Silk Coat using Simplicity S9854

I used a pattern. https://simplicity.com/simplicity/s9854

I always wanted a silk coat, so I made myself one. The pattern I used is very much oversized, which meant me going down to the smallest size in the pack.

Anyway fabric was purchased from FabricmartFabrics The outside fabric is Ralph Lauren Silk Suiting (deadstock) that is a loose weave and a subtle horizontal red line. and the lining is a silk twill that was professionally fused (deadstock)

I very carefully planned this out because I didn't have a lot of fabric for mistakes. That red line needed to be matched, plus, I had to be careful about the spacing of the vertical blue lines, especially on the back pieces and the back collar. I also spent a lot of time counting threads to make sure my pockets matched up.

My lining was fine, it was cheap (12 dollars a yard I think?). I think it got deadstocked because the printed lines were a bit off, which is fine for a lining. I lined up my back pieces and didn't worry about anything else. This being interfaced meant I didn't use any on my outer fabric. I guess I could have anyway if I wanted more stiffness.

Since I wanted to just splash all the way out, I did vintage mother of pearl buttons (they were bigger than the pattern suggested) and I also did bound button holes versus using a machined one which made sense for this project.

Time spent: 20 hours per weekend with an additional 1 day to do the small stuff, so roughly 48 hours. I don't count time as money really, because its time I would spend on this anyway.

When I look at prices for silk coats, they're pretty out there and I'm pretty happy being able to make mine with about 150 dollars in materials!

It was a challenging project because of the amount of pieces and the fabric choice, Otherwise it would have been much easier to do.