The Coat Project: friend or faux?

The latest on the Seventies coat saga:  After digging around in the Garment District yesterday, I have decided to go ahead and make my coat, and -- tentatively -- to make it in faux fur.

There is so much faux fur to be had, readers, but I found the widest selection on 39th Street at what used to be H&M and is now called It's a Material World (!).  Parenthetically, they say they're under new management but it sure looks like the same old lousy management to me, as well as same staff, same stock, etc.  This is one of those stores that's always a mess and stinks of cheap incense.  I counted more than a dozen sticks burning there yesterday and I could hardly breathe.  The fur is upstairs (it's a two-level storefront space) and the incense smells even stronger there.  That said, they have dozens of bolts of faux fur, some of it absolutely wild and wacky and totally fun.

What I hate about this place is that the prices seem random.  Is the faux fur really $20 a yard, or might it be $15 if I made a fuss, or spoke to a different salesperson, or had big breasts?  I don't like to bargain in fabric stores, do you? 

I also saw some faux fur at Chic Fabrics and a few other places on 39th St. (even Kashi at Metro sent me to 39th St. -- he hates stocking the stuff since it takes up so much space), but nothing can compare to the quantity at It's a Material Word, so I guess that's where I'll make my purchase.

If I do the whole coat in fur (and not just the front facings and collar), three yards should do it.  I have some fabulous instructions about working with faux fur from an online class at Pattern Review that Kenneth King led a few years ago.  I have all the recommended supplies, including cold tape (this was one of the mystery notions I quizzed you on last summer; nobody guessed it right), electric razor, wig brush, and afro pick.

King recommends using a pattern with a self facing in front, rather than a separate facing.  You want to eliminate as many seams as you can and keep it simple.  My coat pattern (I'm leaning toward the classic McCall's 2979 from 1971) has separate facings and a notched collar.  I spent some time yesterday looking at photos of faux fur coats for sale on Etsy.  Most have notched collars, the best looking ones anyway.  I think (hope) I can handle it.

I love this one with the pelts running horizontal beneath the waistline.  A faux fur Seventies coat can't be too busy and ideally mixes a few different furs and has a fake leather belt at the very least. 



Here are a few more gems in the tacky/fabulous category.   The faker, the better!









Other than these notched collar coats that look like something straight out of Superfly, the other popular style is similar to my Miss Vogue Pattern (8144).



OK, so this coat is listed as unisex and the guy is hot, but is this not a man in a woman's coat in your opinion?  (For sale on Etsy here.)



I also love this version -- I think it's by Jordache or Sassoon, or one of those classic Seventies/early Eighties brands one associates with what were originally called French (and later designer) jeans.







More Seventies-era faux fur coat pics here.

Now I just need to get my energy up.  Michael and I are actually invited to a Valentine's Day theater-related party next Tuesday, so if I could get this done by then, that would be great.  I'm a little nervous about this faux fur thing, I won't lie to you.  I've worked with thick polyfleece but this is a different ballgame.

Anybody worked in faux fur before?   Did you have to vacuum constantly?  Did you wear a disposable face mask?  What were the results like?  I'd love to know!

Have a great day, everybody!

PS -- Our cabaret show, Noah's Very Unusual Insight got reviewed!  (Read it here.)

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Random Thoughts about Seventies Coats

So here's the deal: Cathy will model the Seventies pantsuit, Simplicity 7295, but she isn't willing to freeze her a** off in the cold.

Which got me thinking...

Who doesn't love a Seventies coat?  I happen to have a few Seventies coat patterns in my stash (surprised?) -- one that's strictly for faux fur and another that could have faux fur trim.

I love Miss Vogue 8144, but I'm not sure I'm ready to tackle fur.  How do you think it would look with the pantsuit?  I would have to make the longer of the two versions to cover the jacket/top.  It may be too casual.



The other -- and perhaps better -- vintage pattern option is McCall's 2979, which dates from 1971 but I think it could pass for 1975 (the date of the pantsuit pattern), unless there was a style trend I missed.   I love the long purple version with the buckle, and I could make it even longer, or add fur cuffs or fur border at the hem.



Of course, the easiest option is two buy 2-3 yards of faux fur and turn it into something cape- or poncho-like, like Version B of this Very Easy Vogue 7641 from 2002.



WWLD?  (What would Liza do?)

To be honest, I'm not sure I'm up for making a coat, unless I find some really wild fabric -- paisley velveteen! -- at the right price (cheap).  I may go hunting later today, we'll see.

Of course, easiest of all would be to buy a vintage coat at a thrift store.  Tomorrow, Wednesday, is "Family Day" at my local Salvation Army, meaning most clothes are 50%.  I'm not sure how often these coats show up these days, though.  I also looked on eBay and found this in oh, so beige.

Yea or Nay?

This coat will take 10,000 years to decompose.

Given that MPB is a sewing blog, however, I feeling like I should make whatever I need with my own two mitts.  Shoes I can buy, outerwear I should make.

I was also thinking about maybe whipping up one of these stretch headbands, like the green one with the buckle on the lower left.



Friends, did you ever own a Seventies maxi coat?  Did it have faux fur trim?  Ultrasuede details?

I think it's time to channel my inner Mary and Rhoda.  (I'm gonna make it after all...  Is that my answer?)

Happy Tuesday, everybody!

PS - Kimberly sent me a photo of my her Pfaff 30 in its new home!  Doesn't it look happy?

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Vogue Pattern Winner + Recent Acquisitions!

First, friends, we have our winner of V2787, the glamorous 1948 Vogue repro pattern!

She's a lover of savory vegetable pot pie made with barley and red lentils who uses butter in her pastry, put your hands together for SONDRA!



Sondra, please shoot me an email (peterlappinnyc at gmail dot com) and I'll get your pattern off to you ASAP.  Congratulations!

Meanwhile, readers, you may be wondering what else has been going on in my life.  I've been a little distracted preparing for our upcoming show this Friday and Saturday, so I haven't been doing any sewing to speak of, and yes, I know it's been nearly a month now.  One must recharge one's batteries, though, and I think I may need a complete new set.

So far this year I have been very good about shopping on eBay, or rather not shopping on eBay.  In fact, only last night I decided that of all the things I need right now, a Dritz needle board is not one of them.  Even second hand those things are expensive!

I did buy a DVD the other day, however.  I've been anxious to see O'Mast, the documentary about Neapolitan tailors and tailoring, for nearly a year now.  Have you seen this short clip from the film?  It looks marvelous. 


O'MAST from Kid Dandy on Vimeo.

Anyway, there have been a few screenings in NYC, but I've missed them all, so I decided to treat myself to my own copy.  It should arrive shortly and I'll let you know what it's like.

You may also be wondering about my new Claire Shaeffer Couture Sewing Techniques Workshop DVD.  I received it last week and will have more to say about it in a future post.  In brief: I loved it and who knew there were so many kinds of hand sewing needles?

Readers, do you remember this sparkly fabric I bought last summer?



I finally found the pattern for it, which I picked up for just a few dollars on Etsy the other day.  It's very Diane Von Furstenberg meets Halston with a twist of Liza, don't you think?  (I'll be making the pants version.)



Of course, I could have cobbled this look together using patterns I already own, but since I'm giving away a pattern today, I figured I could make room for one more.  Does that make sense?

Finally, I bought a book (I know, I know...), Lynda Mayard's The Dressmaker's Handbook of Couture Sewing Techniques.



I am hoping this will be a sort of intermediate-level book for those who want to do more hand sewing, but aren't entirely ready to give up their serger.  It's spiral bound, so that's exciting.  We'll see what it's like...

Readers, that's it!

Are you familiar with the Maynard book?  How would you compare it to Claire Shaeffer?  I'll have more to say about why I'm buying all these couture books...as soon as I figure it out myself. 

Anybody out there thread tracing their seam lines?

Happy Wednesday, everybody!

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MPB Second Annual "Leopard for the Holidays!"

Friends, do you remember the leopard print pants I made at precisely this time last year?  Oh, if I had a dollar for every time some stranger emailed me asking if I would make them a pair of these pants, I'd have enough to buy a large coffee from Starbucks with muffin!

Well, I was fabric shopping/wandering aimlessly in the Garment District yesterday, and at my new favorite craptastic fabric store, Nahir (renown for its grumpy owner, lousy service, and unpredictable prices), I found this stretch denim leopard print -- in a vivid cherry overdye -- for just $2.99/yd (from a 60" bolt)!



Now you might be wondering why, with all the wonderful fabric stores at my disposal, I should frequent a place like Nahir.  Friends, I can't explain it; I like a challenge, I guess. What's the fun of going to a place like B&J and finding exactly what you're looking for?  You'd never be looking for cherry stretch denim leopard print in the first place, so you'd never find it.  Do you know what I mean?



Wait -- could this be cheetah? 

For me, fabric this loud and (let's face it) tacky has strong associations, none of which I will share with you.  But if you told me it was a remnant from the Material Girl line at Macy's or something that fell off the Forever 21 delivery truck, I wouldn't be at all surprised.

That said, it's fun, and the price was right.  So today I'm deciding what to do with it.  I'm leaning toward jeans, but I don't know...maybe it calls for something wilder, like a hooded jumpsuit!

In any case, as you can see, this is the week of the mindless sewing project.  Nothing of substance till 2012 -- though you never know when inspiration will strike.

Speaking of inspiration, I bit the bullet and bought this Simplicity dance hall girl pattern.  It has some cool elements I think will be useful down the line, even if I never do an homage to Angela Lansbury in The Harvey Girls.
. 

Friends, that's all for today.   If you have strong feelings pro or con about a man in leopard print stretch jeans, please let me know.  I think, paired with a simple white dress shirt, it could work.  Or no shirt at all.

Happy Tuesday, everybody!

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Broken Sewing Promises or "Don't Remind Me"

Friends, particularly at this time of year, when nobody wants to be judged naughty instead of nice, one wants to keep one's promises.  But sometimes, no matter how well-intentioned, one's plans hit a snag.

If I told you it was highly unlikely I was going to complete a men's suit jacket before the end of the year -- or even start one -- would you be terribly disappointed?  It's not that I don't want to make a suit jacket -- I do -- I just don't feel motivated to start right now.  Can that be OK?

Sometimes I get very excited about ideas for projects and share these with you, getting your hopes up, no doubt, and then they don't pan out.  I get sidetracked, or the idea, which seemed so right at the time, loses its appeal.  I hope you'll indulge me if I list a few here.  I do this not for you so much as for me -- a sort of end-of-year inventory of projects sidelined -- perhaps forever, perhaps not.

I know earlier this year I'd talked about making a dress like the one Ginger Rogers wore in the "Pick Yourself Up" number in Swing Time, always a favorite of mine.  I even bought a pattern I thought might be suitable.







It didn't happen.  If truth be told, the pattern didn't seem quite right, and I wasn't sure I knew how to adapt it or cared to try.  Maybe some day.

I so wanted to make a Liza-inspired, Halston-esque jump suit and I still may.  I bought this wonderful sparkly fabric which I think would be perfect.  I just never got around to it.





Remember this Fifties Vogue pattern that was going to be "Cathy's Comeback Dress"?  Well, Cathy did come back (from prison, it's a long story) but not in this pattern.  I even made a muslin of the bodice.  If I learned anything, it's that dirndl skirts use a lot of fabric and aren't flattering on everybody.





Moving right along, remember when I said I was going to remake my ironing board cover, using a vintage wool blanket?  Well, I am using the blanket on the ironing board, but I've never actually made the cover -- I just threw the blanket on the board and stretched the commercial cover over it, with the blanket ends hanging out over the edges.  It looks dreadful, especially behind lovely Patti Playpal.  Maybe that's something I can get accomplished before the end of the year.







Friends, there have been other near-promises made and not kept (mermaid gowns anybody?) but I do think it's important to go where one's energy is and be able to change one's mind.  Making a worsted wool men's suit jacket without the necessary energy and enthusiasm is a recipe for disaster, don't you think?

In closing, do you generally do the things you set out to do?  If you don't, are you able to shift gears without feeling too bad about it?

What are your sewing plans for the last two weeks of 2011?  Are you giving yourself a break -- it is the holidays, after all -- or hunkering down even more?  Is there any big project you wanted to accomplish in 2011 that's been pushed back (or is it forward?) to 2012 -- or beyond?

Finally, if I told you I never did ditch my Mickey Mouse phone....

To forgive is divine!

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Am I ready? or Revisiting the Men's Suit Project

Readers, as 2011 draws to a close, I find myself wanting to choose one last big project to finish off the year with a bang.  I have four weeks.

Longtime readers will know that I've tackled suit jackets before.  I made this green/gray thing my first year of sewing.  This polyester blazer wasn't nearly as nice as it looks in this photo and I never wore it out of the house.  I'm pretty sure I've since dumped it.



I also made this eye-catching blazer.  Alas, I never lined it and never wore it out of the house either.  I do wear the matching pants, however.



Last year, I tried my hand at a corduroy jacket.  I went overboard purchasing tailoring books, however, ended up intimidated, and never finished it.  I'm not excited about it anymore.



In all the above cases, I used vintage Seventies jacket and suit patterns.  For some reason, at that time there was an explosion of men's tailored garment patterns, heavens knows why.  I've never seen a suit pattern from, say, the Forties, with the occasional blazer pattern turning up in the late Fifties.  Then all of a sudden, suits and blazers everywhere!  I own many such patterns.







Anyway, I'm considering taking the plunge once again.  This time, however, I'm going to limit myself to just one book, Simplicity's Sewing for Men and Boys.



Is it the definitive tailoring book?  Probably not, but it's straight forward and it's good enough for my current level of sewing.  If I complete the project and I'm ready for something more complex, I can move on to something like this.



I was looking at suiting fabric yesterday, and then I remembered I already have two different blue wool suitings in my stash, one a gift from my friend Melody, who owns Fashionista Fabrics, and another something I found in the trash (!), albeit in a clean plastic storage box full of sewing and knitting supplies.  (This happened before I started blogging.)

The trash suiting is Italian cashmere, and I have more than three yards.  The dog hair was my contribution.



Melody's gift is lighter weight pinstripe, and I have more than four yards.



So the question now is, am I up for this?  The pink blanket topper coat built my confidence somewhat, and I think I'd be more inclined to sew Michael a suit down the line (for which I already have the fabric) if I'd already made one for myself.  Plus, let's face it, knowing it's for me will give me a little more motivation.

So that's the story.  I'd likely start with pants, just to get acquainted with working with the wool.  If those turn out well, I'll be more excited about doing the jacket.

How do you feel about tackling tailoring projects, friends?  Do you generally avoid these kind of things or are you willing to deal with notched collars, pad stitching, and sleeve heads?

Wish me luck -- or talk me out of it!

Have a great day, everybody!

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