Mirroring Suzy Bee Sews - Life So Strange It Should Be Fiction

Its hard to show how much I love this coat in photos - I made it a couple of months ago and have been wearing it non-stop (apologies for the cat hair all over it, as soon as I put it down the cat is on it sleeping!) I learnt a fair bit making the first version and therefore changed a few things on this version. The adjustments are the same; I made View A with the hood Size 14 through the shoulders graded to a sz 16 at the hips Narrowed the shoulders by a further 1/2" Added front princess seams from Simplicity 2446 with the equivalent of a 1.5" FBA Changed the armscye  by also using S2446 Added to the upper sleeve width and to the sleeve cap (approx. 2" to each) Wide back adjustment 1.5" Added a centre back seam Interfaced the fronts Plus; Took out some size of the hood (next time I'll be making it smaller again) Added about 3" in length to the body and about 1.5" to the sleeves  Catch-stitched down all the hem facings,...

I've been obsessed with duffle coats the last couple of months, I wanted a princess seam coat pattern and couldn't find one anywhere. In the end it came down between this pattern and Colette's Albion but I liked the details more on this one. It ended up being an expensive pattern, about $19.50AUD for the pdf. As soon as I got it I stuck it together and made a muslin in a straight sz 18....and it looked horrible on me, the shoulders were huge but the arms were way too small, the waist was huge but the bust was too tight, it was bunching all around the armscye, the sleeve cap height was too short, the upper bust length was too short, the upper back was too tight.... I nearly threw it all in after that but since I spent so much on the pattern decided to chop into it and make it work (cue Tim Gunn's voice in my head!). And to be fair, I knew I would have to make fit adjustments since I am not the body shape Grainline seems to design for. Pattern adjustments...

I've always stuck with fit and flare dresses, not sure why but I think it comes from the whole idea that its acceptable to be fat as long as you are an hourglass shape.........going to Japan this year was a real eye opener, not sure if its a cultural thing but the women I saw, as a general rule, wore loose flowing clothes regardless of size and I loved how it looked and how freeing it is. So even though this dress still has a waist its significantly more loose than I would normally wear and I am thoroughly in love with it! I did get rid of the darts and change them to a princess seam. Not sure if its how I am shaped or how I sew darts but I can never get them to fit me anywhere near as nicely as a princess seam. I managed to sew the collar on upside down..........Its not noticeably in this print but I did such a beautiful top stitching and trimmed the seams before I realised.....D'oh! I was happily surprised at how easy the whole dress came together, don't be...