Sewing Bee - 2nd Round

Participating in this contest was an interesting experience.  Running a professional practice full time left no daylight hours for sewing during the course of the competition.  The specific requirements and short time frame was inspirational, though.

When this contest was announced., it was described as using mens' buttondown shirts.  I am old enough for this to mean traditional button down shirts - the kind with buttondown collars, not just button fronts.  I immediately thought of preppy oxford shirts in their traditional pastels.

The usual colors of oxford shirts:


 are traditional pastels:

and exactly the colors on trend this year for outerwear:

 These minimalist style coats  are a bold shape of pale color with a luxurious kind of simplicity,some with standing necklines.  The Jill Sanders yellow one top center  costs about $3000.00. The one on top left is Celine.  They are both oxford button-down yellow.

 At the same time, I love the same pale colors in other clothes, this season, with  flora and fauna embellishments.  This is Thom Browne

This Dolce and Gabanna skirt, though there is nowhere in my life into which it would fit, is divine.

In honor of the colors,  decided to make a minimalist bold  shape coat  from these shirts and see if it could look luxurious, despite originating at the Goodwill store.

It's amazing how little usable fabric is in four extra large shirts. 
I didn't have enough  for long sleeves, only three quarters, and not enough for a coat, only a short jacket.  I didn't have enough fabric for the same color front and back. I  looked at  a few patterns in the stash and this one seemed the most suited for a minimalist shape, about color,using smaller fabric pieces. 

  I  decided to secretly embellish the interior lining with some flora/fauna to please myself.  I searched my stash for something and found some scraps of birds, left over from upholstery.  The ones from my dining room chairs have colors that go perfectly!  Ready to go.

I had a lot of delay in starting my project  preparing the fabric.  Because I wanted  the soft brushed rich matte look of laundered cotton, I washed the shirts, which I think were permanent press so slightly glossy.  My washing machine has a "sanitize" setting,  a two hour hot cycle for things like musty linens, so I ran the shirts through that, then tumbled them dry, which took about 2 1/2 hours.  They I laid them out and cut the front pieces from the yellow and the back from the blue, reserving the long sleeves from the yellow for the sleeves.

 Looking at the pieces on the form I thought they were still a little too smooth looking, so I stayed all the edges of the cut pieces, and ran all the pieces, and the scraps, back through the harsh hot cycle, this time in company of a big acrylic blanket, then dried them. The fabric finish was now very matte and brushed.

I was surprised at how much I now loved the fabric and color.  I knew I should probably line it with old shirts, or use other shirt elements but by now I was enamored of my vision.

I used the long yellow sleeves for the sleeves, recutting the cap and keeping the top of the cuff opening as a slit but for the embellishment, I did not employ shirts.

The rest of the construction was straightforward. Set in sleeves and lining cut from pattern pieces. I have a big stash of all purpose lining fabric in a sort of flesh color (grayed pinky-peach) which goes with most things, so I used that for the back areas and sleeves.  For the front of the lining, I made facings from the bird fabric, piecing the fabric together to get  full birds on the visible areas, interfacing them with a flexible interfacing, and finishing the edges with a vintage bias tape that was part of a lot of vintage notions from ebay.  It's yellow gingham print.

 I also used this for the button loop.

 I hand understitched the facings and linings and hand fininshed the lining.  I hung the jacket on the form, wet it, and finger shaped the drape of the neckline, steaming it a bit and letting it dry.

  I didn't want any stitching to show anywhere on the exterior of the coat.

I think this looks pretty luxurious, considering it's oxford cloth from Goodwill.

 Secret lining just for me.

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