It only took me almost two years to finish this for Macy, but it is finally done. It's what we call in our house a "pretty" coat, usually reserved for Sunday mornings, going to church, etc. In the past the girls have either received a Rothschild coat for a Christmas or Birthday present but a few years ago I thought, "I can make one of those" and so I did. My first (and I thought last) attempt at a pretty coat resulted in this:
I had the hardest time with this coat. I hated it by the time I was finished. On top of that it fit Macy perfectly so that she was only able to wear it for a couple of months and then it became her sister Ellie's (which I have to say it looks much better on Ellie than Macy). I had wanted to make it out of pink with cream trim, but Macy wanted it to look just like the pattern envelope (Vogue 7792). I wasn't going to enter it in the fair because it was just awful, but my husband disagreed. I reworked the buttonholes, gave it a good pressing and brushing and this is what I received:
Yes, I was very surprised! This was last year and the very first time I took grand champion/best of show in clothing at our county fair. I did not think the coat was "fairworthy" by any stretch of the imagination, but the judges did. They loved it. So I thought, I would attempt another pretty coat for Macy last winter.Needless to say a lot of things happened and the pink pretty coat never was finished. It was a much easier pattern (Butterick 4650) but I could never get much done with it. I started it last summer. It was too hot to apply the necessary interfacing. Then I didn't have enough hymo canvas for the shoulders and this thick wool needed something to give it shape in the shoulder area. Weeks later I finally got not one but two shipments of hymo canvas after buying the wrong thing at G street fabrics (where I bought the pink wool and cream velveteen). Then I was very sick for a while and the weather didn't get cold until December. It hung half finished on our office/sewing room door until last month. It's been a struggle with my pregnancy sickness to finish, but it's done.
The coat fits Macy nicely and I think she'll be able to wear it next year as well. It was still difficult to sew due to the fact the wool was so thick. I like it okay, but not great. I need to fix the stationary buttons on the front since they are a bit lower than they should be.
Will it win a ribbon next year? Hopefully, although it seems too simple to win the "big" one. I was hoping to embellish the collar and cuffs with some bullion roses, but it was just not going to get finished if I waited to do that. The construction is fine. The buttonholes are as bad as the red coat but that's my machine's fault and I'll just suffer through until I can remedy that problem! Will I make another one? Well I'm not planning on it, especially when you can get Rothschild coats for $45.00 at Costco at the beginning of the season. The materials for this coat easily cost twice that. I also bought too much material thinking I was going to make another version of the Vogue pattern. I do think I might attempt to make a matching coat for Macy's American Girl Doll. We'll see.
Ellie is getting too tall for the red coat and wants me to make her a new coat now or definitely for next year. I'm too tired to think about that right now. Maybe I'll feel up to it after the baby is born. Then again, maybe not.
