Pattern Review: Lady Grey

This is me, happy that Lady Grey is finished. It was a huge undertaking but I learned a lot of new sewing and fitting techniques thanks to Gertie and fellow sewalongers

The coat came out quite different from what the pattern suggests, it looks more like a peacoat. At the last minute, I decided to opt out of the belt. I just don’t think I need it and it still looks presentable. It is a little tight around the armsyce but not a big deal. I am happy with the length as well. Thanks to the mild Californian weather, I don’t have to interline and still get the degree of warmth I’ve been looking for. All in all, I followed Gertie’s step-by-step more than the pattern instruction.

The challenge that I had is that I completely petite-fied the pattern to fit my frame. As a result, all the markings were lost and I wasn’t thinking much about marking it as I altered and cut. I was crossing my fingers as I went along hoping nothing terrible would happen. Alas, my lining hem was too short to fit in the frame of the fashion fabric hem. So, I re-did  the hem completely and that took me an extra two days…bummer, I could have worn it to the Chinese New Year Dinner with friends.

 

Without the belt, I can showcase the peplum especially at the back and it reminds of a woman riding coat, at least I hope so. I wish I could topstitch the pockets, collar and lapels. But, after breaking 5 needles and ended up replacing the feed plate, I decided not to further abuse my sewing machine.

This project is really expensive

- 4 yards of Italian Tweed Fabric $64

- 3 yards of silk lining $15

- 1 yard of hair canvas $10

- 1 yard of weft fusible interfacing $4.5

- 1 silk thread $5

- 4 regular thread $12

- 2 buttons $3

- various shipping cost $15

$130 roughly in addition to 100+ man hour

I love the lining, it totally makes my coat look expensive I added ribbon to cover the gathering when I hem the coat, am so in love with it too and happy to bust my ribbon stash.

Here is the complete review

Pattern Description: Lady Grey from Colette Pattern. It’s a princess seam coat

Pattern Sizing: I cut the smallest size

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? hmm, not really, I have way too many alterations to fit it my petite frame. The coat came out looking more like a peacoat. I am ok with it though

Were the instructions easy to follow? I did not really use the instruction. Pretty much following the tutorials from Gertie

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

Like: classic coat that I can keep for a very long time. Dislike: it is not a pattern for petite gals like me, if it’s not for the sewalong, I wouldn’t have had the courage to sew this pattern

Fabric Used: Heavy Italian Tweed Wool from Gorgeous Fabrics (I used the entire 4 yards. Had I not screw up, I could have gone by with 2.5 yards) $16/yard. The lining is a peach silk from Fabric.com, it was $4/yard and I bought 3.5 yards. This silk quality is sub-par, it is quite thin.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

- shrank the collar and lapels

- shortened the hem

- shrank the sleeves width but lengthen the length

- sewed the back princess seam at 1.25″ seam allowance to mitigate bunches

- omitted belt

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Not really but I do want to try out other coat patterns. It is fun and rewarding to sew a coat

This is where I wish Spring were here, I can see some flowers blooming but not as much as I wish for

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