My New Raincoat and I'm almost Ready For Paris

Thank you all so much for the nice comments you left on my last post. I've already worn my little red jacket twice and love it and received compliments!

I have to admit that I'm getting very excited about our trip. We are leaving on the 14th (Tues.) and I'm almost too excited to function!

Now about my raincoat which turned out to be not even a little bit water resistant let alone waterproof! But that's OK cause I sprayed it with Fabrigard and am now confident it will be fine.

I had a hard time to decide on a pattern for this garment but finally settled on this Easy Vogue ( V8623)



At first look it seems an unlikely choice but I have so wanted to try this pattern and it suited the fabric.


Here, I'll show you the finished product and you can tell me if I chose wisely.

I wore it shopping yesterday and got a couple of compliments already.



The stats:

Fabric: a material called "Memory cloth" because you can coax it to hold a certain shape then smooth it out again.

Lining:a polyester satin print which is quite gorgeous,I think.

Interfacing: a medium fusible knit because that's all I had on hand that was suitable.

Buttons: variegated buttons which are perfect for the fabric which is a little irridescent.

How I adapted this pattern:I lengthened all the pieces by 13" .I simply added this to the bottom of the pattern pieces because I imagined the coat to be a little flared out at the bottom which it is.

There are no pockets on this design so I added my favorite Ssandra Betzina pockets in the same way I did to this coat.

Sewing machine needle used: A 70/10 sharp which worked flawlessly.

Thread: Gutterman all-purpose polyester thread.

Problems I encountered: I had to pick out all my edge stitching which I used to avoid having to press some of the seams because I had to otherwise use a press cloth on this fabric..The edge stitching caused puckering so it had to go.

This is a customized pattern which has separate pieces for an A,B.C and D cup.I cut the D cup but that ended up being too roomy so I had to shave some of the bust curve off. The C cup pieces would have been plenty big enough although I wear a 34 DD bra. I reveal this in case this info can be helpful to someone out there.

Here are some detail shots.

I love the way the collar stands away from the neck and the memory in the fabric keeps it that way.





I sewed the pleats at the back down about three inches so they wouldn't stick out too much. I think the back is so cute.






They are hard to see but here are the pockets.



A peek at the lining.





And a few photos of me wearing the coat and feeling a little like a character in Madmen.









It's now Saturday afternoon and I just finished making an across the body bag in a distressed leather look upholstery fabric but I'll show you that another time.

Thanks for looking in on me and I hope you're having a great weekend!

Happy Sewing from Diana