McCalls 2233 - chef's coat

Ooooohhhhh!!!!! Get that done so I can come steal it. LOL!!!!! That sounds marvelous.

Depends on how long your neck is. ;) Whatever is comfy on you will work just fine. Have you done some shirts with a stand for the collar? Might use that as a starting point.

Sharon

I also like Folkwear #133, and like the others, the height of the collar, in my opinion, would be entirely up to the person wearing the coat. Emily

Oopsie, I remembered you had done some sort of asian martial arts gear, but not exactly what. Never mind, carry on.....

;-)

Beverly

It's very confusing, I know, but Period Patterns and Period Impressions are entirely different companies. (Past Patterns is also a different companty). It's important to keep them separated.

Period Patterns was one of the first companies to provide patterns for Medieval/Renaissance era clothing. Their patterns are not for the faint of heart. (I usually ignore the instructions, and often wind up redrafting the pattern as I'm using it.)

PI does 1700s through fin-de-seicle (very early 1900s). Their patterns are much better.

Past Patterns has two separate lines of patterns. There are the reproduction patterns, which have been drafted recently and have (more) detailed instructions. They also have a set called "Brown Paper Patterns" (iirc) which are copies of extant patterns from the

All the shirts I've done have stands. I don't like those hawaiian shirts or whatever they are. I tried to do a mandarin style collar once, but all I did was take the "wings" off. It was a normal size stand, and it doesn't look right.

Oh, I get it now. I had done a google search on "Period Impressions", and got that page back. I didn't read it finely enough to see the difference in the company names.

Sorry for the confusion.

Some of you may remember these comments from the blue soldier jackets I made for a wedding project a couple of years back. The jackets were made using a Period Patterns jacket pattern.

"I have to admit to being ++unimpressed by the last Period Patterns paper pattern I used, that for the fall front breeches used for the Town Crier outfit, and I'm sorry to see this is little better. The pattern itself will, if the other is anything to go by, fit together reasonably well, but there are important things here to be noted by the maker:

These patterns have HALF INCH seam allowances, not the usual 5/8" ones used by the main commercial pattern companies, nor the 1/4" ones found on some independent companies like Kwik Sew. Seam lines are not marked on the patterns, though there is a note on the major ones.

There are NO grain lines on any pattern piece! This is extremely unhelpful to the less experienced sewer, and those unfamiliar with the cut of historical garments, who may have no idea how to orient these pieces...

Nor is there a cutting diagram to help!

Yardage requirements are buried in the pattern instructions.

There are three sizes in the pattern envelope: 7-8-10. Nowhere in the instructions or on the pattern or envelope does it tell what sizes in inches these ages represent! Nor does it tell you how much ease allowance there is in the jacket! These are vital bits of information that tell the maker which size to cut out for their lad! Not all seven year olds are the same size, and while this pattern may be supposed to go up to age 10, there is no way my nine year old will fit into it! This means that the maker will need to:

a. guess where the chest line is as it is not marked

b. measure all the body pieces and add this up, doubling for the whole torso

c. add up all the seam allowances, and subtract this from the previous total

d. guess how much ease allowance has been built into the garment (and this alters with each size, if the pattern is correctly drafted!) and add that

e. guess where the waistline is and measure the back length

e. choose a size and hope it fits!

All the pattern pieces are hand labelled: luckily, the handwriting is quite clear, though what it says is sometimes a little muddled. It would be helpful if the information was expressed consistently, and the same abbreviations were used throughout (or not used at all!).

There are no balance marks or notches to help in the correct and accurate placing of one part to its fellows.

There is nothing to tell the sewer where ease stitching would help - such as round the sleeve head and down the curved back seams, or across the shoulders.

The diagrams in the instructions are small, cramped together with the written instructions, and badly drawn. It is not at all clear which bit of text belongs to which drawing in some cases.

None of the drawings has a label on it to tell the unwary which is the right or wrong side of the fabric, or even which is fabric and which is lining, never mind which bit is body and which bit is sleeve! The conventions for showing these details to aid the sewer are well established, and easy to use.

Now, this is not to say that this is a bad pattern: in many ways it isn't. The historical details, the cut, and the construction are all reasonably accurate. I do feel that a lot could be done to improve the labelling and the instructions, to make the pattern more accessible to the more conventionally skilled sewing enthusiast. I have a wider skills base than most, and am used to adapting, drafting, and using many different styles of pattern, and these are, unfortunately, some of the least helpful I have come across. The result is a pattern that may be historically accurate and nicely constructed, but lack of knowledge and use of the conventions of basic pattern notation, poor instructions, and no size/measurement chart, make for a pattern that is awkward and overly time consuming to use. This is a great shame."

The town crier and the jackets can be seen on my web site. No comments I've seen since amongst the re-enactment crowd since have shown any improvement in these details.

lol Well, we can't expect you to remember Everything!!! Me least of all people would expect you to do that. Shoot, I do good if I remember lunch. :)

Sharon

There are days I figure I'm doing really well to remember

Beverly

At our age, we give a lot of thought to the "here after." As when we walk across the house into a room, then wonder, "What am I here after?"

Reminds be of a skit on the old "Laugh-In".

Artie Johnson (as the dirty old man on the park bench):

"Do you believe in the here-after?"

Ruth Buzzie as the frumpled spinster: "We'll, yes I do."

Artie: "Then you know what I'm here after, heh, heh, heh, heh."

Then gets hit with purse.

Actually, as I think about it, you're right. I'm looking for a tailored jacket, not a drapey sack.

Almost bought some denim tencel yesterday to do the military jacket, but the woman at the shop said it would be too drapey for the jacket, which is right. But tencel feels so good!!!!

I looked at their denim, but nothing seemed to be the right color. I have some thick denim or twill that is white. Would Rit dye do an adequate job on that?

duh wrote in news:450e10e0$0$34498$ snipped-for-privacy@news.sonic.net:

how often do you plan to wash it? RIT isn't very permanant in my experience (40 years of dyeing things in RIT, sometimes over & over). i much prefer Procion dyes. take a look around here (leave your wallet in the other room!):

In my opinion, no. I've used Rit dyes a few times over the years on different projects and varying materials and I was never very happy with the end result.

Go with a fiber reactive dye like Procion. You get a better color selection with less fading. (Except for turquoise or any color made with turquoise in it. Turquoise fades noticeably when exposed to sun and/or chlorine.)

Might be a little heavy. Usually Coating fabrics means it's really heavy weight like what you would see a peacoat made out of, or a wool overcoat. That kind of weight. With all the little curved details on the back of that pattern, I'd go for something that's a Suiting weight. You can make the jacket warmer with lining choices like thinsulate, etc. Just MHO, but I think the fewer the fiddly details the better with coating weights. They tend to be heavy enough to lose something in the translation. But YMMV. :) You may have to get a swatch of the stuff and see what you think.

How's that for a non-answer answer??? lol

Sharon

So I went too far the other way.

I see fabric suitable for suits, suitable for jackets. Would the jackets fabric be ok for this?

Depends on what the manufacturer meant by fabric "suitable for jackets". Really.

The only way you'll be able to make a decision is by handling the stuff. Is the supplier local or online? Maybe you could get swatches.

Beverly