Never let it be said I don't suffer for fashion, 80 degrees with a full winter coat, thats commitment!

I won't rehash all the previous posts, but in summary....

The front panels are tailored, the remainder of the coat is quilted in the French jacket style with a layer of ice wool for extra insulation.

The outer sleeves, cape and hem on main coat all have chain attached...it helps with the drape tremendously, and feels weighty and sooo beautiful to wear.

All the side seams and button holes were sewn by machine but the remainder of the coat was done by hand with the tiniest of Japanese size 9 needles for a couple of reasons:-

The wool layers were so thick around the collar/armseye and shoulder flap areas that they probably would not have gone through a machine neatly, it was easier to control with two rows of backstiched seams.

and also because some boucle wools fray faster than you can sew them (this being one of them) there would have been areas that would not have caught properly in a machine. In some places there were only milimeters left above the seam line........to be fair though, this fabric was over handled really for the delicate nature of it.

CONCLUSION

Overall I absolutely love this coat, the fit is great, its so unique and I imagine its going to be crazy warm.

I really want to try making this the way it was intended with tailoring and a full lining and am already thinking of a lighter weight V2 in a red silk wool I have, but will be changing a couple of very minor things:-

I'm going to increase the size of the button holes, right now they are just under a inch for the eight on the main coat and only 3/4 inch on the pockets and shoulder flap. (try bound buttons on those...Susan stepped in and did all three, my face must have shown terror at the thought! )

I had to use a 3/4 inch button on the main coat and 1/2 inch on the remainder, and they look pathetic. Seriously pathetic.

I wanted to show a picture before I take these off and work out a way to use bigger ones.

Also I'm not sure if this was me, the quilted fabric or the pattern, but for reference the cape and outer sleeve look like it would have benefited from being sewn further down into the seam. There's about a inch that is just doing its own thing and looks "off" Luckily I added another layer of chain which pulled the cape down and it all disappeared but here is the before picture.

and the hem is quite short. I'm 5'7' and had to add another two inches to get it below my knees. There is so much going on up top that I felt it needed the extra length to even it out in this fabric.

So....final details.....Chanel wool is from Mendel Goldberg they are back in their original store and its been so beautifully restored. I was there last Monday and Alice has some amazing new stock from Europe. I will add my finds to another post...

Silk charmeuase used as a lining is from Mood fabrics. I bought this a couple of years ago and think it could be Versace? but probably wrong.

I bought the same buttons I used in my black French jacket but this time in blue....although they look black again here.