Lazy summer days and too much ETSY

I fear my blog is seriously derailed.  I'm supposed to be working myself through the remaining 2 designs in the Japanese coat book (a pea coat and a trench), but I found myself totally sucked into ETSY the other day.  Here are the damages! 

This pattern was a ridiculous $3, and the size Medium is already cut out.  It's from 1978.  I really need to find some nice white shirting for this one.  I'm sure it will be quite voluminous, so I'll need to make a muslin and figure out how to pare it down.  I'll break out my My Fair Lady vinyl and pretend that I'm Henry Higgins.  

Of course the pipe totally sucked me into this one!   I really needed a pajama pattern and this was one of the more unique ones that I found.  I'm intrigued by the collar / placket in version A.  But, truth be told, I probably won't ever make it because I prefer to sleep in a t-shirt.  I'll definitely make the bottoms and a coordinating robe in flannel for the winter.   Hey, what about the trench coat?

Oh boy, this was billed as a Member's Only jacket.  That sure grabbed my attention.  Actually, as you can see, it's by J G Hook and dates from 1985.  I'm not sure if  J G Hook still exists.  My assumption is that they've been eclipsed / swallowed up by the likes of Polo and Hilfiger.  I guess I'm old enough that this kind of fashion is very appealing to me.  I'm just not 100% sold on the epaulettes. 

I have about 5 yards of this wool glen plaid.  I used this as the contrasting collar on last year's purple fall coat.  I think it will be perfect for this jacket.   The next time I'm in NYC I'll be shopping for 15 buttons and a yummy lining for this.  Hey, what happened to the pea coat? 

Lastly, is this faux Hudson Bay blanket from LL Bean.  I'm toying with the idea of adapting the bathrobe pattern from my last project into an overcoat.  I picture it fastened closed with a couple of huge bone toggles through big bound buttonholes.  OMG I'm so off track here.  Maybe I need a new title for my blog.  

The finished seersucker robe

Here I am lounging on my porch in my new summer bathrobe.  Yay!  This version features the plain shawl collar.  I shortened the length by 3" which allowed me to cut the robe out of 4 yards.  It was a pretty tight fit with hardly any scrap left over.  I did manage to match the stripes on the patch pockets.  

I think this shot shows the fabric's texture well.  The color also coordinates very nicely with my porch furniture.  

Of course the look isn't complete without the pipe!  Needless to say I'm totally in love with my new summer robes.  This pattern was a joy to work with, right down to the font that was used on the pattern tissue.  There was even a separate pattern piece for the front interfacing, how quaint.   The robe also features a two piece sleeve, which is unheard of on any bathrobe that could be purchased today.  In fact, with just a little tweaking this could easily be a winter coat.  Hmmm.  Maybe there's another project brewing.  

Before there was "one size fits most" -- The 1958 Men's Robe

I've been in need of a new summer bathrobe for years.  The one I have is disgusting.  A gray and tan seersucker (how depressing), hopelessly stained from a self tanning experiment gone terribly wrong.  I found this great vintage pattern on Etsy.  McCall's #4816 circa 1958 in size 38-40.  I was totally sucked in by both the notched collar detail on the blue version and the pipe!  

I was lucky to be in NYC in early June and dropped by what has become my "go to store" in the garment district, H&M Fabrics on W. 35th St.  They had bolt after bolt of cotton / lycra seersucker for a ridiculous $2 / yd.  I picked up both a  lavender and white stripe, and an aqua and multi color stripe.  Throw in a spool of thread and you have a new bathrobe for about $10.   

I won't go into a lot of the construction details.  Coming off the tailored "wedding jacket" this was a refreshingly simple project.  The curved patch pockets were pressed into shape using a template cut from an empty Cheez-its box.  

This pattern pre-dates fusible interfacings and calls for cambric.  I have absolutely no idea what cambric is, so I interfaced the collar and facings with white cotton from a Goodwill king sized sheet.  I've learned that thrift store sheets are an inexpensive source for muslins.  My king sized sheet was only $2.99.  It was perfect for interfacing a summer robe.  

The notched collar was marked out with chalk on the interfaced collar.  

 And here it is stitched.  The notch is then slashed up to the point before turning the collar.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the finished lavender robe.  You'll have to trust me that the notched collar came out great.  The pattern calls for all the seams to be flat felled.  I did the felled seams at the shoulders but serged the rest of the seams.  I sewed the bottom hem by machine and hand stitched the facings in place.  Then it was on to the aqua robe.  

The finished coat and lobster rolls

Hard to believe, but the wedding has come and gone.  I finished the coat with plenty of time to spare.  Thanks to my daughter for helping with the photo shoot.  The location is the lovely Juniper Hill Inn in Ogunquit, Maine.   

I truly enjoyed wearing this jacket.  All the other men at the wedding were wearing dark somber suits, so I'm sure I really stuck out.  Usually that would bother me because I'm not the most self confident man.   But I felt truly happy and joyous wearing this jacket, and shouldn't the clothes that we make for ourselves do just that?   I love the color (which my camera never quite captured correctly), and I'd like to think that I added a little upbeat flair to the event.  

I've put Roberto Cabrera back on the bookshelf, and the jacket is hanging in the closet.  Like all of my sewing projects this has been deeply rewarding.  I loved working with real tailoring materials; the various types of canvas, twill tape, pocketing, sleeve heads.  Even my new tailor's chalk was a pleasure.   My work space, which is very tiny, is all cleaned up waiting for the next project.  Until then, enjoy the lobster rolls!    

Setting the sleeves

Before setting the sleeves a 3/4" strip of pocketing is pressed into a curve and then basted into the armscye to prevent stretching. 

 

I then gathered the top of the sleeve between the notches with a long machine basting stitch.  Mr Cabrera doesn't do this.  Instead he bastes the sleeve into the armscye stating "Do not be discouraged if it takes two or three attempts to baste the sleeve in so that it hangs without rippling at the cap when viewed from the outside."  Sorry, but I just don't have the time or the patience to do this over and over.  With the cap of the sleeve gathered I basted the sleeve in place with 1/4" stitches. I then "re-basted" between the stitches.  Cabrera suggests using a 1/2" seam which I agree makes things much easier.  There's just less fabric to contend with. 

 

After machine stitching the sleeves, all the layers (shoulder pad, lining, pocketing, sleeve and jacket) are basted together into the seam allowance.  The final step is to sew a sleeve head into the seam allowance.  Its job is to fill out the cap of the sleeve and to create a graceful fall of the fabric at the top of the sleeve.  

I'm really on the home stretch here.  All that remains is finishing the lining, buttonholes and buttons.  

Lining the sleeves

The patterns for the sleeve lining are easily made by tracing.  Extra fabric is added at the vent and at the sleeve head.  My tailors chalk from B Black and Sons makes this very easy to do.  Knowing how much I hate working with lining material, the quicker and easier this job can be done the better. 

 

The seams are machine stitched (Yay!), and then secured to the jacket seams with a diagonal stitch.  This will hold the lining in place while the jacket is put on and taken off.   

At the vent, the lining is slashed, folded, pressed and basted into position.  The edges are finished with a prick stitch.  This was all very satisfying work, and I love the deliciously luxurious feel of putting my arm in the sleeve.   Now it's actually time to attach the sleeves to the jacket.  

Making the sleeves

Since my last post, the better part of a day was spent sewing the lining into the jacket body.  There will be some detail shots later, but the process isn't really worth belaboring.  I'm just glad it's done.  

The next step is sewing and setting the sleeves.  At this point Mr. Cabrera has one draft sleeves that will fit the wearer to a T.  I just don't feel that I have the skills or the time to wade through all this.  Plus, I'm fitting myself, so I can't stand in front of a mirror and pin a muslin sleeve onto myself.  To err on the side of caution, however, I removed one of my muslin sleeves to check that it would fit the armscye.  It did, so I'm moving forward.  

My pattern does not have vented sleeves, so I'm adding them by taping on a 1.25" by 6.5" extension to both the upper and under sleeve patterns.  I also thought my muslin sleeves were a little long.  I prefer to have some shirt cuff showing.  So I shortened them by 3/4".  This was easily done by just sewing a tuck into the Swedish tracing paper.  I just love the stuff! 

The sleeve cuffs are reinforced with a strip of bias cut pocketing material.  It's basted into place and then secured to the seam allowances to keep it from shifting around in the finished sleeve.  The extensions are then folded, mitered and pressed into their final configuration.  The sleeve is then machine stitched to 1/4" below the vent extensions.  Cabrera warns against clipping the seam at the overlap.  The seam is just pressed open which will create a diagonal fold.  In my next post the sleeves will be lined.