Round Shoulder Coat — Fabric

When I saw the sample garment for Vogue 1419, I thought it would be a fun challenge to make a coat as close as possible to the sample. It seemed like the original coat was made with a wool gabardine fused to another fabric. Perhaps the inside fabric was a fusible interfacing, but the hand was not like any fusible that I have access to. I decided, what the heck, I would try to fuse 2 fabrics together myself.

It was a lot of work, but the fabric turned out very close to what I wanted. There are plenty of bonded fabrics out there to choose from if you’re not into putting a ridiculous amount of work into a project even before you properly start. If I were to make this again, I might make it out of a midweight neoprene, which has a similar drape to my bonded fabric.

I chose a brown wool gabardine from Paron Fabrics in New York, and a silk gazar that I had in my stash. I chose the wool gabardine because it’s what the original coat was made from and the gazar because it’s thin but still stiff, so it would stay more or less on grain while fusing.

Initially, I tried fusing with the Stitch Witchery that comes on a roll. It’s dry and looks kind of web-y. It did not work at all. I could not seem to get the glue to melt over a large area. This may have been user error, but it was very disappointing.

Then I ordered Heat N Bond Lite Fusible Web, and tried that. It worked like a charm. Well, that is, if your charms tend to involve much backbreaking labor. Anyway, it worked just like they said it would in the instructions.

I waffled a bit about whether to buy the Lite or the regular Heat N Bond, and went with the Lite. I definitely made the right decision. The hold is firm, and the resulting fabric is quite stiff. I think the regular would have been too stiff.

I block fused the yardage before I cut out my pattern pieces. In order to get a larger ironing surface, I took several blankets and stacked them on the floor, then put my fabric over them to fuse it. It took a couple of hours on my hands and knees, all the while wondering if it was really going to turn out the way I wanted. But then it did! It was kind of amazing.

Advertisement