Ze coat, she is feeneesht! (Almost)

That's right. This coat, which I've been working on for months than I'd like to count, is nearly finished! All the machine-sewing is finished, unless I decide to sew the buttonholes with the machine. All the major handsewing bits are done as well, the linings all turned under and the raw edges neatly hidden. What's left now is to sew the buttons on, probably add more embellishments in my wonderfully shiny silk shantung, and then grab up the courage to actually wear the coat some time.

Also, I've decided to try my hand at haberdashery and shoe re-covering. What internet blog-surfing can inspire me to do never ceases to amaze me.

For the hat, I plan to make a modernized tricorne suitable for daily wear from mid-fall to early spring. It'll be done in black felt, and I'll probably make a few clip-on cockades to attach or leave off depending on the occasion.

The shoes will be done in a light cream fabric, possibly silk, but most likely whatever inexpensive remnant I can find that would suit a shoe. I was chatting with my voice teacher this past week and mentioned that I plan to rework some shoes, and she said that it would be a wonderful idea for me to make myself a pair of character shoes. Plain, this pair will look 1700s, but I'll make some clips and bows and buckles to add if I'm acting the part of another period (or a higher class). Just when I thought I couldn't love opera any more, I find that it's a legitimate excuse to pursue costuming on the side. Meraviglioso!

Here's some hat progress -- exciting, right?

The shoes are a bit more satisfying to look at, at this point. There's one original shoe, on the left, and the shoe I've been deconstructing, scattered around the rest of the frame.

 

I'd rather do the hat first because I love the idea of not having to sew anything for a while, but it would be wonderful to have the shoes finished in time for this weekend's concert. Vedremo.

Oh, and yesterday my Italian genetics suddenly reared their tricolore heads, and I cooked my first real, fancy-style planning-ahead meal for myself. Sliced and fried (on the stove, in olive oil) eggplant with freshly cooked semi-saucelike grape tomatoes (sliced and cooked in olive oil with a bit of garlic powder) that were hot enough to partially melt the smoked mozzarella sitting between the sauce and the eggplant. To excuse this deviation from my normal crafty pursuits, yes, I took pictures.

Fabric!

Real silk shantung. Yum.

So, the frock coat ended up too tight across the back and too short from collar to shoulder seam. What's a girl to do but add shiny epaulets, then? I wanted to use the same material I used for the rest of the coat outer fabric in a complimentary color, but Mood only sells it by the yard, no fractions. That would normally work fine, but this particular fabric is 110" wide and $25 a yard. It worked perfectly for the rest of the coat (3 yards was easily enough to make a coat for a slender, 5'1" woman), but I couldn't justify spending another $25 to get the 20" square of fabric I needed -- though I know I'd use the rest of the fabric eventually, I don't have $25 to toss out right now. Well, not for this.

The helpful salesbloke at Mood told me that, although this poly-shantung only goes by the yard, they have real shantung (at $14/yd) upstairs that they'll sell by the half-yard, and they might have something in a similar color to the poly I was asking about. I trot myself upstairs, and what do I find?

Genuine silk shantung, $14 a yard, and it's an iridescent weave of the exact blue I was looking for, and a green that's unbelievably close to the color of the coat outer material when the light hits it. There's the common thread (literally, oh aren't I a witty one?) I've been looking for, this will tie together the epaulets and lining, I was worried that whatever blue I used would make the lining look more random than I intended it to.

It turns out there's only 3/4 yd. on the roll, so another wonderful salesbloke gives it to me for $7. I love that store!

And speaking of Mood love, I found  two great fabrics in their overflowing upholstery remnants bin downstairs.

I plan to use this one to make a messenger bag capable of holding numerous scores and also allowing me to run without having to clutch its strap, which is an annoying problem I have with my current stock of shoulder bags and tote bags. The fabric is a thick, almost-velvety upholstery jacquard that would look perfect covering a chair, settee, or other luxurious seating apparatus. I'll sketch some bag designs and probably post them here eventually. I want the satchel to look good hanging across my frock coat, as well as at a steampunk convention or going to see an opera, and I already have some ideas in my head. Hardware, but not too much, and some modern angles without making the fabric look inconsistent with the style. I'm looking forward to this project so much!

Then we have the "Rustic Toile" (so it calls itself on the selvages). (Aren't I a fancy fabric, knowing my own name?) It's a sturdy cotton, with blue 18th-century-esque vignettes on a white background.

I'm going to make this into a sort of catch-all for my important items that have to move from bag to bag as often as my whim dictates. It'll be replacing my current catch-all, a little grey backpack that I think was meant to be a camera case. It functions, but it has a lot of unnecessary padding (to protect a camera) and hardware (zippers, lobster clips, handle, etc.), and the pockets could be arranged more efficiently to save space in my bags. As with the jacquard, I have some ideas of what I want it to do and how I want it to look, and once I've got something going I'll upload a few more pictures. I might also use the toile to line the jacquard bag, if I have enough left over.

I leave you with some pretty toile vignettes to contemplate: