McCall's 7257: the Birthday Coat

Happy New Year to you all, even though we are already on the 7th!    The post Christmas holiday wasn't the best as I had a pretty miserable cold (and you can see this in the photos!).  The 29th was my birthday and I had planned to make a faux fur coat to wear.    I splashed out on some very good quality faux fur.  Just to be absolutely clear I am very opposed to real fur, so hopefully this is faux enough not to be mistaken.

The pattern is McCall's 7257

 

I cut my usual size 14, but because I have a C cup I did a 1" full bust adjustment, which made the bottom hem wider as well.  I then cut down the width at the bottom later on by 1" from each seam (4" in total).   I also added an extra 1" to the width of the sleeves and then later took 5/8" back out.   Looking at the photos I think it still looks a little big, so I think actually I would have been better not making the adjustments.  I didn't think it would be helpful making a muslin because the fabric would behave so differently.  I also took 5/8" from the shoulder width as usual.   The sleeves look a little long and you can just see that because the lining sleeve is exactly the same pattern as the coat sleeve it is pulling a little at the sleeve.  I've just  unpicked the sleeve lining and taken the sleeve length up 1 1/2" and it has done the trick and taken the pulling out as well as looking much better. 

 

The lining is my current favourite a Bemberg cupro from the  Lining Company, which comes in over 100 colours.  Mine is a lovely Saxony blue and it feels really luxurious.  I added a pleat in the lining which wasn't in the pattern of approximately 1", just to ensure comfort and no pulling across the back.

 
The coat is fastened by 5 large fuzzy hooks and eyes  (this was a bit of a nightmare when I wore a jumper underneath which kept getting caught).  The colour here is very inaccurate.

The coat itself is quite easy to make, no darts, just three pieces and a lining, however, preparing the faux fur is a bit of a nightmare.  You have to trim all the fur from the seam allowances (this took about 2 days - and when I took the sides in a bit I had to trim them all again).  Also the fur gets everywhere.

I would recommend a little couture technique.  I used a catch stitch on all the seams to keep them nice and flat.  You can see below the sleeve on the left has been catch stitched, the one on the right hasn't.

So there we are a little bit of luxury!

Worn on my birthday to go out with Dan and Gemma for a pizza and film.  We saw Carol with Cate Blanchett which I really enjoyed (especially the great 1950 clothes - think hers is a real fur though!).

I've gone into another decade now, but have decided it is just a number and nothing to do with how you feel, look or are perceived by others.  I'm not doing a proper round up of last years sewing, just to say I made

17 dresses

9 tops and blouses

3 skirts

4 jackets

2 coats and 1 pair of jeans

and knitted 2 sweaters and 2 cardigans

Not a bad total!

I made 6 McCall's patterns 4 Butterick, 1 Vogue, 2 Simplicity and 14 independent patterns.

My favourites were Deer and Doe Bruyere

and Butterick 5880

So here to another decade of sewing.