You, Miss, are a Sartorial Genius!

So, more about that frock coat.


The sleeves weren't such a major problem after all. Got those working right quick, got the whole thing sewed, but it still didn't fit.
Added a bust dart.
Nope.
Added a dart down the side, under the arm.
Not a sausage.
Ripped out dart, ripped half of the sleeve off, restitched dart on a slightly different angle, re-sewed sleeve, ripped sleeve again (slightly higher up), took in a shoulder seam, restitched sleeve, tried the thing on.
Presto!
It fits! ...If only half of it. Luckily for me I don't have to worry about the lack of symmetry: the two sides of the coat are mirror images of each other, so I only need one that fits.


Marked seam lines with black sharpie in case I changed the seam allowances anywhere (meaning sleeves), tried it on one more time to make sure it fits, ripped all the seams on the right (fitted) side, sorted out all other pattern pieces (pocket flaps, cuffs, collar), made sure they were all cut and fit the new sizing, and prepared to dive into my wonderful polyester faux-shantung.


Random tangent: Silk shantung. Once I've got quite a bit of cash to spare, and a reliable coat pattern, I'd love to make something brilliant and wonderful with heaps and heaps of shantung. The texture is just gorgeous, it's usually iridescent with little knubs of thread along it. It looks kind of homespun but very elegant, with a decidedly eastern, Indian-esque flair.

 

(That's what my fabric wants to be when it grows up.)

That's enough gleeing over shantung.
I've cut the lining, interlining, and outer material, and sewn most of the coat together. I've put off doing the next step for the last week though, because I really don't want to hand-stitch the pocket flaps on. I instead finished the cuffs and collar, and found a very pretty embroidery-like border stitch on my ancient New Home sewing machine. Cuffs, collar, and pocket flaps now feature an elegant greenish-blue scalloped border.

Cuffs, collar, and pocket flaps. Note the fact that I actually ironed them all, and then used fancy topstitching to keep the seams flat.

The lining isn't really that purple, the flash on my camera just makes the iridescence of the fabric amazingly apparent. It's slightly more pinkish in reality, what some would call "spiceberry," and the green shows up in a much sneakier way.

All in all, the coat is coming together quite well, if slowly. This is my first major sewn endeavor (I don't count the hat since that didn't involve much stitching), and I'm quite proud of the way it's turning out. I'll be honest here and say that talking about this coat is a boost to my fragile, artistic self-esteem. If the project continues this well, I may yet deserve the title of Sartorial Genius (to use the latter term rather loosely).