Vogue 2934 - Re-released Retro Goodness

Pattern: Vogue 2934 - Vogue Vintage Model - Original 1950 Design

Size: Small (8-10) - I usually take a size 6 or 8 on top, so I was a bit concerned that a size 8-10 would be too large and sloppy looking. However, because of the loose, swing coat, style of the jacket, it does not look too big.

Fabric:
The chocolate brown melton is a wool/cashmere blend from Wazoodle and it was an insanely good buy at $9.00 CDN per yard. It is fairly lightweight, but it still has good body. I choose this fabric because it drapes well, which is necessary for the swingy back portion of this coat. If the fabric was too stiff, it would hang awkwardly.



The turquoise print is from Textile Studio. Last year, I had oohed and ahhed over this unique fabric for quite a while and in the meantime it sold out, as things often do at Textile Studio. I was lucky enough to pick up the last piece on the remnant page. These two fabrics work exceptionally well together. I love the juxtaposition of the fuzzy, natural wool and the slick, shiny jacquard.



Project Photo:
In the first photo, you can see the melton side of the coat - it is the "business" side of the coat. In the second photo, you can see the jacquard side - it is the "party" side of the coat. In the last photo, The front edges are turned back, so the swingy back portion of the coat can be seen. I am currently working on a suit (a skirt and jacket - the jacket is another muslin for SWAP) from this same melton wool - when they are finished, I will model all three pieces and post the pictures.






Comments:
Each year there is a new challenge added to the SWAP contest. Last year, one of the garments had to be made from a morph of the pattern used for another one of the garments. This year, the challenge is that a reversible garment must be one of the 11 pieces. I have chosen to create a reversible coat, using Vogue 2934, which will be made in a faux Persian lamb, with a silk dupioni reverse. However, I first needed to make a muslin to check the fit, as the store where I purchased the Persian lamb no longer stocks it - so, mistakes are not an option.

The pattern is designed to have front facings and a lining. Since, I wanted the coat to be reversible, I ignored the facing and lining pattern pieces. I cut out the front and back pieces from both the melton and the jacquard fabric. I cut the cuffs from the melton only. This resulted in a coat that has one side completely made of the wool and the other side has the jacquard fabric as the body and the wool as the cuffs.

First I worked with the wool. A small dart was created at the collar, which allows the funnel neckline to stand up nicely. Then the centre back seam was sewn, followed by the shoulder/sleeve seams and the underarm/sleeve seams. The front and collar are stiffened with horsehair interfacing, for which separate pattern pieces were provided. The interfacing gave this area a crisp hand, while still remaining flexible. The jacquard fabric was put together in the same way, minus the interfacing.

Now, it was time to connect the wool and the jacquard. Placing good sides together, I stitched around the neck from centre back, down the right front edge, around the hem to the centre back. This was repeated in the opposite direction on the left side (I am an advocate of this type of directional sewing, so that the grain of the fabric does not get distorted on one side, compared to the other.) The two "coats" were now joined together, except at the sleeves - and this is where the fabrics were turned right side out, after clipping the curves and trimming the corners.

The cuffs were installed and the jacquard fabric was hand sewn to the cuffs to encase any unfinished seams.

At this point, I realized the jacquard side looked a little odd with the brown wool cuffs - the cuffs seemed out of place, as there was no other wool showing on this side. To remedy this, I decided to topstitch all the way around the perimeter of the coat. As I was topstitching, a small portion of the wool was rolled to the jacquard side to create a faux piping. This resulted in jacquard side looking far more "put together." You can see a closeup of the piping at the neck in the photo to the left.



Lastly, a buttonhole was stitched and two buttons were installed, back to back, on each side of the coat to ensure the garment is indeed reversible.



Conclusion:
Great coat - I love this vintage pattern and I think my wearable muslin is just that - very wearable. If it wasn't such a distinct style, I would make a closet full of these coats. As it stands, I only have plans for the SWAP version for now. There is only one thing about my coat that deviates from the pattern. The coat is designed to have 3/4 length sleeves and apparently I have short arms, because the sleeves are full length on me (which I actually prefer).

P.S. I am still working on the black eyelet dress, but I was inspired to make up this coat muslin the other day and one cannot question inspiration. :)