janestarz | Mayor's costume, nearly done

Yesterday I posted here about this costume again. The exterior and lining had both been assembled. Next up...

First off, I add the shoulder pads to the coat, using a simple stitch by hand. (I love my new camera...macro + flash still gives a good result!)

Then after the shoulder pads are in, it's time to hem both items.

The lining drapes a lot differently than the exterior layer, so I've chosen to do the hems seperately. The rayon-linen blend (the brown exterior) drapes and stretches better than the blue fake poly-taffeta lining. This could seriously affect how the coat hangs from Jeroen's shoulders, so just to be on the safe side, I hem each side seperately before I sew the two together.

The exterior gets a 4 cm hem. The interior gets a 4 cm hem too, but I fold it over an extra time to create a big rolled hem. This will make sure that the lining will never show unless he falls over, because basically it's 4 cm shorter. This will not affect the drape of the garment.

I haven't a clue whether this is the official way to do it, but "it seemed a good idea at the time". I've used it on coats and cloaks alike with positive results.

Pinning time! The layers are stacked on the mannequin so I can pin on sort-of my own height. I pin around the collar and down both front openings. Because the coat is on the mannequin, it drapes naturally.
Then I sew the two together.

After sewing, the layers don't want to stay put. You can see just how well the seams buckle!
This will take some pressing!
Then I topstitch what I just sewed. I don't go over the hems - these will just hang loose seperately, making sure no funny business happens with the drape.

After hemming the sleeves, it's time to test the buttonholes! My Pfaff has been the bane of my buttonholes for years, but lucky for me and Jeroen both, it's just been serviced and the buttonholes look pretty good! I opt for a rounded coat buttonhole and test them on a scrap piece. My 2cm buttons fit well!

(Please excuse the fabric piling out of the cupboard in the background!)

It's 11-something am and time for tea. Meanwhile, I use basting thread to mark my buttonholes on the left breast of the coat. Then it's sewing time. I've never had such an easy time with my buttonholes before. God bless that sewing machine technician!!!

After the buttonholes are made, I transfer the markings to the right breast of the coat to see where the buttons go, and sew these down while watching an episode of Desperate Housewives. I got to keep myself multi-tasked, after all.

The coat is then again placed onto the mannequin for the finishing touch. The styrofoam is excellent to stick pins into, and I figure out a placement for the metal parts Jeroen has bought for his coat. By spacing them every five centimeters, they're well balanced and resemble a Mayor's chain, despite not being it.

Here's a sneak peek of how the coat looked before I started sewing those damned casings on. They've got four eyes each, and there's still 10 to go...You can just see the lighter markings on the front of the coat where the casings will be.

Nearly there! Just a lot of handsewing to do. My shoulder is in agony from the first few casings, but that could be the entire day of sewing talking.

Next time I hope to bring pictures of the finished piece on my beautiful model Jeroen! We've got the event this weekend, and I'll be sure to bring my camera just so I can snap a few pictures.