Vogue 1069 - Issey Miyake Embroidered Wool Coat

As Self Stitched September was waning, I was beginning to get a hankering to make a coat... or three. When I ordered this embroidered wool fabric from Fabric Mart months ago (it's no longer available), I was surprised when it arrived. It was quite thin, kinda rough, but very drapey. I can't remember what I originally had in mind for it (and maybe I had nothing in mind at all), but I was perplexed when it arrived - it reminded me of a thin army blanket that had been embroidered. I put it away.

Later, I cut a square and threw it in a load of laundry to see what would happen. It felted up, so was less thin, but much of the embroidery unraveled and I really didn't like the result, which was now thick(er) and still rough.

Some time later I was at a friend's house and she had this Vogue pattern laying out. I had never really paid attention to this Miyake pattern before – it looks so... conventional. ;) But I started really studying it and it had some features that I liked: the shawl collar, a shoulder princess seam that curves to the side seam, the slight fullness at the hem, and a sleeve gusset.

Actually, when you open up the pattern, it is more interesting than it first appears. The seams are all sewn as lapped seams. The sleeve and the curved piece at the side are both cut together - and that pattern piece is where the gusset is attached. The front band and shawl collar are a single pattern piece. You cut out two of these, sew in a tuck and a large dart to create shaping, seam them together as center back, and then attach to the coat backwards. The lining is then attached and the collar is brought around to the front and partially attached. The rest is left unsewn, so it flaps open when you move and the wrong side of the fabric can show.

Materials:

• Navy wool with embroidered rayon squiggles from FabricMart. (They no longer have it on their website.)
  
• Slate blue poly charmeuse from Fabrix for the lining.
  
• Leftover black, diagonal poly used to line my McCalls 5525 trench coat - used for the pockets.
  
• Two size 10 (3/4") black Dritz sew-in snaps.
  

I cut out View A (the shorter version) in the largest size (20) and made some modifications before the constructing the muslin:

• A princess seam FBA on the side front. (I didn't modify the side piece that is attached to the sleeve.)
  
• Shortened the sleeve by 4".
  

Modifications and alterations after the muslin:

• The sleeve is a bit narrow at the bicep. I widened it 1" at the top of the sleeve, tapering it to nothing at the elbow. (This widened the sleeve a total of 2" at the bicep.) I had to move the gusset slit – I traced off the original gusset slit and then moved it to the new location and copied it.
  

  

  

• After making the muslin, I tweaked the FBA further.
  
• I drafted a pocket in the princess seam.
  

  

  The pocket pattern that I drafted, next to a pocket sewn into the coat.

• The pattern calls for lapped seams that are zigzagged. I didn't want to use this construction because of the rayon embroidery, which tends to ravel where it's cut. I used conventional right-side-to-right-side seaming. This required thinking ahead, especially for the collar.
  
• I managed to lose the gusset pattern piece, so I drafted a new one.
  
• The pattern calls for hidden buttons/buttonholes and I was planning to do that. But when the time came, I decided to use snaps instead. The biggest snaps I had on hand were size 10s (3/4"), but I would have used bigger ones if I'd had them on hand.
  
• Where the embroidery looks like it might unravel, I applied Fray Block.
  
• After the outer coat was constructed, I took it in a bit at the side seams. I always do this final tweak at the end of construction.
  

Worn open

Trying to show how the front flap opens to reveal the wrong side of the fabric - but the camera went off a bit too soon. :)

Flashing the lining. Silky soft to wear, nasty to sew. I didn't mention it in the text, but I also did a bit of gathering at the bust to fit around the cure. This was accomplished in the wool shell as easing, but you can see the slight gathering in the lining, particularly on the left side.

Pocket closeup

Used 3/4" snaps instead of buttons

Reverse front flap is left partially unsewn.

Conclusion

This is a fun unstructured coat. I'm not sure how flattering the wide hem is, but I will see how I like it over time. It really needs pockets,so I would recommend adding those. And the bicep is narrow, so I recommend making a muslin first. Because the way the coat is constructed, the shawl collar is formed at the very end. I find that it's a bit "messy", as shawl collars go. It doesn't lay as well as one might like. I'm not sure if this is a result of the FBA or not. It's ok, and I like how full it is, but it's a bit fussy.

Sewing Workshop - Teagarden T

Oooh, I love this t-shirt! This design, based on a classic Issey Miyake design, is wonderful and I am soooo glad that Sewing Workshop has made the pattern available. It consists of two pattern pieces, not counting the neck interfacing pattern piece: the front/back/sleeve/collar (all in one), and the underarm gusset. Now, this gusset can be problematic for some folks, particularly those who bear no resemblance to the Venus of Willendorf (in which case, see the next paragraph). But for us busty folk, the gusset is vunderbar!!! It adds fullness just where you need it and the fullness doesn't overwhelm you anywhere else.

In my case, I cut out a Large, based on my high bust measurement, and removed the curvature at the waist – nice straight lines for me, thank you very much. (It's like sewing for a guy, in that regard.) That's it, that is the only change I made. I first sewed the top up in a very nasty nylon knit (which I've found is excellent for scrubbing dirty floors and counters), and it fit perfectly!

If you don't need the huge gusset and don't desire the "design line" of fabric drooping under your armpits, you might want to use the gusset reducing instructions posted by Linda.

Because this is a Miyake design, there are certain resemblances to origami in its construction. This means that the pattern pieces have many places you must mark. These marks have labels: A, B, C, and so on, up through K. Some people use colored tailor tacks to keep them all straight. That is brilliant, but I am much too lazy to use ELEVEN different colors of thread for my tailor tacks. What I did was use little round sticky labels and put them next to each tailor tack, on the underside of the fabric. So I made 6 labels for F, and two labels for A, for example. If they threatened to fall off, I just pinned those labels on. :)



I do recommend making a muslin, just to get it straight what you are doing. The first time (on the muslin) I blindly followed the instructions, and then I understood the basic idea so the second one was much easier. I still needed those labels, though. I have to remember not to get cocky and leave off those labels, which is exactly the kind of thing I would do. ;)

I need ten or twenty of these tops, all in black. (I apologize, in advance, for those who see me on a regular basis and will have to endure the many tops I plan to make from this pattern.) Oh, because I did cut this out at night and the light over my dining table is poor, I cut it on the crossgrain. The knit is a four-way, but it's much stretchier in the other direction. No matter, it's just fine. :)





Note to self. Buy a few boxes of sticky labels at the office supply store.