It’s been a busy, busy weekend. What with Boden sample sale shopping, thesis-writing, coat making and this “sporty-bowl” thing, it’s flown by.

But the good news is, the coat is starting to look like a bona fide, real world, coat!

I completed all the seaming on the fashion fabric, using my all-new gravity feed iron. I tried to follow proper pressing etiquette, with lots of steam, a clapper, and leaving everything to cool before moving it. It’s a trial of patience, for sure! I did however manage to intermittently tidy up my sewing room, so there’s that.

The back, with an additional centre back seam put in to do a swayback adjustment:

Observe, if you please, some seam matching:

And here’s the guts in case you non-sewists have ever wondered what’s inside a coat…

I put chest shields on the front, which aim to stop the hollow that can appear between the shoulder and fullest bit of the bust (AKA the boob hollow):

I made a back stay which will hopefully help the coat keep its shape and not stretch out

Finally, here’s the inside of my bound buttonhole! I used Did You Make That’s bound buttonhole ebook which was great! One of my buttonholes is a little.. squiffy (not totally horizontal). But I don’t think that’ll be noticeable once it’s finished.

Exciting coat times! Next up: setting in the sleeves, then sewing up the lining, creating the collar and inserting it, and then bagging the lining. Phew! Let’s hope I manage to do it before the summer. Any last minute tips, dear readers?