Fashion Design Drawing

COATS AND JACKETS

FITTED COATS, outlining the figure, require more care and attention in the making than fancy coats, though the latter, when finished, may look much more elaborate. The first important step is to have the cloth thoroughly shrunken, according to Chapter XIII, "Cutting Materials, Sponging, Etc."

Measure the length of the back from the collar seam to the waistline, and the length of the arm from the armhole to the wrist, and alter the pattern, if necessary, according to the directions given with it. When the cloth is ready, lay the pattern on it to the best advantage. Be careful, if there is a nap, to place the pieces so they will all run the same way of the goods. Otherwise, the pieces with the nap running in the opposite direction will shade; that is, some will look darker than others. In cloth the nap should always run toward the bottom of the garment. In velvet, but not in panne velvet, it should run upward. In panne velvet it should run downward. Be sure to follow carefully the directions accompanying the pattern, in regard to the grain of the goods; otherwise the garment will draw and stretch. (See Chapter XIII.)

When using full-width cloth that is, fifty-two or fifty-four inches wide many coats may be cut economically with the cloth folded lengthwise through the center, as it is folded when bought. For a long coat, however, it is sometimes necessary to open the cloth to its full width. Lay it out smoothly, with the wrong side up, and arrange the pattern upon it.

Pin the pattern carefully to the material and cut it out with sharp scissors, following the outline most exactly. After you have cut the first half, lay it face down on your material, with the pattern still pinned to it, and cut the second half. Be sure that the nap runs the same way in both halves and that you do not cut two halves for the same side a common mistake of the amateur. Clip all the notches, and mark all the perforations, except the ones that indicate the grain line, with tailors' tacks. (See Chapter IV, "Practical and Ornamental Stitches.")

THE FRONT of a cloth coat must be interlined with a soft, pliable canvas, cotton serge, or cambric, which should be shrunken before it is used. For a coat that is cut with a seam to the shoulder, the canvas is cut by the pattern of the front and side front. The canvas in the side front may stop three inches below the armhole on the under-arm seam and slope to the waistline on the side seam as shown by the dotted line in Fig. 302, or it may be used throughout the entire front. In a linen coat use butchers' linen instead of the canvas. In a silk coat use a lining material about the weight of a cotton serge, sateen or cambric, in the fronts, and a light-weight lining canvas or soft crinoline for the collar, sleeve caps and wrist. These interlinings should be shrunken before they are used.

Baste the canvas to the wrong side of the coat. (Fig. 302.) Then baste the seams of the coat and canvas together according to the notches, lapping the canvas edges flatly over each other and catch-stitching them together after the cloth seams are pressed. Try the coat on and make alterations if any are necessary before stitching the seams.

To give the coat more body over the bust, an extra piece of thin canvas not quite as heavy as used in the fronts should be applied to each front as shown in Fig. 302. Do not make a seam in the canvas to make it fit the bust, but slash it and lap the edges to make it fit smoothly in the coat. This canvas should be attached to the other canvas in the fronts by padding stitches. Fig. 305 shows how these stitches are made.

Fashion Design Drawing - Coats Jackets 1.jpg

In a coat that is made with a dart instead of a seam to the shoulder in front, the canvas must be cut with the pattern of the front as a guide. The canvas should be about six inches wide along the front edges of the coat. At the waistline it should slope outward and upward to the under-arm seam, where it should stop three inches below the armhole.

Fur and fur-cloth coats are generally without seams in front. If the coat is made of fur cloth, the entire coat should be lined with cambric before the canvas is put in. (Fig. 304.) This cambric reenforces and strengthens the rather loose weave of the fur-cloth. It is also used in fur coats if the pelts are tender and perishable.

If the coat is made with a dart, the darts in the coat and in the canvas should be closed separately. Take up the dart in the coat in the usual way, but lap the edges of the dart in the canvas and tack them together. (Fig. 304.)