Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Do you ever feel like a broken record?

I do. And right now the tune I'm stuck on is Lady Gray... I hope you are not finding my progress reports too tedious. I did quite a lot this weekend, despite getting a little side-tracked with two mini-projects (more on that this week). Here's what I accomplished:

I steamed the lapels and let them dry overnight. This whole pad-stitching and then steaming technique really is magic. The lapels now hold their shape - flopping back into a nice roll without being creased.

Lapel - shaped around a damp towel.

I cut the back stay out of hair canvas and basted it to the back/shoulder of the shell. And once the lapels had dried I sewed the front and back together, including the pockets.


Starting to look like a coat.

I also worked on the lining - now with sleeves and lace trim at the hem. Hmmm, I have a bit of lace left over. Perhaps I will add it to the sleeve hems on the lining. I think that might be a nice touch.

Lining - with sleeves and ready to go!




Lace trim on my lining hem.

I am still stitching away at the undercollar, but I hope to finish that up tonight. It will then get a good steaming so it holds its shape too. Oh, and there is the belt, which just needs to be top stitched.

Under collar and belt.



Next up with Lady Grey: setting in the sleeves and hemming the shell. I think I am just going to have to power through this week, doing a little something every night. Although it is too cold today, I am ready to wear this coat! 

5 comments:

Faye Lewis said...

Girl, you know that I for one completely understand and am all too familiar with that tune. I admire you because you didn't let this Grey thing consume you like I did. You will love the coat because you took your time. And by the way - your pad stitching is awesome. Mine was a hot mess!!!

Heather said...

I'm insanely jealous of your talent and patience!! I am sooo not at a place with my sewing that I could ever do all that pad stitching. I know your LG is going to be AMAZING when you finish it!

Karin said...

I admire you for seeing this through. I made a muslin of the Lady Grey and immediately dropped it, lol!

It's turning out really well, and I am sure you will get plenty of wear out of it next winter if not this one! :-)

Marie-Christine said...

You left it to dry overnight? No wonder you feel like progress is slow :-). You know, if you steamed something so much that it's soaked, you can always use a hair dryer - wool -is- hair, sheep hair but hair all the same. And hair canvas, well, I'll let you fill that one in yourself :-).

Clio said...

Oh man, my fingers are like pin cushions (full of holes!).

LOL - Marie-Christine - I guess this is how sewistas differ. Steaming it last thing on Friday evening and then just letting it hang out over night seemed like a really good use of time and much less work than blow drying. Ha!