Liz and the Sew Along: Lady Grey Coat Pattern

For the past few days, Liz has been hard at work on a new winter coat. She’s participating in a sew-along, joining nearly 200 other readers of a blog entitled blogforbettersewing.com. Basically, everyone works on the same piece at the same time, with each person documenting their process and sharing tips, photos and suggestions with one another. Pretty neat concept. Liz also got her mom involved, and she’s participating at the same time.

The site is run by a woman named Gertie, and I hear nothing but good things about the site from Liz. The pattern everyone is working on is called Lady Grey, made by Colette Patterns.


A few months ago, I bought Liz a Serger as a gift. While I bought it, I didn’t (and still don’t) know exactly what this thing does. But I thought I’d share some pictures anyhow, because the thing looks freaking complicated.

Liz isn’t using the machine right now, but spent some time looking over the instruction manual, studying. This is something she’ll use in the final stages of her coat, but for now… she was just doing a little research.


Four different knobs that, uh… do four different things? This might make a little more sense once you see the back.


This is the view from the side. I just now noticed that there was a setting for the knife. The knife?


This is the underside of the Serger. Craziness.


The back of the machine. I’m not quite clear on why there are four spools of thread, but this apparently is what the four knobs control.


Closeup of the thread.


This is Liz’s muslin – an inexpensive fabric that’s used as “practice.” By making a muslin, it’s technically like she’s making the same thing twice… but any alterations or mistakes are done up front, before working with the final fabric.

Much like good carpenters, this is the sewing equivalent of measure twice, cut once.


A view of the coat from the front. If you’re curious to see how the project progresses, there’s a Flickr Group for the Sew Along, and Liz has also been updating her photos as well.

Related:
Vintage Sewing Boxes

This Post Has 1 Comment

  1. Liz: You are awesome! I have no idea how you do it. : O ) Can’t wait to see the final product.

    Marty J. Reply


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