Sewing Report 2: Green Coat

We had an interesting weekly Ladies Bible Class today, which I will try to summarize at the end of this chapter.

This is the scarf I wore around my shoulders (from Dollar Tree) because try as I might I couldn't seem to get the house warm enough that early in the morning.  It rained and rained, was overcast  and dark, but that scarf color was such a bright spot. 

I turned on all the battery candles and we enjoyed singing, hot tea and lunch, as well as a very mutually edifying discussion of the chapter we are reading at this point. One of the ladies commented that it was hard being a homemaker if you didn't have the support of others, and that was one reason that we all needed to come to the ladies class each week and enjoy the fellowship and the shared beliefs.

Yesterday I got a second wind (energy) in the evening and finished the outer sections of this fleece coat. I still have to attach the cuffs and buttons and lining.  Usually I get sleepy as soon as it is dark but not last night. This project interested me enough to keep me going. 

I felt just like I did when I was a teenager trying to finish sewing something to wear the next day. I remember the feeling of freedom and creativity sewing my own clothes. The possibilities were unlimited: need a skirt? Sew it today and wear it tomorrow. And I developed in those days the mood dressing I have described to you here so often: dressing to go with the occasion, the scenery, the weather. Someone on this blog told me I was the only person they ever heard of that developed a fog fashion.  We must try to think of possibilities. I knew a lady who dressed to match her dinnerware colors at mealtimes, and I thought she really knew how to get some delight out of life in the ways that often go unnoticed and unappreciated. 

I had to remember to mark all the little things, such as the extra button indicated by the X on this pattern piece.

The marking was for the button on the left, shown on the instruction sheet here:

At the start of a sewing or cooking project it is good to sit down and relax and read the instructions so you know where you are going with it, and what comes next, etc. and don't overlook details.  Sometimes even neglecting the smallest step can ruin the whole thing or make it more difficult.

Because I had not marked that X when the pattern was on the fabric, I had to lay the pattern on the finished garment and go back and mark the button location with one of these sewing pencils; chalk pencils. It can be done with chalk too, but both kinds of markings will eventually fade, so I had to re-mark the button holes.

The instruction sheet required stop-stitching.

To sew a straight line of top stitching, I guided one edge of the presser foot along the seam for a guide, as you see above.

Mr. S. said the top stitching made it look like something from Cabellas, and I think it makes the coat look designer and expensive.

Because I get the pattern pieces out and check the notches, markings, circles, and printed instructions, I keep them inside a zip lock bag in jumbled array.  After I have finished the project I will iron the pieces on light iron, no steam, fold them and put them back in the envelop if I can do it without tearing the envelope.  And I may still keep the whole lot in a zip lock bag. They fit just fine in my pattern drawer.

Well now you see how cute and cozy this kelly green coat is looking, and why it kept me up until midnight. 

I hope you are not tired of this green stuff, because I still have the hat and the purse to finish.

I don't know if you can see the pockets, but they are not on the sides of the coat. Instead, they are on the  front seam between the front and the side front, which I found is a lot more comfortable when using. You can see here the satin lining in the pocket and the top stitching around it. Doesn't it look neat? 

Notice the pockets.

I have made several mistakes on this coat but with fleece, I find it not worth it to unpick anything, since sometimes it just makes holes in the fabric. It has the texture of felted wool, and the stitches embed so deeply inside the fibers that it is better just to let the mistake lie where it is.  

Because I want to wear this coat tonight to something Mr. S. is attending, I am going to have to do the Ladies Bible Class summary later. I hope you don't mind.  Who minds anything when they are sewing something in kelly green. Its not as if it were sackcloth.

Mr. S. has a special protective velcro padded shoe he sloughs around in and he sounds like a Sasquatch in the swamp, with the sounds of squishing and clomping when he walks. However today when I cleaned the wound, packed it and wrapped it, it looked a lot more civilized.  He is feeling his freedom again and I can't keep up with him.

If you missed what happened to him, you have to go back to December the 4th or thereabouts on this blog.

Before I go, I wanted to show you how I've kept these trees on for a bit of festivity and extra light.  I know someone who has a collection like this in her family room and she keeps it there all year long.