I should probably write that title on the door.
Actually, we know to keep this door shut anyway, since cats + sewing area = tsumani. I won’t even get into the story about what I found after they snuck in a closet overnight and managed to take down a high shelf of patterns and fabric. Or the time they discovered the delightful sounds of pattern tissue. (Anyone have any cat-sewing-disaster stories to share?)
So I worked hard over the weekend getting all the pattern pieces together for my coat, including drafting separate facing pieces and a lining. This kind of work is really fun for me, like problem-solving as much as I can ahead of time rather than in process.
So many pieces! (And I’d love to hear any hints from folks who work with rolled patternmaking paper like oak tag–no matter what I do to flatten it, it just wants to stay rolled.)
Originally, I’d planned to use a leather binding on the neckline and sleeve hems. After puzzling through a few ideas, I decided to use facings instead. Hopefully, the facings will turn out less bulky than a binding, especially at the corners of the center front.
All my little facing pieces…
I was excited to see that Peter of MPB might be making a faux fur coat and he had a good tip about good patterns for fur: the simpler the pattern details, the better. My fabric has such a thin, low pile that it might not matter but this is something to keep in mind if you ever go faux! My pattern doesn’t have any intricate seams and no eased areas (not even the sleeves).
Of course, I’ve managed to make things more complicated by deciding to sew in the zipper rather than just slap it on top of the folded front as per Burda. That meant that I had to change the “cut-on” facing to a separate sewn-on one. This could make my zipper area kinda bulky. But if my idea works, I’ll share how I changed a pattern to facilitate sewing in a center zipper down the front.
And now I must run and do some interfacing tests on the fur and leather. Hopefully I can get to a-cutting by the weekend but when I do I feel like the whole pattern will be engineered to sit up and talk!
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My cats love patterns. So many of my pattern pieces now have little claw marks in them from when they run all over them. I’ve even had to tape one little pattern piece back together again! And, unfortunately, the size of my apartment does not allow me to shut them off from my sewing. Instead I just embrace the cat crazy while protecting my patterns as best as I can. I like intact patterns, but I don’t need pristine patterns.
I’m excited to see that you’re making progress with your coat. And, I love how you have your current project displayed on the side of your blog. I may think about how to steal that idea for my own blog!
Hehe, I probably should mention we have rescue kitties who are still teenagers and pretty nonstop about finding things to tear into! The place we are living in now is temporary and I feel so lucky to have an extra room to work in cat-free. It won’t last long!
My apartment is an open layout so – no doors for me – which means I also have to embrace the cat crazy. Really this means that I have to hide away everything as I’m working on it, and for some reason the cat has it out for my pin cushion! If he even sees that thing he goes bananas!
This is sort of a weird suggestion about the oak tag – but if you have it on a roll, lay the roll on the floor then pull a long length of it out prior to a new project and tape or tack it up the wall. Let it hang like that for awhile and it will get some of the curl out of it before you’re ready to use it. I used to do that with my art papers.
I’m super excited to see how your coat goes! You inspired me to buy some leather – I just won a few hides of sheepskin from Leatherwise on Ebay! Thank You!
Oh, thanks for the suggestion, Sallie. I’ll have to try that. I also use rolled drawing paper which does the same thing but I try to roll it in reverse (sometimes that works, sometimes not). I’ve been trying to do it to small cut out pieces so maybe bigger lengths would work.
Yay for you on the sheepskin! Now that sounds cool.
i just saw this coat on a blog – its from rachel comey’s fall show:
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7190/6860704521_2c3a23ff72_o.jpg
Yay for cocoon coats! I thought the shape looked just like yours – only yours will be better because it will be furry and not bright orange!
Oh wow, cool! Hehe, I have to confess, I like the bright orange. Maybe if it was a little more pumpkin-y. I want to try something with a funnel collar like that some day.
So exciting! I look forward to seeing more in progress posts!
As for the oak tag, I find that hanging the pieces is the only thing that eventually straightens it. I have my master patterns on garment hooks. If you don’t mind indentations, clothes pins would work just as well if not better for those small pieces.
Just found your site through a maze of links and love it! For the pattern pieces curling, I’ll occasionally iron them on a low setting to get the paper to straighten out, otherwise I agree with Lizz, punch a hole in them and hang them from pattern hooks. That’ll definitely work.
Hi Jen, happy to find you, too! So many new blogs! Thanks for the good tip. I do hang a lot of these on pattern hooks but they like to stay curled for some reason. Ironing is a good idea!
Iron the paper or oaktag! No steam or water. We do it all the time in class.
Thanks Jennifer! I’ve been trying that lately by cutting chunks off the roll and using a dry iron, and it really helps.