes to get done. 

Anyway, as you can see the sleeves are on and the sides are closed. It would have been a bit faster if I didn't keep going back and forth on how to do the top stitching. There is still some to do on the side seams before I can hem the sleeves and finish the bottom hem. Then it is pockets and buttons.

Let's not speak of it

So I didn't mention this earlier but I did spend some time last week working on the coat. It wasn't the most productive time unfortunately. I decided to dismantle the yoke to change the assembly order to see if it would be an easier path to completion. It might have been had I been paying attention and had not sewn the collar in backwards. Unfortunately I didn't check this until after doing a good deal of the top stitching. So then I decided to fix it without starting over and got halfway done before realizing I had sewn myself into a corner. So yeah, I got to sew the collar in 2.5 times and was in no mood to document the progress, but it is basically on the home stretch. Next a bit more top stitching and then the sleeves get set and the sides get closed before pockets and buttons.

Starting to look like a coat.

Back to work

Set aside a bit of time to get back to work on the coat. The front is being prepped for assembly with interfacing fused to the front facings and the chest pocket welt being installed on the front. 

You can see the collar sewn and top stitched as well.

A shot of the welt added to the front for the chest pocket. It will get finished when the front facing is sewn in place.

Things are shaping up

Put in a bit of time this evening on the coat. Skirts have been added to the back, pockets are assembled and the back strap just needs button holes.

Next up is the collar and the fronts which will have to wait until I find the time for the next round of sewing.

Prep, Pressing and Topstitch

Marking all of the notches and pressing the fold of the vents and box pleats that will get top-stitched before the rest of the assembly.

The large bellows pocket before and after folding a pressing.




The bellows pockets are top-stitched and ready for the top bands to be added. The back is starting to take shape, it just needs to have the skirts installed.

Let's cut some cloth

For this version of the Mighty Coat of Productivity I am turning to some twill from the closet. It is a cotton/poly blend in "thunder grey". This will make a good utility coat. Something I won't be worried about abusing which is important. This isn't a costume piece, it is a functional piece of clothing.