Jacket

Your doll will totally look classy in this jacket. Clint and Stacy will approve.

You'll need:

Cloth -- We're making a suit coat, by the by, so you can do better than calico quilt cotton.
Lining -- What? Coats are lined. You should find this stuff actually labeled "lining" in the store, no joke.
Buttons -- The thing's got to close, right?
Sewing supplies -- Thread, needle, scissors, machine if you want it.

Haul out your jacket pattern. (HINT: There's a great one in The Doll's Dressmaker.) In addition to a back (which should look like a long bodice pattern), you should at least have a collar pattern and a jacket front pattern. You can probably get by without the collar pattern, but your coat's gonna look way funny. Actually, you can probably draw your own jacket front if you want. You can toss any sleeve you want on this thing, but I recommend the straight sleeve.

Cut one back, two sleeves, one collar and two fronts out of your main cloth, then do it AGAIN with your lining. Yes, it's like six billion parts, but you'll be okay.

Assemble the coat fronts to the backs like you were making a normal shirt.

While we're at it, sew one lining sleeve to the main cloth sleeve at the cuff edge, then do the same to the other sleeves. Turn and press.

Now, take the lining collar and stitch it directly to the main cloth bodice, right sides together. Then, take the main cloth collar and stitch it directly to the lining bodice, right sides together.

Now, pin the lining bodice to the main cloth bodice, right sides together, matching up all the sides. You're going to have to flip the collar up to get this to work.

Here, have a couple different views:

Forty-five minutes later, after you've pinned and repinned a good six times, you're ready to sew. Sew around the edge, stitching everything BUT the armholes and the side seams. (Don't forget the bottom seam of the back!)

Turn it. PRESS IT PRESS IT PRESS IT PRESS IT PRESS IT PRESS IT PRESS IT PRESS IT PRESS IT PRESS IT. You're going to have to spend some serious time at the ironing board, but don't skip over this part. It will never lay flat unless you show it what's boss.

Put sleeves in your jacket in the usual way.

You can put button holes in the front of the jacket if you like raising your blood pressure. OR, we can cheat with our velcro closures. Decide which side goes on top. On the bottom side, sew a strip of velcro. On the top piece, sew buttons, but as you're sewing, hold small pieces of velcro under the buttons to tack them on!

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