>Fox Fur Collar Coat, Circa 1936, and Coat Musings

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Today was my first real day venturing out since getting sick this week, and unfortunately I didn’t hold out long, but sitting at home allowed me to take out all my coat info and books and instructions to prepare my plan of attack for my upcoming coat project, the 1930s overcoat from the Vintage Pattern Lending Library that I posted about a few days ago.  I’ve got a lovely black wool and an old persian lamb coat I plan to use as accents as well as some lovely vintage buttons.  I pulled out my hymo, fabrics, and started researching how exactly I’m going to put this thing together.  I admit I’m a bit overwhelmed.  I’ve made a few tailored coats and jackets- some I worked on with help when I was working at the Opera, one with a friend, a few for myself, and one for my husband… but I still feel a tailoring novice.  It seems like the sort of thing one could work at their entire life and not fully master- plus it’s such a lost art I really want to fight to learn it while there’s still folks who do it the old fashioned way.
Since the cut of this overcoat is so much different than the others I’ve done, after a lot of thought and pouring over some books I’ve decided to scrap my tailoring books and pretty much follow the vintage instructions- which I’m still feeling pretty uneasy about.  One of the things I really admire about tailoring is how crisp and finished the edges look- what with the lovely way the hymo holds the shape, and the pad stitching, layering the interfacing a the shoulders, and roll line and pockets and whatnot- but my coat doesn’t have a fold over collar, lapels, or outside pockets… and it’s not cut all in one at the front, so I’m really left scratching my head over how exactly I can re-enforce the front without it being too bulky.  I guess I’m just waving the white flag on this one and doing it the original way set out in the instructions, which is to cut the interlining on the same line as the facing.  I’m nearly sure there’s a “tailored” way to do this that I’m completely unaware of.  I kind of feel like I’m cheating, actually, but I’m just going to go with it, cross my fingers, and hopefully it will all end up all right in the end!  Most vintage patterns, and modern patterns for that matter, include little to no help with old fashioned tailoring, but this one actually does include quite a bit more than I expected so I’m interested to see how it turns out.  It does look pretty darn complicated though… and it will be interesting trying to work with the vintage fur, though the thought of it already is giving me the heebie-jeebies ;)
Sorry the shop has been a bit neglected of new goodies. Early next week I’m hoping to have some cute vintage things and a Halloween inspired something-or-other.  I’ll be sure to post on here as soon as they go up.