Coat re-lining part one.
It’s Christmas eve! Soon I shall join other assorted foreigners in Tokyo for a cosy celebration but right now it’s time for why I love winter break.
I HAVE TIME TO MAKE STUFF!
Don’t worry, I have more posts about the Mary Frances book but somethings need to come first.
I was recently looking at winter coats and finding nothing that is stylish, fits well, and is in my price range. So It’s time to fix up a stylish, well fitting vintage coat I’ve been wearing for years.
I bought it in my hometown of Madison, I have no idea how many years ago. It was originally made by a now-defunct Madison company.
You can see by the labels what era we’re talking about. This coat is older than I am for sure.
The lining is trashed. In some areas it seems to have simply vanished. I obviously tried to repair sections long before my skills were up to it.
The fabric covering the snaps has faded from black to red-ish purple. The clasp covers need more stones. And the fur (yes, I know) has worn out in areas. I need to replace it all with fake fur so it’s updated and I feel more comfortable wearing it.
This will be my first time re-lining a coat but people have told me it’s easy. Friday, in transit from my last school day of the year to my last school-meeting of the year I stopped into a mid-level fabric store. I didn’t find any lining that excited me..and then I saw a used kimono shop with a few items marked down to 1000yen (about 10$ USD).
Lining fabric!
The great thing about kimonos is they break down into easy to use giant rectangles of fabric quickly. I am totally going back to that small store. I’ve since broken this down into parts and ironed the fabrics.
Then I got to work removing my lining.
MY LINING HAS A LINING WTF!?!?!
Interlining is a fabric added to a garment, between the lining and the outer fabric.
I had no idea about interlining before I opened up my coat. This project just got a bit more complex.
everything airing out on my balcony
I carefully unpicked the seam at the center of the back of the lining and slit the interlining in the same area, cutting my project in half.
One half will be used to make the pattern and one half remains intact to make sure I understand how to reassemble everything prior to attaching to the coat.
This is half of the garment on my dress form.
I carefully seam ripped, pressed, and labeled parts of the deconstructed half. I also picked up wool fabric on my way home from a studio end-of-year party for the interlining.
This marks my first steps of re-lining and restoring.