Safari -- The odds and ends post

This is sort of a catch-all post.  The outside of the coat is essentially finished, as is the lining.  Time to put the two halves together.  

There is hardly any interfacing in this jacket if one follows the directions.  Basically there are only  2" wide strips down the center front bands.  Not much structure to be had there.  So I'm borrowing a page from one of my old standbys --  The Bishop Method of Clothing Construction by Edna Bishop.  A hair canvas interfacing is cut using the front facing pattern piece.  It's cut 1/4" wider than the pattern and is then freehand cut to flair out to the shoulder width.  This creates an interfaced panel over the upper chest.  A muslin interfacing is cut for the back that continues the curve.  Once it's all assembled at the shoulders the interfacing is basted to the wrong side of the lining.  

This is a step I almost forgot!  The epaulettes are basted across the shoulder seams.

Now is also a good time to add a hanger loop.  It takes only a few minutes to make one and baste it into position on the inside of the lining.  I skipped this step on my frock coat and have regretted it ever since.  

The collar is pinned and then basted into position.  All of the edges have been staystitched and I clipped both the neck edge and the collar about every inch.  This makes the collar much easier to attach.  

The lining with its attached interfacing is then flipped to the outside of the jacket so that the collar is sandwiched in the middle.  

Then I baste the hell out of everything as usual.  There are 6 layers to sew through here.  9 when I stitch over the epaulettes. 

Even with all that basting I still ended up with a little catch!  Grrrrrr!

The collar is trimmed out of the seam VERY CAREFULLY.  This is no time for a slip up!

I also trimmed away the interfacing.

While I still have access to the inside of the coat I added a sleeve head.  It's a 1.5" wide strip of bias cut wool sewn over the cap of the sleeve.  I experimented with both a single and double layer.  The single layer worked best.  The edge of the wool is aligned with the sleeve seam allowance and handstitched very close to the seam.  The goal is to "fill out" and improve the "fall" of the sleeve.  The result isn't stellar, but I keep telling myself that it's better than nothing.  

From here on out it's mostly hemming and handsewing the lining, which I actually enjoy.