Saturday, December 4, 2010

BWOF Coat 09-2009-146

I've been a bit quiet around here recently because I just lost my grandma. We were very close when I was growing up since she only lived a few miles from my parents house on a huge farm, and my sister and I would go over there all day every day when I was growing up. I learned how to drive out in the apple orchard, went swimming, and played baseball out in the back field. And talked and talked to my grandma since she was a pretty cool lady. Here we are on the front steps a few years ago:

with my grandma


In happier news, Ana was very jealous of her sister's new wool coat and asked me if I couldn't make her one. My dad is taking all of us to see The Nutcracker ballet in two weeks so I promised her a new coat to wear to it. I picked BWOF 09-2009-149 because of the beautiful flare shape:

bwof 09-2009-146

The fabric is a stretch black wool flannel from Fabric.com which I seem to recall being from the Vera Wang Lavender collection. I interfaced with a light non-woven interfacing from Pacific Trims that was labeled as a shirt interfacing. To control the stretch and give it a bit of structure, I blockfused the pieces, which is very easy to do using BWOF patterns. I always trace the pattern and then add the seam allowances with a rotary cutter arm which means that it's easy to cut the interfacing without adding seam allowances and fuse them to the fabric without getting super bulky seams.

interfaced coat

So here we are so far- it needs trim and buttonholes.

bwof 09-2009-146

black wool coat for ana

The coat is lined in a tan ambiance lining which of course, as always, drove me NUTS. It slides, it wiggles, it refuses to sit properly to be cut, even doing a flat insertion of sleeves makes you pull your hair out, and it's all around a huge pain. ARGH! ;) The buttons are little silver ones from JoAnns, and I want to add some pink trim to it so that it's not quite so severe looking.

But there we go, a mostly finished coat for my teensy niece.

Up next - a coat for my sister in a really pretty pink wool. I ordered some fusible hair canvas from Fabric.com to interface this one, which could be interesting. (Yes, can you tell that coats are my favorite thing to sew these days?? (; )

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love it!!

Faye Lewis said...

So very sorry about your loss! I can remember when one of my Grands passed - I was 7 but it left a big, big hole in my life. I use to pretend that I could talk to her, and when ever I asked her to watch over me or help me she would. Cherish all of your memories with her.

Another wonderful Auntie coat. Your nieces will never forget you!

Elaray said...

Very sorry for your loss. That's a wonderful picture of you and your Grandmother!

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

I'm sorry for your loss. I hope your memories of your wonderful grandmother give you comfort when you are missing her most!

Uta said...

I'm so sorry about your Grandma. It's wonderful that you treasure so many happy memories. The coat is gorgeous; you're unstoppable!

BetsyV said...

My deepest symapthies on the loss of your grandmother. What a great photo of you two, though!

Looking forward to "seeing" Ana in her new coat

Patricia said...

So soory for your loss. That photo is a great one. YOu both are so happy.
The coat is cute. Please post photos with the trim!

Lisette M said...

I'm very sorry about your loss. You were very lucky to have such a great relationship.

Your coats are looking wonderful!