Last winter sometime, the movie Pride & Prejudice & Zombies snuck through the theatres. I honestly don’t even remember hearing about it. But when we finally got around to watching it this summer, boy did we have a lot of fun! Fun frocks, ass kicking, undead, explosions… Syo, in particular, fell hard for the outfit Lizzie wears at the movie climax, which is quite excellent for dismembering zombies if I do say so myself.
Enter McCall’s 7493. Hello coat! While it’s not perfect, it’s a pretty good stab at the screen version. Up to and including that weird decorative dart on the upper front chest (See Instagram discussion here.)
I don’t think the collar is quite as long and drapy as it could be, nor is it attached in quite the same way. Whatevs.
Also, ah, if it’s my daughter who’s crazy for this outfit, why is it me I’m making the coat for?
Um, selfish. We’ll leave it at that. I can always make her one later. Also, she’s the same size as me right now other than height—all I’d have to do for hers would be make the skirt and sleeves shorter.
So there are some good things and some bad things to this pattern. I like the two piece sleeve, the shoulder seam that’s thrown to the back (an “authentic” touch that wouldn’t really matter since this is not a real historical costume, but makes me happy) and most of all that the amount of ease is minimal! So, um, make your actual size. I was actually fully prepared to cut a size 12 as per my bust measurement (or maybe just a 10 at the shoulders) until I remembered the outer fabric I was using is REALLY stretchy. So I did a 10 in everything, and it’s fine but only because of the stretch. After my usual fit alterations (petite, square shoulder, lengthen sleeve) I’m REALLY happy with the fit. Not something I have often said about costume patterns. If you’re looking to put together a historically accurate spencer or pelisse, this is probably not the right pattern, but if you just want something quick and fun, it’s fine.
The bad things are really the usual—costume grade construction. It’s designed to be lined, but just by cutting the same pattern pieces in lining, and while that might be period, the construction certainly isn’t. And, no facing pieces or anything. And the instructions for the lining would leave you with raw edges at the armscye sleeve. Not necessarily the end of the world, but definitely a bit costume-grade, IMO. Not that I ever follow McCalls coat instructions.
My fabric of choice is a dark blue piled stretch cotton the strange powers that be at Fabricland saw fit to call “stretch velvet.” It’s a terrible excuse for velvet, but a perfectly lovely no-wale stretch corduroy. It is definitely heavier and less drapey than the movie fabric, which from the poster at the top looks like maybe a faux-suede or some kind of suit-weight fabric. For a Canadian Hallowe’en, though, heavier is good.
I couldn’t find a nice shiny dark blue brocade ANYTHING for the drapey collar, so after some brainstorming with my shop mates, I decided to try to make my own with soutache appliquéd onto a satin. Duchesse satin, actually, the heavy matte stuff. Not the best choices for a waterfall collar, I agree. But I do like the look. In hindsight a bemberg rayon might have done as well.
I do like how it looks, though, even if it’s not the best materials/idea for what I am using it for.
My soutache embroidery was inspired by this cute little spencer. If I’d had more soutache (and time) it would’ve been fun to go to town like this on the bodice as well. Maybe for another project.
All that soutache applique was both fun and terrifying to do. I’m kind of glad it was firmly in costume-land as it kept me from obsessing too much over perfection.
I did a lot of piping, although I wish I would’ve piped those back princess seams. I didn’t pipe the edge of the collar, in an attempt to preserve whatever nonexistent drape it might have, but since it still has no drape I kinda wish I’d done that too. It is currently pinned into place to secure the folds, and I’ll probably tack them down.
I bound my seams with bias binding, as well. When I could remember. I made bias-binding with the heavy satin I used for the lining/collar, overlocking one edge. This was a) fast and neat, and b) nicely finished the edge, which tends to fray on satin bias binding, because satin has intense fraying super-powers. Only the skirt is fully lined. I say “only” but the skirt has easily three times as much fabric as the top bit. Maybe five times. The skirt is lined in the same duchesse satin as the collar (minus embroidery). Goodbye project budget! It certainly would’ve been easier to attach the skirt neatly with a lining. As it is i bound the back seam and it took some unpicking and handstitching to get everything where it should be. The skirt is LONG, by the way. I took a full 2″ hem and it still brushes the floor if I’m in flat feet—and I’m 5’7″. If you are shorter, check the length and save yourself some fabric. 😉
I added 3″ in length to the sleeves, petite’d out 1/2″ through the armscye, and did a square shoulder adjustment by slashing and spreading the front bodice pieces where I guessed the shoulder line would be (not at the shoulder seam, mind you.) I’m pretty happy with all these changes—they are very much my usual adjustments.
The (lack of) ease works only because of the stretch fabric—if I’d used a non-stretch using my proper size would’ve been the way to go. Which is honestly pretty refreshing. I would stick with a 10 in the shoulders, though.
Here’s the best shot I got of Syo wearing it on Hallowe’en—I am such a terrible Hallowe’en photographer. As you can see it is far too long, but otherwise fits her very well. Really the whole thing deserves much better photos, but if I wait for those I’ll never blog at all. 😦
In other news, I may have purchased Redthreaded’s rather expensive single-size Regency long stays pattern for the costume as well… I could possibly have finagled something similar by extending the Sensibility Patterns short-stays pattern I have, but, easy won. I will discuss that costume item when/if I can get some decent photos. 😉
In any case, a fun Hallowe’en was had by all! (And very creepily, the weather this first week of November has been as lovely as the weather throughout October was terrible. This weekend it was verging on 20C—I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such warm temperatures in November.)
A day after I finished my 
Probably not much to say here—I went over the dress deets in the post on my first version.
This version is fully lined, whereas the Kanji dress I onlylined the bodice. Not much difference to the final dress, although it does make the skirt a little more substantial.
I lowered the neckline in a smooth scoop. And then apparently took all my pictures from the side so you can hardly see. WTF.
I love adding piping but I’m not the best at making it mesh with the clean-finish methods I was using… maybe need to do some further research, there.
The zipper went in so nicely, though. Quilting cotton is a beautiful thing sometimes. And the lining fabric, which is this super-soft cotton shirting that seems to have the world’s tiniest twill weave ever. Love it.
It’s the method described in “The Basics of Corset Bulding” by Linda Sparks (mainly used because that’s the book I have. 😉 for making an alterable corset. You construct the front piece with the busk and the back pieces with the grommets, first. Then the other pieces are sewn together, and the seam allowances stitched open to make bone casings. But this time, I put in the bones around the grommets in the back, and then tweaked the fit—finalized some seams and added bones, and tweaked a little more—and so on until everything was just right. This let me get the fit I like, the shape I like, AND end up with a super comfy corset, so I’m pretty stoked.
For fun, I added small sections of cording in the front. I think a bigger or firmer cord would’ve been a good idea, but they were fun.
My sister-in-law shot us amidst gorgeous autumn leaves, which are lovely and natural and not really suited to an outfit that demands wrought iron and gaslight, but I wasn’t willing to go further than the next-door park on that particular morning, so I’ll take it.
That’s the same white pintucked (not made by me) blouse I wore 
The camo coat wasn’t actually the best topper for the outfit—it kinda swamped the corset & hip decor, though it looked cool from certain angles. I have enough of the faux suede left to make a matching jacket; I’m thinking something cropped and faux-military would be fun. Maybe in another year?
My first thought was a version of view C with the hood, but after trying out the little flounce at the waist I decided to skip it. It’s cute in theory but a little too much ruffle right at the waist for my liking.
The fabric is a “wool blend” lightweight coating (or possibly a heavy flannel) that’s only 10% wool—eyeroll—but I sure do like the look. Plus the colour scheme will work really well (if boringly) with lots and lots of the other things that I have made. To make it a bit warmer, I underlined with some heavy flannel from stash, the same stuff that I used for the 
Running with the inspiration of the lace-bedecked original, I also got as much of this black cotton cluny lace as I could fit in the project budget.
And I had just enough to go to town, covering not only the front and back yokes, but getting bands at the hem, waist, and sleeve hems as well. With only the tiniest sliver to spare!
You might find this a bit unbelievable, but this is the only coat I have with a hood. It’s not quite big enough, from my point of view, to look good up, but it’s just right for wearing down. And I’m sure if I wear this far enough into the fall (assuming I can wear it, when the chips are down) I’ll test it out for warmth. At a certain point in the Canadian winter you give up on caring about what things look like.
Basically, I botched the plaid matching. Since it’s such a simple check, I guess I thought I could kinda wing it and, ah, no. Not a good idea. I should have spent much more time reviewing/researching. Or just thinking. Gah. All the different seam-lines (yoke, waist) didn’t help either.
And I stretched and eased and fudged and tweaked and made it work, kinda, but, there was a price, which was that I had to trim off some of the centre front bodice. And that I lost what had been a vertical stripe match from left side to right side, in order to match bodice and skirt. Maybe not the right call in hindsight, especially since this meant I also lost inches, where you don’t really want to lose inches in a fitted coat that I was already making down a size. Which means the whole damn thing is tight, bordering on way too tight. Not what I wanted in a brand new coat. And you can see the awkward pulling across the front, especially above the bust, where there just isn’t as much fabric as there should be.
Otherwise, I was pretty happy with my fit alterations. I started with a size 10 in the shoulders & bust, grading to a 12 at the waist, and squaring the shoulder down to the size 6 height. I did a petite through the armscye (but then forgot to take anything out of the sleeve cap, which led to a bit too much ease there, oops. My fabric was forgiving enough to accommodate it, but I wish I’d remembered in time to just trim it off. I’m glad I didn’t go with the straight 12 though as the shoulders are still a little boxy. I should have lowered the dart point a little bit, but the pulling above the bust bothers me a LOT more than the high dart.
I do like the two piece sleeve, although I did need to taper it in a couple of inches at the wrist—the bicep width is great, though. After comparing it with the sleeve for my Springy Coat, I added only 3cm of length, but then I lost about half of that trying to get the stripes to match up between my under and over-sleeve, and it’s still long enough. Which means that’s a very long sleeve to begin with, since it’s not unusual for me to add 3″ of length, not 3 cm. I wish I’d been able to keep the full 3cm, though—somehow with turn of cloth and everything it wound up about the same exact length as the Springy Coat sleeves, which are just a little shorter than I’d like. (Keeping in mind that I am obsessed with overly-long sleeves. Probably the length would be perfect for a normal person.)
Oh, yeah. It comes with pockets! They are obscenely tiny. Make them bigger. BIGGER.
I do enjoy my lace, even though it adds to the business of my busy fabric. I used two rows to cover the yoke parts, and just had to piece in a tiny bit right along the shoulder-line.
I think that’s it. I like the pictures. I love how it looks on the hanger. It just remains to be seen if tight is actually TOO TIGHT.
The hood looks perfect when it’s down. Just the right amount of fabric to sit nicely.
All in all, I think I will be happy once the plaid-related trauma fades…
Anyway, I bit the bullet with Butterick 4249 by John Kloss. Incidentally this also reminds me of Daughter Fish’s 
So, um, tent-y it was. I should’ve taken pictures, but, um, no.
I made a couple of adjustments to the construction. The pattern had faced armholes; I used a band instead. I interfaced the sides of front opening with a fusible knit. Both of these were very good ideas. I cut the neckband on the cross-grain (pattern piece called for it to be on the lengthwise grain, not that that would have helped a whole lot with this stretchy fabric.)
Anyway, pretty happy with this, despite all the surgery and limited tent-osity. This was the last sewing of my vacation (I kept doing family stuff. Jeez. Darn family, getting in the way of important things), “finished” in the afternoon after we put Tyo on a plain for Vancouver Island, but before I had to go to my first shift back at 5:00 pm. So at least I got to wear a new dress back to work. And then on my first full day back it was nasty and rainy, so I did get to wear my 
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Tanit-Isis Sews 
