A Coat For Ireland

7:54 PM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

My cousin in Ireland when she was 14

I am heading back to Ireland (and visiting Scotland for the first time!) for a family wedding and I want to make my dress.

How I met my oldest and dearest friend.

I have been away for a while for very good reasons. I have managed to get myself a job! Well, it wasn't all me. My oldest and closest friend in the world is a dresser for the SF Opera. That means she stands backstage of the opera and when the actors go on, she makes sure the right clothes are on right. Then when the actors come off she does the quick changes which means she tears off the old costume and pops on the new one in time to send them back on stage. She also does on the spot mending and fitting, fixing and repairing of costumes. She and I have been best friends since we met in daycare when we were 6 years old. I still remember that day. She sat down next to me and started eating her Chef Boyardee's Spaghetti-O's out of a Wonder Woman thermos. I recall being impressed by her thermos because I was a big Lynda Carter fan. We struck up a conversation and have not shut up since. We are very close and always have been. Funny thing is we consider ourselves twins despite looking completely different, physically. We were born less than 24 hours apart.

Beauty and the Beast on the Mountain Play. I made a good portion of the costumes shown here.

So this friend is also a costume builder and costume designer for Bay Area shows. She was invited to be the Costume Designer at the local community college. She wanted to do it but was unable to provide the time for the mandatory mid-week costume building class. Having taught at both a State University and community college in the past she asked if I could step in as her assistant. This was two plays ago and I have been asked to come back for the following year at least to teach the students about sewing and general costume building. Exciting right? Funny how life takes you in directions you didn't know you would go.

Some of the costumes I made for Government Inspector

Turns out I freaking LOVE sewing and theater and costumes! And I am not to terrible at it. I was able to work on The Mountain Play which is put on on Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County in an outdoor amphitheater. These performances have been put on every summer for over the past 100 years. It is considered quite prestigious. I worked on Beauty and the Beast last summer and have been invited to work on Mamma Mia this year. Beauty and the Beast won local awards and I am immensely proud to have worked on it. I have also built costumes for the very well received Government Inspector and Dickens' David Copperfield which, despite the so-so reviews on a whole, has incredible costumes. Next up is Romeo and Juliet! The latter three are all at the College of Marin.

A vest in the making for David Copperfield that I am particularly fond of.

So it's safe to say that I have gotten the sewing bug. This year both my female cousins are getting married. The first wedding is going to be in Ireland, just outside of Dublin and it is in a month....April! I know that most of Europe is having a record-breaking cold snap but what I don't know is what the weather will be like in a month. So I have been stressing over what to bring on this trip. I need something that can go to the wedding but it also needs to be packable (not bulky), lightweight (to fit with the luggage weight guidelines of the airline), versitile (to be used on the rest of the trip) and warm (if it is cold, rainy, blustery or sunny I need to be prepared!).

Currently, in Ireland

Where can I find such an item of clothing?? Nowhere I can afford I am sure. So I have decided to make it. I settled on a frock coat design. This way I can wear the coat essentially as the dress. I will make it light to medium weight so it can be used as both a dress and a coat on this trip.

I will talk more about the actual trip in a travel post but the plan is to fly into Dublin, Ireland. I will be with my parents and my brother for this trip as the BF has to stay home with the dog. Also, the BF isn't all that interested in spending a ton of money to be in the cold and possibly wet weather ducking into pubs, having a pint and some mashed potatoes (because he is a vegetarian the food is always limited for him). We will spend two days in Dublin then drive 45 minutes away to an estate where we will meet up with the rest of the family. The estate is both our lodgings and where the wedding will take place. After a couple days of rehearsal dinner, wedding and recovery we will head back up to the Dublin airport and take off for Edinburgh, Scotland. My parents and my brother have traveled to Scotland a couple times recently and just adore it so this is my chance to be shown around for a little bit. We will spend just under a week in Scotland and then head home so I can begin working on Mamma Mia!

Back to the frock coat. I love the look of a good frock coat, also called a coat dress. Princess Kate wears them quite often. I want a whooshy swing skirt and a fitted waist. Those are my main requirements.

Here is one of many frock-coats Princess Kate wears. I want mine to be much longer but otherwise similar.

The first pattern I found was Vogue 8875. I thought it would be a marvelous idea because it was both a dress and an overcoat that matches. I figured I could make both and wear the dress for the wedding and any fancy occasions I might encounter like high tea. I thought I could wear the matching coat to keep warm at the wedding or with other outfits I might bring on the trip. I went to my trusty pattern review site and looked at what other people had made using this pattern. I was not impressed in the final product so I decided to scrap this pattern.

A darling pattern, but not for this trip.

Next I found Simplicty 1732 which is a more theatrical looking pattern but I figured I would tone the fur and cuffs down. I did like what I saw on the pattern review website but started wondering if I would have to make too many adjustments to get what I wanted. I only have the time to make one coat so if I don't like what I end up with, I have to scramble for another outfit to wear to this wedding.

Take away the furry cuffs and collar and you have a pretty coat

I searched and searched and finally came up with McCall's 7478. This is pretty much everything I am looking for. I even love the giant pockets on the front which will give the look of an even fuller hip which is what I am looking for. I bought the pattern at the local Joann Fabrics.

The pattern I chose

That is where I am up to now. I found a wonderful posting on reddit from a woman who has made this pattern. She gives a step by step display of how she made the coat. I am going to use her guidelines to make mine. She did some extra steps beyond what the pattern suggests to ensure a very tailored look. Where she shortened the jacket, I am going to lengthen and I also plan on using a much lighter fabric. I am going to the fabric store tomorrow to choose the fabric and the lining. I have in my mind a medium houndstooth with a blood red lining.

Today I hope to head into my sewing shop and muck out a muslin copy of the coat to get a feel for the size. McCall's has a sizing chart on the pattern but it is not like other sizings women are used to today. I am normally a size 10 or 12 (because of my height it varies) when I shop for clothing. According to McCall's sizing chart I am a size 16. This makes me nervous so I hope to use the muslin to get a bearing as to what size to use and what adjustments I will need to make. That will in turn tell me how much fabric I need to buy.