If you’ve been watching the channel for a while, then you’ve seen this coat before. Actually, you’ve seen it many times. It’s appeared in several videos during the 18 months it took me to make it. That’s right. A year and a half. Not because it was difficult to make, but it was just very tedious and my interest in it waned. But, now that it’s totally done and the temperatures have finally dropped to appropriate coat-wearing weather, I’m ready to show her off.
As always, I’m going to talk about the good stuff. There is some bad stuff, too, but I don’t want that to out shadow the really good stuff. So we will start with the good and then touch on the bad in the end.
The pattern I used is Vogue 8884. It’s described as a semi-fitted, partially interfaced, lined trench coat that is double-breasted and has collar, collar band, shoulder pads, yokes, and two piece sleeves. I made option C which also has topstitching details, welt pockets, sleeve tabs and loops for tab and self-belt.
I told you it was a doozy of a make. Not to mention, that in addition to all of that, I decided to make my own piping to add to a few places. No small feat, in and of itself.
The fabric I used is a woven blend that I got from Style Maker Fabrics. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to make a trench from it. In fact, I had the fabric in my stash for a couple of years before I even began to sew this coat. But, It’s definitely got some weight to it, a little bit of drape, and a slight sheen. It’s very smooth and, in my opinion, the perfect coating for a southerner like me!
The lining is a a basic polyester lining fabric. Nothing special. And, the piping is a quilting weight cotton.
The buttons and sleeve and belt buckles were all purchased online from pacific trimming in NYC. The belt buckle is 2” and the sleeve buckles are 1”.
One thing I love about the draft of this jacket is the collar. It does not have a collar stand, but is a series of convex and concave curves that fit together just so to ensure the collar both stands up and rolls over itself creating a collar that forms to the neck beautifully.
The ease in the body of the coat is just right for how I’ll be wearing it. I won’t be putting thick sweaters on with this coat, just thin ones like the one I’m wearing today and oxford type shirts. All of the buttons close easily, but when I closet the bottom one there is a little bit of pulling at the hips so I just leave that one undone usually.
The yokes and the facing and all the topstitching are all excellent details.
Now, some things that I don’t exactly love about this jacket. First is the front opening of the collar. You can see from the pattern listing that the model’s collar is standing up at the center front. Where as mine sort of flaps open. I don’t know if that’s because I didn’t use the proper interfacing or what exactly happened there.
And, can we address the pocket tabs? I didn’t think that one through and they stick out as they sit right on my hips. It makes me think that the pockets flaps should face *down & in* rather than up and out like they were drafted. It’s an easy fix for my next coat.
You might have noticed that I sewed one of the sleeve tabs on backwards. I literally didn’t even notice that until I looked back at this footage. It’s an easy fix, but still something that needs to be fixed.
Next is the hem. Now, this same issue has happened to me many times in the various lined coats I’ve made and I can’t for the life of me figure out what I’m doing wrong. But, the shell fo the coat is bubbling a little at the hem. I **think** it’s because I didn’t tack the raw edge of the hem before closing up the lining so the weight of the seam allowance is pulling it down. Does that make sense? There is the proper amount of wearing ease in the lining at the center back and the hem so it’s not pulling due to that.
And, while we are on the subject of the hem, the part where the facing and lining and hem all intersect is not done right but I couldn’t make heads or tails of the instructions and just did the best I could with that.
All in all, the lesson here is that sewing tailored jackets is hard work. I am proud of myself for taking on such a big project so fearlessly. Especially since it was started two years ago. But, the subtle imperfections and mistakes are really holding me back with loving this jacket as much as I should. This jacket *could* look like it’s worth $500 but the small details get in the way of that.
I know many of you are looking at this jacket, especially before I pointed out my mistakes, and thinking it looks exceptional as is and a part of me knows that. But, there is this side of me that knows I can do better. I know the parts I rushed and the parts I didn’t execute to the best of my ability.
With all this said, I think I’m going to take the lining out of the jacket, at least partially and see if I can resolve some of the issues I mentioned before.
That, of course, also means that I’m not officially done with this make just yet. This February will mark 2 years of working on it. Let’s see if I can perfect it by then!
If you have any advice for me or articles or books that discuss finishing details of tailored coats, please leave them in the comments or dm me on social! I am not yet the master of coat making but that doesn’t discourage me from continuing to learn and keep trying!
Well, that’s doing to do it for me today! Thank you so much for watching! See you all very soon! Bye!
