Making it Work

Several weeks ago now, I was browsing Ebay late one night when I came across a pattern for a button front coat dress. While I have my Bernie Dexter flasher coat  pattern, this one required much less fabric - roughly three metres, which I had in my stash.

 

 Sold!

Simplicity 4427

It took just over a week to ship from the US and believe it or not, I cut it out the very same day! I can't explain why, the pattern itself is not that spectacular and now the weather is getting warmer, the opportunities to wear a fully lined coat dress are diminishing.

 

My chosen fabric was a medium weight, wool-blend I scored for a song at Spotlight several years ago. It was originally intended for more of my 40s caplets, but I got tired of making them after sewing three and put the leftover fabric back in the stash.

As you can see, there was a lot left over.

 

This fabric has been great to work with, although it does fray quite a bit which means a whole lot of overlocking. I've read it's not necessary to finish inside seams if you're going to line a garment but the lining for this dress isn't attached at the bottom and I had visions of bits falling off everywhere I went.



The back pleat in the skirt was a little tricky but the only real issue I had making this dress was working out how to put the lining in. You see, there's a nifty design feature in back which helps the skirt sit out, a support strap of sorts, unfortunately it's joined in the centre back. How to get the lining to sit underneath it....?

Time to get out the unpicker! 

After a bit of puzzling, I decided to leave a slit on either side of the lining and pass the main dress pieces through.

 

I then refastened the main pieces and hand stitched the lining in place.

Problem solved!

 

 

Long-time readers will know just how much I hate button holes - there are ten down the front of this dress and they were supposed to be bound! No freakin' way was that going to happen, regular button holes would have to do. I was so particular about the spacing that I managed to bugger it up and had to resew all the button holes below the waistline. Thankfully, my fabric is very forgiving and they're barely noticeable, unless you're looking for them.

Marcel was tired of button holes too.

 

Stay tuned tomorrow for the finished project, but until then here's a sneak peak...

 

- Tamara