So I decided to grab my vintage fox fur collar, which was removed from a mink stole that belonged to my grandmother, and add it to one of my favorite coats for instant chic and glamour.

Baby, it's cold outside!  Finally we have coat weather!  If you don't live in the south or climate that hardly gets all four seasons, you probably don't understand my glee.  I'm seriously excited that the temperature finally matches the naked trees!

houndstooth tights!

I've been loving houndstooth, especially the large scale this season since I laid eyes on the Salvatore Ferragamo Fall 2011 Collection I'd previously blogged about.  Finding houndstooth fabric in anything other than quilting cotton has been uneventful for me.  So I'll just relish in the fact that my coat was already in my collection!

Underneath the coat I wore my pleated faux leather skirt.  

Description: MISSES’ LINED COATS: Fitted across bust coats have empire waist, princess seams with pleated lower section, side seam pockets and sleeve variations; coats are above mid-knee length.

I cut a size 14 in the bodice and did my normal princess seam FBA. I cut a size 16 in the lower portion. I probably could have cut the 14 in that too.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? Yes, it did.

Were the instructions easy to follow? When I did refer to the instructions, they were fine. I mostly referred to my sewing and tailoring books for the construction and did things a little differently than the pattern instructions suggested.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? From the moment I saw this pattern, I fell in love with the lady-like, retro style, the dramatic collar and the swingy-ness.

Fabric Used: I used a black and ivory houndstooth, that's 70% wool and 30% polyester. This houndstooth print was a bit unusual and that's what I liked about it. If you notice this close up, you'll see that it has a digitized appearance. The weaving is square instead of the typical diagnal weaving which makes it look almost pixelated.

Pattern Alterations or any design changes you made: Instead of using the buttonhole loop, I decided to omit buttonholes altogether. I went with two 1 1/8" buttons on the front and snaps on the inside.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

Conclusion: I really enjoyed making this coat. I feel this project really helped my hone in on my tailoring skills.

The lining is in! I used Bemberg (100% acetate). It feels great, it was very easy to sew and it took a lot of heat from my gravity feed iron. When I was doing my research on coats, this is the fabric that I saw most often in RTW coats. I used the bagged lining technique and the sleeve lining was set by hand, using slipstitches. The lining hem can be done two ways: (1) free-hanging or (2) slipstitching the edge of the lining to the coat hem. I chose option 2.

Here is the notched lapels:
The upper collar:

Whenever two or more layers of fabric are held together in a curved position, the upper layer must be slightly larger than the under layer to allow for curve, or the turn of cloth. The drafting of this pattern was perfect and did not need to be adjusted. Also, as you see, the under collar is drafted in two pieces and cut on the bias. Why on the bias? Because it controls the roll of the upper collar. Why two pieces? So that the grain will be the same in both collar points.

Here is one of my favorite details that drew me to this coat... the sleeve:

As you see, the back of the lining has a center back pleat. This ensures that there is enough ease across the shoulders and allows for differences in the garment layers. I also added a hang chain.

Next, I assembled the bodice, both front and back. Made the pleats, made the inseam pockets and attached the lower portion and set the sleeves.

I added the sleeve heads (they prevent the sleeve cap of a set-in sleeve from collapsing) and the shoulder pads (used to shape the shoulder area).

My fabric is a very lightweight boucle, so I stabilized it with a nylon fusible knit. Here is a close up of the fabric. I've taped and pad stitched the lapels and pad stitched the undercollar. Tany has an excellent tutorial posted on her site. Also, if you are a visual person as I am, here is a great video I found on Youtube that shows you how to do it. They call pad stitching "feather stitching" on there at around 10:20.

Rihanna last week in Paris wearing a coat by Azzedine Alaïa.

What kind of tailoring do you think is going on inside those lapels and collar? That coat is fabulous!