Retrofitting a back stay

I have been getting some unexpected but welcome sewing time this week. Not much, but enough to make some incremental yet gratifying progress on my fall coat. I was able to cut out the interfacing and fuse it to my sleeves on Monday as well as cut out my back stay. Last night I was able retrofit my back stay into the shell of my coat.

I say retrofit the back stay because, if you will kindly recall, I have already constructed the shell of my coat without installing the back stay along the way. Someone forgot to sew it in. I’m not going to name any names, but Elizabeth that person just completely forgot about the back stay because I she was so excited about sewing my the luscious purple wool. I knew I wanted to incorporate a little structure into my coat as I wanted it to be a little more substantial than my trench coat last year. However, that doesn’t mean I am going to pad stitch the lapels. I’m not going crazy here, I mean sheesh!

I bet you’re wondering how you retrofit a back stay. And I bet you’re wondering how many times I can say retrofit a back stay in this post. Hahaha! I thought about it for a while and then I thought, why not ask on Pattern Review. Nancy K answered me right away. She suggested that I sew the back stay onto the seam allowances of my shell. A simple yet elegant solution to a knotty problem.

So I got to work. I cut out the back stay by combining the pattern pieces of the back yoke and the back, overlapping 5/8ths at the seam. I cut the stay from two inches below the armscye and used my french curve to angle up to the CB fold ever so gently. Et voilá a back stay was born! I used the cotton flannel for the stay that I was originally going to use for interlining the coat. I decided against that because I am lazy wanted a more transitional fall coat rather than a winter coat. Then I staystitched the neck and armscye of the stay and pinned it to the back of my shell. I carefully stitched the stay to the seam allowances of my shell, only once sewing it to the actual back for a few inches. Of course I spent some quality time with my seam ripper at that point. Fun times I tell you, taking out stitches from wool. Fun times indeed.

That’s the stage where I remain today my friends. I will reconvene with the sewing committee (aka my Emerald 183) tonight and see where the evening takes me. I can’t wait!!!! Of course as the weather is wont to do, it will be dipping into fall temps on the morrow, so I am feeling a lot of pressure motivation to finish this coat pronto!

*crossing fingers for some good progress tonight!*

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