Planet Of Fire waistcoat -calico test: finished!

Just before Christmas I spent some time making a calico test for my Planet Of Fire waistcoat replica.

After cutting my Pattern, I showed how I made the Fronts, with their six welted pockets; and then the Back, with its complex pleated arrangement.
Finally, I had to hand-stitch all the jute piping on around the edges, which I did over Christmas, and now at last it is finished!

I’ve taken some side-by-side photos to compare how the test is looking and hanging.

The fronts have come out very well – I’m happy with those. Working with the embroidered curtain fabric wasn’t as bad as I had feared, which was a relief.

The back has come out quite well too, though I need to pay a little more attention tot he straps, which need to be a tad longer and not as wide. Otherwise all good.

Planet Of Fire waistcoat - calico test: back

So far I have made the front panels of the waistcoat (see right); now I need to concentrate on the back and then bringing everything together.

The back is made from a linen fabric lined with cotton. For the purposes of my test garment I am using washed calico for the outside, lined with a cheap cotton to give me a feel for the contrast between the two in the finished thing.

Back

The centre of the back is remarkably similar to that of a Tennant Coat, and it’s construction is near identical.

The two halves of the back are sewn together (see left) and the seam allowance pressed flat (see below, left); it is then folded in halve along the seam, and two vertical lines of stitch, one above and below the vent, are sewn to form the visible back centre seam; this is then pressed flat, create the capacity vent (see below, right).

Planet Of Fire waistcoat - calico test: fronts

So far I have Pattern Traced and Cut the design of the waistcoat.

I will now make a calico test garment to a high standard of finish, so I can troubleshoot any issue I might have in making the real thing.

The waistcoat is literally, a garment of two halves with the multi-pocketed tapestry fronts; and the tailored & pleated back.

Today I am going to tackle the fronts, with their six pockets.

Fronts
The tapestry fabric is quite a loose-weave and the hand-stitched flowers are raised and quite bulky. I’ve decided to stabilise the edges I am overlocking them, so I allowed a bit extra on the seam allowance when cutting.

I now need to set the pockets - something I am not looking forward to.
So before steaming in and messing things up, I quickly did a little test welt to see how difficult the fabric can be to handle (see left). To my surprise it want too bad, partly due I think to my experience in setting welts, so I was able to concentrate on the fabric rather than the sewing as that is now second nature.

Five Coat - Finished calico test

I am not ashamed to say I am a little pooped after finishing the calico test for the Five Coat, but it’s been worthwhile I think.

Click to enlarge picture

After sharing a ‘photo-shoot’ image earlier, here are some more detailed pictures of the finished test.

Five Coat - Lining, then its DONE!

I have now successfully finished work on the body of the coat, and have nailed the pattern for its visible parts (see right).

I now need to sort out the parts hidden from view – the lining.

Compared to doing a Tennant Coat, which required its lining to be installed during pretty much the first few stitches, this will be much easier. The pattern for the lining is with little exception a straight repeat of the outer part of the coat, so I won’t go into too much detail about it at this stage.

The only panels that are different are the inside fronts, which omit the area covered by the lapels and also have the internal pockets set in them. It is this part of the lining I will focus on here.

I have again cribbed the shape of the inside front linings from my charity-bought jacket, cutting it off horizontally at the waist level to match how the Five Coat is constructed (see left, top).

The charity jacket had an internal pocket on each side, so I mark and replicate the angle and position for my Five Coat, based on what I have extracted from the dissected jacket.

Five Coat - Working on the collar

Now that I have sorted out how I will do the inside pockets, my attention turns to the collar and lapels.

The charity-bought jacket I dissected helped me get a much better shape and fit to the fronts.

My plan now is to crib the shape and cut of the lapels, though the collar does not have the correct shape, so I will need to adjust for that (see above, noting the angle of the collar coming away from the notch).

The lapels and collar I am using as a template are, like the fronts of the jacket I did earlier, from a more tailored school and a little different to the method I am used to. I think it is high time learnt some new techniques, so I aim to follow what I find.

The main difference is the underside of the collar, which is made from a thick felt rather than the same fabric as the body of the jacket.

I am working on the basis that this is applied last, so I look first at the structure of the upper collar. This is made in two parts, which at joined at a seam just below where the collar will roll. To create the shape of the collar, the two parts are curved in diverging directions (see right). You could be forgiven to think I have put the lower part upside down, but this IS the way they go together.

I replicated the collar, adjusting the shaping needed as I go, and sew it to the lapel fronts as I would usually do.

Five Coat - The Time Lord’s Pockets

Things are going well with the Five Coat!

So now that I am at last on a roll, its time to tackle the inside pockets.

Doing welts in a heavy woven material such as wool, or even better the Malabar or Alcantara my Tennant Coats were made from, has been quite easy for me as they are quite sturdy and self-supporting. As a result I had the chance to perfect my technique over the numerous coats I had made (see right).

You can read about all that in the Tennant Coat blog, under Inside pockets - smoke and mirrors

Five Coat - Starting the final calico test

Having sorted out a number of problems I was having with the pattern for the Five Coat, I can now begin what will be the last calico test before making it for real.

I quickly breeze my way though assembling the back of the coat (see right), having done it several times now and nailed the pattern a couple of goes back. The fronts I am using are now to the revised design having cribbed it from the charity shop jacket last week.

I have salvaged the piped pocket flaps I did for the last version, and set them in place (see left).

The pocket bag is made in two flat halves, one of which is sewn behind the flap. The front half of the pocket bag is then sewn to the top of the skirt, and the two parts are then sewn together when the skirt is joined to the body of the coat, taking a detour around the pocket bag to create the opening.

Five Coat - Calico progress

I have been working on the Five Coat on and off for a few weeks now, having taken a number of breaks to clear some garment commissions.

I recently had my first go at some of the piping on the coat, doing one of the pocket flaps as a test.

I simply pinned the piping around the flap and hand stitched it in place, finding it a lot easier that I had dreaded! (see above)

I also had a go at piping the sleeve, though in a different way this time. First I made my sleeve as usual, but only sewed the shorter front seam together. I then worked out the level of the piping and lightly marked a pencil line on the calico. I then machine stitched the bottom edge of the piping to the sleeve, which worked very well (see below left).

So the piping would match the lapel and pocket flap edges, I then folded it in half (see above middle) and stitched the other side down too (see above right).

When the back seam was sewn, the piping lined up and the join was on the back of the sleeve out of sight (see right).

All this was certainly easier than I had feared, but now I had broken the ice with piping, I had to face up to another little problem I had been putting off.

Each time I have returned to the coat I have progressed it a little further, but I have equally been finding issues and problems with the pattern I was developing.