Still plugging away on the Lady Grey. I’ve padstitched, assembled and attached the collar. I made the dog model it. I inserted the enormous sleeves, put in the sleeveheads and the very, very thin shoulder pads. I tried it on. I took pictures.

[Nicely padstitched. And steamed.]

Here’s a shot from the other side showing the nice ridge. I love pad-stitching. It’s like hand-quilting, but when I’m done I get a coat instead of a quilt!
[Pad-stitching works! It works!]

I was concerned about the large size of the collar and the turn of the cloth making the undercollar roll out. I had that problem with Vogue 8623 – unfortunately, with a white upper collar and orange brocade undercollar, so super obvious… I was a day ahead of Gertie and her excellent instructions, so I followed the instructions in the Tailoring book Gertie suggested.

I pinned the upper and under collar pieces, wrong sides together, with the seams closest to the neck lined up. Then I pinned the collar to the coat, hung on a hanger and marked the difference in the seams on the outer edge of the collar – you can see the white pin-heads below where I marked. I secured everything, then basted 5/8” away from the raw edge of the under collar, reducing the size of the undercollar by the amount of the gap in the photo below. I stitched along the basting line. And if that description of what I did didn’t make any sense, well, welcome to the club. I could have kicked myself when I read Gertie oh-so-clear instructions this morning. If only I had waited one day…

[Adjusting for the turn of the cloth.]

After I made the adjustment for the turn of the cloth, I removed the collar from the coat and I made my dog wear it. She does not like the pilgrim collar look.

[Lucy looks at me with censure in her eyes.]

Here’s a look at the inside of the shoulder. My shoulders were a bit of a mess, as I had cut the sleeves down, but then decided to make them larger, which involved freehand drafting them up a few sizes. Because of the redrafting, the sleeve caps are a bit too large, which caused a puffy look. I read in one of my reference books that the seam allowances should be pressed toward the shoulder to ‘flatten’ the sleeve cap, so I did that. The sleeve heads are the grey and white flannel pieces, I constructed and inserted those following the Tailoring book’s instructions. I put in little (1/4”) shoulder pads to smooth things out a bit.
[Shoulder pad and sleeve head.]

The difference between the fit without the pressing, sleeve head and shoulder pad is subtle, but it’s noticeable. To me, at least!

[With and without the shoulder pads and sleeve heads]

Here I am wearing the shell with the collar. I’m not entirely pleased with the look, but it’s hard to get a sense of the finished coat without the front facings in! Tomorrow! See the look on my face? So wistful! Such rounded shoulders!
  
[Bad lighting and dirty camera lens.]

Tomorrow is the day I finally have to decide on interlining. I intended to interline, but the fit of this coat is more snug than I anticipated, so I’m not sure if an interlining will work! Boo!

Go Lady Grey!