I have an update! A real life update! I must confess that I haven’t been working on my peacoat much over the last few weeks – I’ve had a lot of other things going on but I’m feeling better so I’ve picked up where I left off and have actually made some progress!
I was really struggling with fitting my muslin for the peacoat, so I turned to this group on The Fold Line for advice and got some good tips! In the end I only made a few adjustments – shortened the whole thing by an inch at the lengthen/shorten lines, let the hips out a little, did a full bust adjustment, took it in under the arms, trimmed the princess seams across the back and did a small sloping shoulder adjustment. S
o not much really… My paper pattern is a mess of masking tape but I’m not going to worry about tracing it off as new pieces until afterwards in case I make any other adjustments during construction.
I had to shrink my wool ready for cutting. I’ve never done this before so I found this tutorial from Sewaholic and had a go. It took about 2 litres of water in the iron and almost an hour to steam 3 metres of 150cm wide wool but my skin felt great afterwards! When I bought the wool from a shop on Goldhawk Road I had asked if it had been preshrunk but the guy didn’t know and I didn’t want to risk it by not doing it, but as it turns out it didn’t shrink at all! It has slightly softened one side of the fabric but I think this has ended up being the wrong side.
I cut into my wool and somehow I have almost a metre left over! Not quite sure how I’ve managed that considering I only bought a little more than stated on the pattern envelope! I’m sure it’ll get absorbed by my stash and reappear in several years time…
(I have made some more progress since this was written, but I’ve taken some rubbish photos you’ll have to wait for update #4!)
Jenny stitched this 
Looking forward to seeing your coat. Can I ask about your muslin because I have never actually properly made one before… Did you make the whole coat out of another fabric first? Or did you just do parts? Your wool looks lovely, I love the colour!
LikeLike
You can make a muslin out of whatever fabric you like – I try to use cheap fabric in a similar weight so I can get a feel of how it’s going to look. I use curtain lining mostly because it’s a bit cheaper than calico! That way you don’t cut into lovely fabrics too soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh curtain lining that’s a good idea! I will have to have a look at doing that. Thank you 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the idea of using curtain lining! A shop was selling calico for £5 a meter!!!
LikeLike
Glad to help! I started using it because it’s only about £2 a metre and it’s normally reallllly wide! I haven’t used calico since uni, far too pricey
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the tip 🙂 Where do you buy it from? I’m never looking at Calico again!!
LikeLike
I get mine from my local market but you can get cheap twill curtain lining on ebay so that might be a good bet – failing that I can always just post you some 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you! and thanks for being so generous! I’ll have a look on ebay. I think I saw another blogger who got some of that lining for cheap in bulk so I’m gonna hunt around for that too xx
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome 😀 xx
LikeLike
Yay, a free facial! Can’t wait to watch your progress 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great tips here, that I’m especially interested in as I’m about to try a coat of my own, not quite as ambitious as yours though!! I may refer back to this post as I go along…I forgot you have to preshrunk wool lol….
LikeLiked by 1 person
I didn’t even know you needed to until I started with the sewalong!
good job I was paying attention haha! Apparently you can also take it to a drycleaners for them to do it but that’s going to be quite pricey which is why I had a go myself
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting…I’ll use my trusty new iron and do it myself too!
LikeLike
Can’t wait to see the next steps!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That fabric looks quite similar to the one I’ve just used for a VERY much simpler garment than you are tackling at the moment. I steamed mine too – I could barely see out of the windows by the time I’d finished but I’m pretty sure it didn’t shrink at all. I’ve just blogged about the layer of berry coloured fluff that has settled all over my house from cutting the fabric! Good luck with the peacoat.
LikeLike
Thanks! There’s a lot of maroon dust all over my sewing room haha
LikeLike
Sounds like the same fabric! Watch out for it turning your sewing machine pink too! I’ve not yet tackled the cleaning up process on that.
LikeLike
I’ve seen those dye catcher sheets but never tried them. I wish I’d used them when I washed my selvedge denim because the colour bled into the lovely white and red selvedge.
LikeLike
Definitely recommend them, I just use cheap own brand ones – also I apologise for going off on a tangent, read your last comment wrong. What a plonker haha!
LikeLike
You are coming along nicely! Can’t wait to see the finished coat – it will be sensational, no doubt. One of my goals (some day, one day….soon I hope) is to make a wool coat. So, your update was not only interesting, but helpful, as I knew nothing about pre-shrinking wool!
LikeLike
I’m glad it was useful! I didn’t know about pre shrinking wool either before this! I hope you feel encouraged to start a coat – I’m enjoying this make more than I planned but even if it goes a bit wrong as long as it’s wearable I’ll be happy (and warm)!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Can’t wait to see the next portion of progress, it looks like it’s turning out to be a great coat.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks! I’ll just be pleasesd if it’s wearable hah!
LikeLiked by 1 person