Uptown coat, bargain style -- and help with linings and coats

Remember my first Uptown Coat by Favorite Things? It was sort of ... loud? Weird? I don't know, but I still like it. I made the short version the first time around, and I never did get around to photographing it on a person like I promised. Have you felt betrayed?

Well, one day I was hunting for fabulous finds at Savers thrift store and did I ever find one. It was well over three yards of gray, pin-striped wool. Wool. As in, hard to find locally. Wool, as in $25 a yard. I paid a whopping $7.99 total for my 3+ yards.



I decided to make another Uptown Coat, and I even had enough for the long version. I lined it with a red/burgundy lining and made my own fabric-covered buttons, which is very easy to do, by the way.







This time around, I did a few things differently. The first time, I was thrown off by the fact that the pattern didn't really give good instructions on how to finish the bottom front corners of the jacket.

What I did is this: I turned over about a quarter-inch on the jacket hem and sewed. Then I turned that up about another inch and used a blind hem stitch to secure it. I did not sew all the way to either end, but left a few inches -- you'll see why.

Next, I hemmed the lining, about 1.5 inches. As it turns out, this was too much and my lining doesn't fully cover the hem of the jacket.

OK, so next I needed to attach the lining to the coat, so I put right sides together (with collar sandwiched in between, already basted onto the coat) and sewed along one front and across the collar and down the other front. Here's the key: for the bottom corner of the coat, before you sew the lining, turn the hem the other way, so the wrong side is showing and right sides are together. Pin it this way when you sew your lining on. When you're done, clip the corners and flip them around. Now you'll have a nice front, bottom corner.

I'm sure that didn't make much sense without photos. I'll probably do a tutorial on this at some point.

Another problem is that the fabric was really wrinkled, and you can only do so much ironing on wool. I'm hoping the wrinkles relax as the jacket hangs.

After I cut the fabric, I did find a couple of tiny, tiny holes, I suppose from moths. I figured there was no point in throwing away the whole project over a couple of not-even-visible holes, so I took tiny scraps of the wool and used quilt basting spray to patch it on the back side. Then I used a dab of Fray Check. Hopefully, I won't have any problems, or at least not for a while.

And, finally, the jacket would look much better if it were more fitted, or just plain smaller around the top. I did make it according to my measurements, but I think because it's long it just looks quite big and loose on me. It's definitely wearable, though.

Uptown Coat

I was really excited about this project. I really like the patterns by Favorite Things. This one is no exception. I spent a lot of time selecting just the right fabric (the fabric line is called Porcelina), but I must admit that I'm not so sure I love it.

Sorry for the bad photos. The jacket still needs delinting, pressing and to have the marking pen removed. I'm also in my PJs and in no position to model right now. I'll photograph it outside with a proper outfit in the next few weeks.



It's still pretty darn cute, in my opinion, and it gives me a reason to look forward to a chill in the air.

(blurrrrryyyy. I suck.)


I liked the colors in these fabrics. Cheerful yet fall.



The lining is an eggplant color. I also used a cotton batting as an interliner, for a bit more warmth.



I'm going to discuss my opinion on this pattern, since I was unable to find anybody else's reviews on it before starting.

1. I felt it ran a little bit big. I may remake this in a wool fabric I thrifted, but I'll cut it a size smaller.

2. Most of the pattern was really easy to do and everything fit together really nicely. This is why I like Amy Butler and Favorite Things patterns; they always seem to avoid the overly fussy and the pieces really come together nicely.

3. I only had problems at the end, when I had to attach the lining. It explained 90 percent of this process, but left out what to do at the bottom of the coat where the lining was shorter than the outer jacket. It took me quite a while to come up with a way to finish it nicely. I also didn't really get the hem instructions -- you're supposed to hem both the jacket and lining before attaching them together. I ended up slip stitching them together for a nicer finish at the very end.

4. It never discussed the buttons or buttonholes. The only reason this mattered was that there are six buttons on the front panel, but as it turns out, only three buttonholes. But I had to examine the drawing to figure that out. At first I wasn't sure if there should be six buttonholes. In the end, I thought it seemed pretty obvious from examining the drawing and the pattern pieces, but it could have been mentioned in the instructions just to be extra clear.

Lots of things started, nothing finished

Outta here

I'm getting ready for vacation. Today's my last day of work until Aug. 9! We're just going on a quick jaunt for our 4th wedding anniversary, which is tomorrow. Then I have lots of time off just hanging around the house, which I LOVE.

Favorite Things

One of the patterns I've been drooling over is the Uptown Coat pattern by Favorite Things. I finally bought it, then anguished over the fabric. I saw this Porcelina fabric in an e-mail newsletter from Fat Quarter Shop, and despite looking around, I kept coming back to it. The fabric on the left is the main jacket fabric, and the other two form the chest area. It's like the turquoise coat on the pattern below.






Vintage sheets quilt

Also, I've finally gotten moving on my Clothesline Quilt, AKA the Nine Pillowcase Quilt. It's the vintage sheets quilt that I was so excited for, and when the pattern finally was posted, I realized that the cutting was sort of hard. I did use a lot of pillowcases, but I also used a few sheets, and boy were they a pain to cut with a rotary blade.



Oh, Fransson's version can be found here. She's the one who had the tutorial.

My main issue is that I want this to be a quilt for a queen size bed, so that means I need to add extra blocks. But that's going to ruin the 9-9-9 symmetry of the quilt. There are 9 tiny squares in the small blocks, then 9 small blocks in a big block, then 9 big blocks make up the quilt. If I add blocks, it messes that up, but I guess I'll live with it, because I want it to fit a bed and I've already cut the strips. I guess I could have made them bigger in the first place, but they would have been been a lot bigger.

Embroidery

I've been having fun embroidering. One of my projects will likely be one of the gifts for my five recipients from this post. So I won't show it until they get it, so it will be a surprise.

But I have so many ideas going. One thing I want to do is take this image and embroider it on a piece of tan fabric and make a handbag for myself.




Now I just need to buckle down and finish some things. Forget about the socks I've been working on for months. I'm making no progress at all. And hell if I'm going to take my knitting on the plane this time.

More Amy Butler sewing

I've been on a clothes-sewing kick lately, as opposed to quilting. Although I do have a quilt planned.

Here's a live-human picture of my Amy Butler Anna Tunic. It's better to take pictures outside, but my new neighbor was hanging out in her yard, and our walls are low. I feel silly setting up my camera on timer and posing by myself around my yard:



I had wanted some cropped denim pants for a few years, and I found these on the Target clearance rack for $11 the other day. There was only one pair that I saw, and they happened to fit me perfectly.

I also finished my Favorite Things Prairie Girl dress, also made of Amy Butler fabric. I was really excited about this dress initially, but I'm not as excited about the end result. It's OK, but not quite what I expected.





I like a closer fit, and tying it too tight doesn't really look good. But if you make a smaller size, you may have trouble getting the dress on, since there's no zipper or buttons.



I think maybe a thinner, drapier fabric would have looked nicer, so the skirt would fall more softly.

Mark says I need to get a tan if I'm going to wear that dress. I do look even pastier than usual, I must admit.

Lots of sewing time

My husband's out of town, so I've had lots of sewing time. Unfortunately, he took the camera, so I can only use my cell phone. Strangely, the photos are almost better than with my camera. Can't figure that one out.

In an earlier post, I showed you the Prairie Girl dress from Favorite Things that I am going to make with pretty Amy Butler fabric. Because of my recent mishaps, I was definitely going to make a muslin first.
Last night I realized there's a shirt version in the same pattern, which is just the dress cut shorter. I spied a pretty white/orange/blue/green vintage sheet in my collection and decided to go for it. This killed two birds with one stone: It basically served as my muslin (only change is the dress is longer) and allowed me to make something with all these sheets I've been buying. It was bugging me that I wasn't making use of them fast enough.



For the dress, I'll be doing the ruffled cap sleeve. I like this top a lot, but from the back, it sort of looks like a scrub top a nurse would wear. I think a lot of it's the sleeves.



I was going to make the dickey out of this sheet here, which sort of matched, but then when I tried the top on, I happened to be wearing this green tank that matched well. It brought out the colors better than the second sheet.



Next up is a gathered empire waist top made from this matryoshka print fabric that I bought some time ago. I didn't have much and couldn't figure out what to do with it since it's so wrinkly and doesn't lay flat. I am going to use Simplicity 3750, and I have it all cut out. That was no easy task. I decided the best thing to do was to lay it out on a cardboard cutting mat and pin the fabric stretched out. Then I cut to my best ability and let it shrink back up.

Cuter than Superman

I made a cape. That's right ... a cape. And in the pictures below, I look fairly bad. I think I can come up with a better outfit for it. It's reversible, khaki on one side, white on the other. I used the Sweet Es-Cape pattern from Favorite Things.



I'd like to take a minute to discuss Favorite Things as a company. The pattern contains sizes from 4-22, and only gives one amount for the fabric requirements. Therefore, the fabric requirements must accommodate a size 22. I made the size 4 or 6, I can't recall, and found that I had 1/2-5/8 yards of both fabrics left over, plus quite a bit more that was barely cut into. I sent an email detailing how much extra money I'd spent than I really needed to, and they were nice enough to make it up to me with a new pattern of my choice.

I decided to post here because I appreciate and want to promote companies that care about customer service. The take care of customers AND have cute patterns! What's not to love?


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I have made a few blocks from my Cubic Rhythm quilt. I think I can finish the quilt top today, since it really consists of seven large blocks and two borders. I've done 5 of the blocks already.



Finished quilt in magazine photo:



(my fabrics are from the same line, but in different color versions. I had a hard time tracking down all the ones I needed.)

Favorite Things, indeed

I once bookmarked this Web site and then forgot about it. The other day I was bored and found it. It's full of adorable patterns. I was unable to snag photos from the site to show you, though I would have only done that in the interest of getting them more business!

Check out this prairie dress. I'm the last person who would describe her style as "prairie chic." But I love this. Click on the lower picture. CUTE!

I bought this cape. I also never thought I'd prance about in a cape, but this is SO DARN CUTE. And I guess I don't have to actually prance.

The Hip Skirt and Smarty Pants also look great.

Speaking of "hip," I was looking on the Favorite Things Web site last night for local retailers and couldn't really find one (one seemed to be a Web only business based here, but I couldn't find those patterns). Then I got my monthly email newsletter from local Hip Stitch and it said they have Favorite Things patterns! I keep meaning to get in there and get some fabric for my Amy Butler Birdie Sling bag, but it seems like every single time I'm ready to stop in, it's Wednesday afternoon, the day Hip Stitch closes early. It's just not close, so I always try to fit it in to another errand.



Further down the line, I really want to make one of these Amy Butler tunics




And I got an e-mail from Amy Butler (not personally, I guess) introducing her new Sweet Life bags. I thought they would be sewing patterns, but apparently you can only by the finished products, which range up to $180. Not. Going. To. Happen. I am disappointed because I think Amy Butler fans are people who make their own stuff, and that's what Amy Butler has always been about. Now she tantalizes us with things we can't have. Boo.

I would have loved to make this many-zippered bag, the Hampton



And the Sanibel is very cute, too