What Could I have been Thinking?

Really.  My studio today is approximately 94 degrees.  It is May 21st.  I refuse to put the air conditioning on.  This does not bode well for the summer.  What could I have been thinking undertaking a wool plaid coat with miles of hand sewing in 94 degree heat?

Anyway, I’m making progress.  I’m really enjoying this construction process, there are details in this garment I’ve never done before.

Here is what it looked like last night before I went to bed.

I’ve worked all morning/afternoon, hands dripping wet but plowing onward.  I’ve had to tweak the plaid a bit here and there to match perfectly but I’m happy.  The coat is adorable on, even my husband gave me a nod.  I had the coat on for about 34 seconds as I don’t really want to sweat all over it before I even install the lining. It fits like a dream.

One of the great things about underlining a garment like this is all the facings and interfacings can be mounted directly to the underlining and keep the outer shell smooth.  I’ve basically finished the coat, except for the lining.  The construction directions have you construct the front facing and lining all in one piece, and then put the outer shell and inner shell together and stitch around the entire perimeter and call it a day.  I HATE to construct anything that way.  I’m a purist here, and there is no way I’d do anything other than put  a lining in by hand.  Here I’m attaching the bias hem facing by hand to the underlining.

The biggest issue is the window on the back of the bound buttonholes.  It is hard enough creating them in the small space once the facing is attached. Having the lining attached at this point would be nearly impossible. I use a fusible woven interfacing to make the little windows once I’ve identified where they will be.

And so I’m off to find some cool place in the garden, with my sewing kit in hand, and see if I can do the miles of interior hand work before I attach the lining.  I’m not holding hope I’ll get very far.  The sweat is just dripping off my fingers as I type.

Meanwhile, for all of you who encouraged me to write to Vogue about the errors I found in the pattern, I actually did.  And this morning, when I checked my email, there was a lovely personal note from Meg Carter at Consumer Services for Vogue Patterns.

Here is her note (I sent them the link to my blog post).

“Thank you for contacting us concerning Vogue pattern 1320 and very nice blog by the way. Thank you for pointing out those errors on the instruction sheet. There is no need to send an errata; your blog was very clear. We will start the correction process on them for future printing and bring it to the attention of our quality control team. We always try for “flawlessness” but far too often fall short of that worthy goal. I look forward to reading how your Issey Miyake coat turns out and hope there are no further errors to report. But do contact us again for any assistance you may need. (Or errors you may find.)  Thank you for being a Vogue Pattern customer.”

I am happy that my concerns were acknowledged in a timely and professional manner.  Vogue has gained back some of the respect I’ve always had for them.  No one writes directions better, in spite of the mistakes I found in the layout page.

Stay tuned…