Here is the entire coat blog in one go. I was going to blog as I went, but with numerous distractions I did not manage to get around to doing this. So here is the entire story :)

Collar is complete. Because of the nature of this fabric I can not fuse it efficiently without crushing it. To interface it I have to padstitch horsehair canvas the old-fashioned style. It is time consuming, but produces a very nice result. Cut undercollar canvas on bias to allow it to curve. Do not forget to pre-shrink the interfacing though!

I have joined side backs/fronts and centre backs/fronts. Curved seams are carefully steamed open, clipped to accommodate curves and catch stitched to the main body. This way the seam allowances have no chance to bunch up later on.

I have pad stitched horsehair canvas to the fronts, and added shoulder reinforcement. The reinforcement is made out 2 layers of sew-in Vilene joined together with parallel lines of stitching. Armcyes and front edges are reinforced with twill tape ( pre-shrink and steamed to follow the shape of the curve ). also on this photo you can see I have completed the bound buttonhole and catch-stitched its edges to horsehair. This way the edges will never show to the right side of the garment.

The hems are also interfaced with horsehair canvas cut on bias to allow it to follow the curve of the hem.

Here you can see that back has been reinforced with calico. Front facings are also interfaced with calico because fusible just will not stay on. I tried, but it just bubbles up and comes off. I have added a chain, although I never hang my coats like this, it will ruin them.

Here the main parts are joined. The collars were adjusted to allow for turn of the cloth, hidden closure is complete. Sleeves have been set in. Lining is ready

I had to re-work the lining pattern, because the Burda pattern suggests you do some hand stitching in lower fronts and around the vent. I don’t like it done this way, because it really makes the garment look home-made. I know that couture garments are sewn entirely by hand, but I have never seen one up close, so I can not compare couture and RTW. My goal for this project is to make it look as RTW as possible and keep all the hand stitching on the inside.

And here is the coat almost complete

The hidden closure

And the back

And it is done! My next project is trousers for my husband, not so labour intensive, but I am looking forward to it anyway :)