Coat Making - Vogue 1473 Part 5

Its done! I've made a coat! It works!

Do you ever find that once you are two thirds of the way through something it becomes a big battle?  I worry that I won't actually like it, that I'll mess up (or that I have already messed up but just don't realise it yet) and start planning what I want to make next.  I was hoping to have it done for half term but by the last day I was only just getting started with the lining.  But I always forget how much I love hand sewing linings in - hiding away any mess on the inside.

I added a few cross stitches here and there, the instructions said to catch stitch but I've seen this done somewhere and thought it was a nice touch.

I'm glad I sewed the lining by hand as the coat is now quite hard to wrangle through my machine and I could make sure it was lying nicely.  I also added a hanging hook for the future when I inevitably get fed up of finding a hanger.

It was a little tricky to get the poppers lined up exactly, I was fully prepared to unpick some of them after wearing the coat out but I think they are about right.

Even though I've been sewing for a long time I'm always a little surprised when complicated things work out well.  I feel like I've learnt a lot in making this coat and I'll definitely not shy away from making anything as big as this in the future.  And I'm going to try not to save it for best because then it will hardly get worn.

I just love the back yoke and the top stitching.

So after a little struggle with motivation to finish this off I'm now ready to start something a bit lighter (I've got some cotton poplin washed and ready to go).

If you want to go back to the beginning of this project the first post is here.