On Saturday I went shopping for supplies with Johanna Lu while she was holidaying in town, yay! We hit up Goldhawk Road and MacColluch & Wallis so I was able to get the rest of the supplies I needed for the spring coat, as well as stock up on a few things I knew would be difficult to get online for the rest of the year, like quality interfacings (I knows it when I feels it, okay?). She had the forethought to bring a camera along shopping, so you’ll have to stalk her blog for the next few days to see us giddy in fabric mecca!
I was very disciplined on Goldhawk Road and only bought three fabrics (at the end of the list there) – grey corduroy, since I adore the cords at one particular shop there and I don’t think I’ll be able to go back before Fall, a red & white cotton poplin with stylised flowers that’s already earmarked for two projects, and my one impulse buy – a very cool lycra jersey with tons of overlapping stripes going every which way. Oh, and the lining for my Spring coat.
Speaking of that Patrones spring coat:
Above are: aubergine silk lining (actually called “silk lining” – it’s like the dull side of silk charmeuse on both sides), sleeve head, my favourite shoulder pads, fantastic antique toggle-like buttons (which were cough £3.50 each after I checked the receipt when I got home, oww!), and my own personal stroke of genius – satin bias binding that matches my basketweave wool.
I didn’t want to line the hood, as I’ve never seen RTW duffle coats with lined hoods, but I didn’t want to fuse the hood, either, as it’d be visible, but I needed to do something to the seam allowances so they didn’t shred. So once I found that bias binding, I knew what I had to do: bind the seam allowances of the hood! (The colour is a bit muted here, it’s more like the above photo in real life)
After trying on the hood, I decided to keep the satin as the front edge rather than fold it back and hem, as it just wasn’t long enough to shield my glasses from any rain with it folded back. And as far as I’m concerned, keeping your glasses dry is the main point of a hood! The satin bias binding will also be used for the bound buttonhole lips to cut down on bulk, instead of using the thick wool! I am s-m-r-t! Except I didn’t buy enough, so I had to go back and buy a bit more… Not so s-m-r-t.
Here’s the hood after it’s been attached to the collar (but not topstitched yet). I love how my pressing ham looks like Mister Hoodie Potatohead!
I actually finished assembling the shell, plus the hood, collar, and facings on Sunday before I ran out of thread, but I need to do the bound buttonholes now before I can attach the sleeves, since there’s a buttoned sleeve tab that needs to be sewn between the outer and inner sleeve.
Oh, and on our way back from Goldhawk Road towards the tube on Saturday, Johanna and I stumbled across the best sewing machine shop – Olympic Sewing Machines!
It was absolutely chock full of old machines, from every possible era and design, plus whole rooms of vintage overlockers and industrials, and even a strange fur machine! The guy running the shop was lovely, too, showing us his old newspaper articles (about the fantastic new invention that sews for you, ha!) and pointing out his beauties even after he knew he wouldn’t get a sale out of us. But what did interest me is that he said they can fix any kind of machine, no matter what the age or obscurity or condition, and that they’d make the spare parts if they have to. So that makes me really happy to know they’re there in case my lovely Sonata takes a turn for the worst at some point. And their prices were very reasonable, too, if there’s any budding beginners out there looking to buy a good sturdy vintage machine!
Also, I want to apologise for falling so far behind on replying to emails and comments – it looks like I’ve had the life of leisure from all of the above, but I seriously got nothing done this week at all. 3 out of 5 work days last week were spent entirely in hospital (two of those being VERY late nights) and this week is looking to be very similar. So I’m sorry if I didn’t reply as much as I’d hoped – I can read absolutely everything on my iPhone, but replying by the one-finger pecking is just way too tedious for all but essentials…