Saturday, July 2, 2011

The Making of Lorelle's Bright Blue and Black Wool Winter Coat




The weather has been very cold recently- perfect for making coats! Recently I had fun creating a bright blue and black coat for Lorelle. As you may have seen in some of my previous postings, I put a lot of effort and time into making my designs- this is what sets my designs apart from many other designers out there.

Since it is so hard to tell people how much work is involved in these coats, I thought I would show you...



I decided to give this coat something extra, by placing embroidery down the seam lines in black- to contrast the bright blue.





Each button hole takes many steps: working out where they will sit, making the piping, sewing the piping to the outside of the coat, clipping, hand stitching the piping down. Then once the coat is finished, I need to hand stitch the inside to the piping, to open up the button holes.





I place pockets in each coat, on the side seam.




Each Penelope Red coat has many layers; outer layer in wool, interfacing (above), interlining in cotton (below) then a silk lining.



Some of the design details: contrasting shaped panels, embroidery, and pleating and fur trims.



Attaching the fur above, and attaching the collar below.



With so many layers, it is always important clip, notch, and trim all side seams.





Above, sewing the lining, and below shows how the embroidery is done- by my fantastic machine!



I do a lot of hand sewing in my coats- one of the reasons why they take so long to make, but it also means you are getting a truly unique and beautiful product. How many designers do you know have hand sewing in anything?


I hand sew all the seams flat, to make sure they sit flat and stay beautiful for a life time.



When the coat gets to this stage it really is exciting! Above, I am attaching the front outer side to the front inner side, which means I am almost finished!


...And the finished product! Lorelle was so excited that she had to wear it out straight away!


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