Preparing For The Upline Jacket Sew Along

The sew along for the Sew News Sewn Square One Upline Jacket will begin on October 26, just a little less than 2 weeks away. The initial post is always about fabric selection and pattern preparation, but there are a few aspects that I wanted to go over just to help you prepare in case you will be joining the sew along. And, if you aren't it's good information.
I am going to be making the longer version of the coat for the sew along, but rather than the buttons that are shown on the pattern, I am going to insert a center front zipper just as I did for the jacket that's in the magazine. A couple of things to consider regarding the zipper; 
1. In order to extend from the top of the collar to about mid-thigh, it will be a rather long zipper and possibly longer than you can find at your local fabric store. 
2. For sitting purposes, the zipper should be a 2-way zipper. In  other words, you need to be able to unzip it from the bottom as well as the top.
You may need to order your zipper. Janet Pray of Islander Patterns recommends Pacific Trimming. She especially likes Riri Zippers. The zippers can be customized to fit the length of your garment. Just click on the links to find a zipper for your project.

In the next couple of pictures, you can see the inside of my jacket. It's fully lined.

The pattern instructs you to underline the fashion fabric, so the seams will be showing on the inside of the jacket. I like for my garments to look just as finished on the inside as they are on the outside, so I did a full lining. I have a couple of tricks for linings that we will go over, so be sure to plan on lining your jacket. 
The lining that I used for my jacket is actually a warm lining.  

The fabric that I will be using for my sew along jacket is a lovely piece of wool. I will be underlining the fabric, but not as instructed in the pattern. A little note on the fabric. The fabric was actually a gift from Becki of http://beccabeckstuff.blogspot.com/. She emailed me and said that she had a little something that she wanted to give me. To my delight, the beautiful wool pictured below was in the box when it arrived. She said that as much as she loved it, it was just too heavy for Houston, TX. Wow, was I ever thrilled! The lining fabric I had. In fact, I had intended to use the fabric with the Spearmint coat from Lolita Patterns, but it was such a perfect match, so my plans changed.  

You may remember that I underlined the skirt I did for the Decades of Style Arches Skirt. Just click on the Sew News Sew Along tab at the top of the page and you'll find all the links to the sew along. 

If you would like to underline your coat, be sure to purchase cotton batiste, and the finest quality that you can find. Please do not use quilting cotton or muslin. Silk organza also makes a lovely underlining. Adding the underlining will give the garment body, make it warmer and it will also wear much better with an underlining. 

I have not finished the Spearmint coat. As I said above, plans changed on the lining. Fortunately, I had a wonderful piece of silk that matches the fabric.

It took a little searching, but I did find buttons. The only problem was that the buttons weren't exactly right for a coat. So, what to do? The thought occurred to me that  I might be able to add a pearl to the center. I found the pearls that you see laying beside the buttons, and..... 

 success!!! In about a week, I should have the coat finished.

If any of you have suggestions on links where zippers can be found, please leave a message and I will be glad to let everyone know.