An evening coat has been on my to-sew list for about as long as I’ve been sewing. I have always dithered about it because it’s such a big project that it’s hard to motivate myself to do it if I have no where to wear it to. However, I’m going to a black tie event for New Year’s, so now is the time! I gathered all the materials, and have a pretty good idea of what it will look like, but cutting into the fabric seems so final! So I decided to start by cutting and constructing the lining. Above you can see my evening coat lining on my form. The lining is made of silk gazar.
The lining embellishment is bobbin work embroidery. There will be a similar embellishment on the shell of the coat, but it will be applique. The design came from a book of botanical illustrations (The Besler Floriligium, Plants of the Four Seasons). I traced / drew the outline on tracing paper, basted the tracing paper to the wrong side of the back lining piece, stitched on top of the lines I drew on the paper, knotted all the ends, and ripped the paper off.
Detail of the embellishment. The light color embroidery floss is a rayon that has a nice sheen to it. The darker color is 2 strands from a 12-ply stranded silk floss, plus one strand from a 6-ply metallic floss.
This is the wrong side of the embellishment. I drew the outline on tracing paper, basted it to the wrong side of the fabric, and stitched on top of the lines I drew. Then I pulled the ends to the wrong side and knotted them. After I took the photo, I tore the paper off.
Illustration that I adapted my embellishment from
Vogue 2714, which is almost certainly long oop.
Rolling in Cloth 
9 Comments
Claudine, once again, I’d like to state that your sewing journey is amazing. I cannot wait to see this finished!
This coat must take some serious yardage. It will be spectacular, no doubt.
Yes, it does! 7 yds of shell fabric! Since I’ve been planning this for a while, I have enough. What I don’t have enough of is underlining fabric. I have to use 3 different underlinings because I just don’t have enough of any one.
Ooooh, what a gorgeous pattern. That is going to be amazing. Your lining, with embroidery, is beautiful.
This is most certainly going to be a show-stopping piece! And I am always excited if something involves embroidery.
That is just so crazy kewl! I love the embroidery and the silk gazur is probably so light and silky…what an awesome choice for a lining.
LOVE IT. Can’t wait to see what the shell fabric is. I love the embroidery.
oh, that is just insane! I remember when that pattern came out and thought it was so extraordinarily beautiful.
Your version will take it up a notch, too.
wow this is really interesting project much better to challenge yourself to do something different – and the amount of metres required is pretty staggering1