Dearest Sewing Lovers!
This is my beloved first sweatercoat I made - a few years ago - inspired by Katwise O'Sullivan's brilliant pieces. It was a beautiful experiment in semi-following-a-pattern. I adore the way the skirt danced when I spun around, and it was suuuper-cosy in winter. BUT I worked on it a lot since I made it: somehow, the top half never quite sat right, and I really wanted to improve on it; I added multiple different aspects, but nervously, and without having a really clear idea of what I was doing... And so this time, with a great deal more confidence accumulated during my Mastery Of Sewing training, I set about 'for once and for all' to make it magical!!
the original coat, beginning its deconstruction!
In fact, my new clothing line is called Making Clothes Magical Again / McMA clothing - kind of a play on the Scottish name structure of Mac or Mc, and an abbreviated version of what is quite a long name. So this coat in particular is actually a big, bright symbol of that vision for my new needlework career (instead of painting Art.): it is something that even though I made it myself and loved it when it was finished, I felt strongly enough about to want to renovate it.
deconstructing the old collar, which was waaaaaayyyyy too bulky, I abandoned the coat for my midwinter trip to Scotland :-(
it was SUCH a lot of work doing all the upper coat reinforcement, before: but more satisfying this week, working on the new bodice form!
This kind of flexibility is important in my life, as I live in Gift and need to be able to act spontaneously and fluidly, organically and intuitively, to take advantage of how the Cosmos works! It is similar with how I work on clothes; being able to simply move naturally, as the inspiration moves through me, and the co-creative forces are channelled into whatever I am making. To get into this kind of divine flow takes a lot of letting go and surrender; of ego, of impatience and tension, of need to control the outcome: most of Living In Gift is all about release - the ultimate natural medicine for consumerism and striving!!
fastforward to the alternative, new bodice - elasticated and ready to attach to the old skirt...
I spent a lot of this week working on the coat: I had to take apart the whole torso, and separate it fully from the skirt part - which I had put off doing for a long time, as it seemed too difficult a task! Do you have projects sitting to the side like that?? If I were in a structured programme to learn about tailoring or fashion, I might not have the same issue, as we'd be working methodically through specific skills and methodologies. But I am patient, and am able to tune into the right moment, when the urge wells up and the right action is lined up with a garment's needs!
The cutting of the waistband (discarding the old top-half!) was super-nerve-wracking! Everything else was relatively gentle; unpicking big stitches, mostly: taking out the long zips, which never really suited the style of the coat; deciding eventually to let go completely of the old top-half, and picking up a better weight of old woolen jumper (sweater)...
This was a joy to work with! A glorious shade and heaviness of blue-purple: not one but two gorgeous tops: one extremely felted, and one less so. The very-felted one was tiny, and the larger one just-a-bit-too-wee: I amalgamated the two, cutting long strips up the sleeves of the small one and across its chest, then making them into sleeves-widening bits - then adding two squares to make up the space left at each shoulder: this allowed me to then turn up the waist of the bigger jumper, and thus make it more winter-worthy. The big turnup got sewn around to provide a slot for a big thick green elastic strip to sit in, then I added some giant hooks-and-eyes to fix the waist more neatly into the overlap/ wrap.
The sleeves from the old, smaller jumper had a wee curve where the neck used to be, and I was going to chop this off so as to make a cuff instead, but kind of loved this idea to make it a feature, instead: I took some old white scarf material (partially felted) and added them to both the wee crescent, and then also as a neatening end-strip - which was then elasticated, twice! First attempt was too tight and it made the cuff really stiff, so I invested in new instead of reclaimed elastic, and was able to provide a longer strip for this gorgeous circling wrist of the new coat.
Joy!!
the elasticated creamy-white border to the front closure of the coat
This is the kind of creative form that I adore working with: I love how it came out naturally - and how I then got inspiration/ feeling to do something similar with the quite long bodice that I now had. I added some thinner elastic to this - I may change this in the future, as a heavier elastic might work better - and it helps to lift up the waist and runkle the front nicely for the bust to fit into it more comfortably.
And the attaching of the new bodice to the old skirt: ooooofffaaaaah! VERY intense, VERY thrilling, VERY hard work with a giant needle!!
My previous attempt at the coat had a more elaborate collar: I had been working intensively on it before my epic bus trip to Scotland, when it got too overworked! Collars and front edgings are hard on coats, for me! But this time, I let it stay as a non-collared coat, and much prefer it, because in winter I really like to wear scarves, and often the scarves are a bit clumsy on top of coats with their breast flaps and collars and suchlike. Now I can sit even a giant double-scarf on top of this 'sweatercoat', and it will not get all lumpy. Yey!
What do you think? Do you like the giant puffy sleeves? Does it sit neatly enough? I am going to wear it up to the shop just now, as I go to get some breakfast goodies from the two sisters' shop.... It is a cold very damp morning after a dramatic lightning storm last night; prefect moment for cosying into this new-old-handmade-refashioned, magical-again coat! I am proud of powering through several very challenging points this week: it is always hard to keep going when I am learning so many new things, but soo very satisfying when it comes together at the end!!
Love to you all in your handwork today dear friends!
www.claregaiasophia.com
