Herringbone Coat: the Shoulder Pads

When purchasing some of the materials my coat, I found a pair of "needle punch" shoulder pads. They are made from graduated layers of soft batting, sandwiched between two layers of felt. The pads have been needle-punched from the top, to send small fibers of each layer into the layer below, helping to hold all of the layers together. They're made especially for tailoring and are very flexible, so I know they'll work much better than some of the foam pads that I've used in the past.

 The only problem with them was the thickness. They were sold unpackaged and I was told that they were 1/2" thick, which is what my pattern called for. They did look a bit thicker than 1/2," but I couldn't find any that were thinner, so I went ahead and purchased them. When I checked the measurement at home, they were at least 3/4"! As nice as they were, using a thicker pad can change the fit of the jacket, and for a while I wasn't sure if I would use them. After a bit of experimenting, however, I found that these pads can be altered.

Here's a top view of the unaltered pad. The felt layer is perforated where it's been punched.

Side view of the batting. Too thick!

To alter it, I carefully pried the top layer of felt loose from the pad and separated a layer of batting, bringing it to the desired thickness.

            I slowly pulled out the separated section, leaving the bottom layer 1/2" thick.

To finish the pad, I pressed the top layer of felt against the filling and held it in a curved position while using diagonal basting stitches secure the layers together.

Now the pads are ready to be used for my coat! I'm still in the process of making some extra pattern pieces for the interfacings, but I will try to post soon and share some of the details about the muslin.

Herringbone Coat Project

I know it's been a long time since I've last updated. . . a very long time! My life over these past months has gotten rather busy, so I haven't been very prolific at blogging, to say the least! However, I have still managed to do bits of sewing here and there, and I would still love to share it on my blog. Over the coarse of this year, my projects have branched out to custom sewing jobs and alterations for others, and I've even started teaching sewing classes over this summer. I've still been making a few pieces for myself, too, including a summer dress from Simplicity 2180 (I need to take some pictures!).

 Now that winter is fast approaching, I'm working on making a wool coat. The one I currently wear has been needing a replacement for some time, so I've decided that this is the year to try my hand at making a new one! I've made jackets before, but this is my first actual coat. I would like to write a little series of blog posts through the making of this project, as sharing it here might just help motivate me to finish it more quickly, and perhaps there might be others out there who are interested in coat making who could follow along ;)

 For my pattern, I've chosen Butterick's new Butterick 5658 and will be making view B, pictured below.

So far my plans are to follow the design of the coat fairly close to the pattern, although I've opted to borrow a two-piece sleeve (and corresponding armhole) from a simplicity coat pattern that I have. Two-piece sleeves often have shaping that allows a freer range of motion than one-piece sleeves. Besides this, I'll be changing the construction a bit, to include more tailored details, as well.

 I already have nearly all the materials I need to get started. This past September my sister and I went to American Sewing Expo in Novi, Michigan, where I found a lightweight wool herringbone in the vending area. Most of the other materials came from a specialty fabric store.

This picture shows the wool, along with matching buttons, cotton twill tape for stabilizing, hair canvas for interfacing, and Bemberg rayon for lining. The buttons and lining didn't react to well to the camera flash, but they are both dark brown and do match the wool ;) Hopefully I can get better pictures of these materials as my posts progress. I'm also going to add a cotton flannel interlining to the inside to provide a little extra warmth.

 Up to this point, I've fitted a muslin and marked the collar/lapel roll line on the pattern tissue. The next step is to prepare all the materials and create a few extra pattern pieces for the interfacing, facing, and lining. In the next post, I'll show a few pictures the shoulder pads I'll be using.