A Most Impractical Coat

The plan in early spring was to get on with summer sewing, or at least "transitional" sewing, so that I wouldn't be stuck in the usual rut of nothing to wear and no time to sew once the really warm weather started.  I had absolutely no plans for coat sewing.  Then....  While dusting books, I came across one about fashions of the Hapsburg Empire.  Had to have a look at the pictures.  (Doesn't everyone start looking at pictures while dusting books?  One drawback - it certainly does add to the amount of time necessary to get through dusting the bookcase and contents.)  Anyway - there was a white uniform coat  from some Hungarian regiment that caught my eye, which got me thinking, and by end of day I decided that I had to have a white coat.  A white spring coat.  And wouldn't you know it I had a rather large amount of creamy white wool sitting in the stash.  Never mind that that fabric was to be a winter robe for keeping warm and cozy while watching movies on winter evenings.  Right.  With the dog sitting on top of me.  And how long would that robe stay white and clean?  No, much better that the wool become a coat.  A white coat for spring that will get worn at most a few times a year, and that way will stay clean and white for a good long time.  So for the better part of April I was sewing a coat.  Didn't get pictures the one time I actually wore the coat, so the picture taking happened when I finally moved the wool coats down to their summer hiding place, which happened very late this year.

I started with Vogue 7807 (OOP), widened the skirt at every panel, changed the collar, took it from double breasted to centre closure - basically redesigned the whole thing, but at least I started from a pattern that fit me well.  For the facings I used grey velvet, which ends up giving the effect of some piping at the edges.  Endless grey topstitching, because otherwise the whole thing would be way too boring.  And to avoid the buttonhole issue altogether - slot buttonholes!  Grey velvet buttons.  And did you notice my glaring mistake??  The pockets landed too low.  I really didn't want pockets in the side seams.  At some point Rhonda posted inspiration pictures and there was the perfect idea.  How my flaps ended up so low, I have no idea - I probably just eyeballed the placement.  (well, at least they're not crooked!)  I'll fix them.  I promise.  Before I wear the coat the next time.

Couldn't leave the back plain and boring, so I made a tab.

Used the fancy stitches on my machine to tack down the back lining pleat.  The lining is grey, by the way.
I thought that I had so much more to write about this coat, but...  It's late.  I'm tired.  When will I learn ... when I sit down to the computer to write a blog post, that is what I should do first, before I start checking out what everyone else has been doing.  Otherwise - I spend way too much time visiting everywhere else, and by the time I get to writing my own - my brain is ready to call it quits for the night.  Oh well.  Next time I will finally move to summer wear.  Promise.