Rainy Day Bridge

SWAP 13 , the bridging garment - a reversible raincoat.

This is what finishing an inside seam on a two piece sleeve looks like. 

I started to mess about with a fancy stitch along the edges of the reversible coat as a finishing technique and it looked pretty good, but after all that forcing through the machine for a clean seam finish the raw edge started to fray a little and it became messy and untidy.

I was lucky enough to have a 3" strip of the black jersey along one selvedge of the fabric without the twill attached, so I cut this off and being jersey it was malleable enough to stretch around curves and points. No need to bias it. This also does not fray but my straight stitching and stitch-in-the-ditch techniques are abysmal so I choose a feather stitch on the machine that was wide enough to catch all the edges in one pass.

Not perfect, but adequate and does finish the coat to a higher standard. Thanks to all of you who suggested the bias strip - it worked! The trim goes all the way around the entire coat; lapels, sleeves and hem. I think I just about made it and fretted that I would run out of the black jersey to complete the job. The gods were smiling on me that day and I had a measly 7" left over.

As for the collar - I attached it as usual on one side - making the assumption that this is the 'right' side. 

On the other side, I slipstitched the seam allowance under to hide the raw edges. Let's hope it holds. the collar is the only bit of this coat that has two layers. I didn't add interfacing as it sits well enough on its own. The twill is fairly stiff and required the use of a jeans needle in the machine to get through it.

All the seams are flat felled and nearly even!

Although I added an extra 20" to the pattern to get a full length coat, it was actually too long. I was aiming for about knee length. So I had to whack off another 4-5".

With the cut off hem I made a black belt for the days when I wear the coat inside out.

I also added a single button closure at the front for the times when I want the coat closed but not belted. My machine was not in good form for making buttonholes and the whole area was frayed and smashed beyond repair. I added a patch to cover the mess and I suppose it's better this way as it reinforces the buttonhole. From the button box came two different buttons to match either side. They are sewn back to back so some days I'll button to the left and other days I'll button to the right. 

And just in case  you thought I am wonder woman to get all this sewing done I'd like to point out that I'm off work on half-term and though I should be marking and prepping, I didn't think a little dedicated sewing time would hurt anyone. Now however, I'll be sitting up 'til 2am on Sunday morning to get ready for Monday!