project winter coat: the preliminary

i had no idea my knit blazer would have struck such a cord, tons of lovely compliments everywhere and many thanks from myself. you people sure know how to make a gal feel awesome!

now, i plan to get working on my winter coat soon. i have picked out simplicity 2311 and i'm going for the red one in the middle in the shorter length.

i have ordered a black/grey herringbone wool coating (marc jacobs at $11.90/yd on sale. don't i feel fancy?) and a bright blue/teal silk (yay!) lining, all from moodfabrics.com. i had trouble finding good lining material. initially i planned to use bemberg rayon, then i thought maybe an acetate, then i almost decided upon a polyester. i figured silk was out of the question until i looked at mood's china lining silk. a vast array of colors at $10/yd? yes, please! fingers crossed that this lining is perfect since i've never used/seen/touched it before...

even though the fabric is the exciting part, let's not forget the unsung hero: the interfacing. whatever you do, get the best you can afford. you'll want a weft type fusible. you can find it online, or even at joann's (go figure). you'll need quite a lot, so make sure you buy FAR more than your pattern (probably) calls for. the cost of materials adds up fast, and i'm trying to get the best bang for my buck. right now i'm sitting well under $100 for materials and shipping. considering the coat i am replacing cost me $100 (ahem... 10 years ago...) i think i've done pretty well!

over this coming week i plan to muslin my coat and hopefully have all the patterning done by the end of next weekend. as with my knit blazer, i'll be following the RTW tailoring sew-a-long by sherry. she has lots of info over there, so now is a good time to start studying those posts! if you've never done a coat/jacket before it probably won't all totally make sense, but once you get going everything will start to click. the fitting, the pattern changes, the pattern and fabric prep will actually take up the most time. don't believe me? i wouldn't have either! the actual construction of my knit blazer was completed over three partial days of sewing. far less time than i spent making my pattern changes and marking and fusing my fabric. so, what i'm trying to say is take your time getting all the prep work done properly so that by the time you're ready to sew, everything is smooth as butter.

so that's it for now, if anyone else has picked out a pattern or started sourcing materials i'd love to hear about it!

—lisa g.