Hello lovelies,
My next project that I am actively working on is a piece for the Renaissance Festival. I live in MD, and the Renaissance Festival here is a big deal every summer/fall. I have been going since I was little - I still have two flower crowns I got from the Fest about 10-15 years ago - and I've always wanted to make a costume piece for it. Since I've been advancing on my sewing skills, I figured now was the time to try.
I chose a pattern I bought during a McCalls sale to make the coat:
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| McCall's 6819 - OUAT Inspired |
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| She so cute. |
I watched the first few seasons of the show, but lost interest. The costumes, however, are AMAZING, and I adore them. I fell in love with this particular costume the first time I saw it on screen, so I bought the pattern. I love the lines and the cut of the coat, plus the skirt is perfect for a feminine yet very practical costume, especially for walking around a Renn Festival.
The pattern has two options for a coat. View A is a sleeveless vest with front tabs and constructed all from the same fabric, and View B is a sleeved coat with peplum bottom and contrasting skirt. I'm combining elements of both coats: I'm using most of View A, but adding peplum pieces, and using a contrast fabric for the skirt.
The pattern calls for ~6yds for the whole coat, but I didn't have enough fabric to make the whole coat out of one fabric, so I'm making the top and bottom portions of the coat with two different blue fabrics. I'm going to make the coat portion out of a blue-gray cotton jacquard I got on clearance at Joann's. It's a beautiful medium weight woven jacquard, and when the pattern catches the light sometimes it almost has a purple-gray color to it.
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| ~3yds for $8 - hell yes |
The skirt will be made out of a set of old darker blue cotton curtains my mom gave me, since she was otherwise going to get rid of them. It's about 80"L x 63"W for both panels, which equals almost 4.5yds. The pattern calls for about 4yds of fabric for the skirt. Free fabric is the best.The
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| The blue is darker than it looks in the photo. |
The lining of the coat will be an off-white linen I received as a gift from a friend. The skirt will probably also be lined with the dark blue cotton. The interfacing will probably be cotton buckram, which I have plenty of, and I like the stiffness of buckram without having to fuse interfacing to the fabric. The goal is to make a pretty coat that is also functional and comfortable, hence why I am using cotton and/or linen fabrics.
I'm still on the fence about making the Corset A as well, but I also found a free Corset Belt pattern from CorsetTraining.net that I am interested in putting together. If you haven't checked out this website, the author has some cool patterns, and the Corset Belt pattern is free and relatively easy. It's also reversible!
I have the Sizes 14-22 of McCalls 6819, bought when I was little...healthier, so to speak. I knew I would have to resize this pattern, since I always have to resize commercial patterns for me. Problem is, I have also lost over 30lbs since April 2017, and I plan to lose more, so I need to make a coat that can technically be resized again in the future. Luckily I have experience in resizing.
I took the pattern and traced it on newsprint, using the size 14 for the jacket, the peplum pieces and also the Corset A pattern pieces. There are 4 main pattern pieces for both coats A and B, with a fitted bodice and curved seams over the bust areas. There are also 4 pieces for the peplum, 4 pieces for corset A, and 2 pieces for the skirt. I then traced and cut out the pattern on white muslin in my stash and pinned it all together.
The result? It was HUGE.
The length of the jacket was great, almost perfect for my torso. The width, however, was ridiculously large. I had at least 6-7 inches of overlap. And according to the pattern sizes on the envelope, with my measurements I should be cutting a size 20-22. Um, what?!
So I started adjusting the mock-up. I took in the front seams by 1in on both front and side front pieces, for a total of 4 inches. Right below the collar opening of the jacket, I took it in only .75in on each side, to smooth out the bunching in the front and back.
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| Resizing areas marked in blue (1in) |
I also took in the center back seam by 1 inch on both sides, so 2 inches total. The side back seams I took in by 1/2in each on each side back piece.
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| Resizing areas marked in blue (1in) and green (.5in) |
This resulted in an actually fitted jacket, and it was rather flattering as well.
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| Mock-up after adjustments. It's much more comfortable now. |
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| Might need to add a boob dart here...(Please excuse the bathroom backdrop lol) |
There's still a little bit of bunching in the back and on the sides, but it's still much more comfortable than the original fitting.
The next post will be the actual cutting and piecing of the final product.
