It’s the final day of the Octave Coat Sew Along. It’s a very exciting day! Today is the day we assemble our lining and attach it to our coat. The Octave Coat is completely lined enclosing all the seams. This gives you a professional clean finish that will make everybody say “You MADE that?!”
Assemble your lining
Remember to use the lining pieces and to use the lining cut line on the bottom of the hood/shawl collar piece. When you attach the collar/hood, the hems of the coat body and collar will line up, unlike the hem of the collar and main coat. Also, you want to remember to stop stitching at the T marking when attaching the collar. It will look like the photo below. Don’t worry, those flappy ends will get secured in a few steps.
Lining your Octave Coat
Are you ready for some magic?! Watching a lined coat come together is always like a magic trick to me. Whenever I complete it, I stand back at amazement of what I’ve done. It’s nothing short of sewing magic in my mind.
The instructions for lining the coat begin on page 11. When sewing along the bottom of the collar, you want to make sure you don’t sew the lining of the body. Pull it away and just sew the collar main and collar lining together. Your stitch line will resemble the pink lines below.
Clip the seam allowance of all of the curve edges. (I like to use pinking sheers for this!) You also need to clip into the seam allowance where the curve of the lapel matches the straight edge of the center front.
Understitching
Understitching may be a new technique to you if you learned to sew mostly on knit fabrics. When we understitch, we are stitching the seam allowance into place against the lining of our piece. It’s similar to topstitching, except we don’t into the top layer of our garment when we understitch. This technique keeps our seam in place while still providing a very clean finish. If you prefer the look of topstitching, you can certainly do that instead! It’s your Octave Coat! Make it your own!
Because the collar/hood/front has both the lining side and main side exposed on the top, we need to understitch in sections along the opening of our Octave Coats. Be sure to follow the diagram labeled with a 2 on page 11 when understitching! See the red stitch line on my garment? That is my understitching. It’s visible on what is technically the main said of the shaw collar, and what is the lining side of the straight center front of the coat. When the coat is worn, the understitching won’t be visible.
Do you love video tutorials?
We have a video explaining how to sew your Octave Coat lining on the Love Notions YouTube Channel
Hemming the sleeves
After understitching, it’s time to sew the bottom hem of the Octave Coat. Arrange the lining and main fabrics so that the raw edge lines up and stitch together. After you sew the hem together, hem the sleeves. There is a video link on page 12 if you need help with this step! You can also find it on our YouTube Channel.
Put your Octave Coat on and wear it with pride
We did it! Now be sure to take a picture of your new Octave Coat (either on a hanger or modeled) and enter our give away post! For every Octave Coat you made with me this week, you can enter a chance to win a give away! One lucky sewist will win a $50 gift certificate to Love Notions Patterns (good on digital patterns only) and a $50/£40 gift certificate to our sponsor Minerva Crafts!
Let’s sew with friends!
If you love sewing with friends, be sure to join our Facebook Event! There, you will be able to share your progress as you sew your Octave Coat, see what fabrics others are using, and even ask questions and encourage others! We we also be having a give away in our Facebook Group for those sewing the Octave Coat with me! One random winner will receive a $50 gift certificate to the Love Notions pattern shop (only valid on pdf patterns) and a $50 (£40) gift certificate to Minerva Crafts. You must sew a complete Octave Coat during the Sew Along to qualify.
Adding a zipper
Did you love the zip up Octave shared on our Instagram?
I’m going to walk you through how to do it! These instructions are for a lined coat. The length of your zipper is going to match the length of the straight section of the coat’s front. Measure the collar/hood piece from the bottom to the marking. I get 15″ for this measurement for a large after I subtract the 1/2″ seam allowance from the bottom. This is the zipper length you need. If you are using a lighter weight fabric like suiting, you may want to place a piece of interfacing the main fabric along the area the zipper will be on both sides.
Before sewing the main collar and body together, place you zipper right sides together along the front edge of the BODY of the coat on one side and baste into place. The top of your zipper should be at the marking on the center front. The bottom of the zipper will be at the T marking near the hem.
On the opposite side, you are going to place your zipper right sides together on the center edge of the collar piece and baste in place. Place the top of the zipper at the marking on the center of the collar/hood piece. The bottom of the zipper will be 1/2″ from the hem. If you want a bit more wiggle room, place the bottom 5/8″ from the bottom.
That’s it! Continue with construction as the pattern states and sew the collar/hood in place. Your zipper will be sandwiched between the two collar pieces when you are sewing the main and lining collars together and will be sandwiched between the collar and main body when you attach the collar/hood to the body.
Did you miss our Facebook Live Video?
You can still watch it on our YouTube Channel!
Octave Sew Along Schedule
Monday: Fabrics, adjustments, cutting
Tuesday: Body assembly and pockets
Wednesday: Sewing sleeves
Thursday: Shawl/hood, hemming the unlined version
Friday: Lining assembly and finishing BONUS: How to add a zipper
