Anything But Ordinary - a coat version

Every time the temp drops outside, I am reminded that I need a new coat. I had some nice heavy wool tweed in the stash but needed the right pattern for it. I've made a few muslins but ditched each one in turn. Then Louise Cutting posted instructions for making slot buttonholes here at the Threads magazine site and suggested making her Anything But Ordinary (ABO) jacket in a longer version. There is also a picture of a gorgeous RTW coat posted along with the instructions. Louise's post plus BlueMooney's Paco Peralta T-Coat (gorgeous - go see it) propelled me in the right direction finally.

  

I'm having to think a bit as the ABO instructions are for an unlined jacket. With this wool, lining is a must. Drafting the lining pieces is not particularly challenging but the order of construction, particularly with the slot button holes has me wrinkling my brow a bit. For example, there is no back facing in the pattern. Rather the raw edge of the neckline is stitched into the collar in back. And I'm working those slot button holes into the neckline too, as described by Louise.

So far I've completed the outer part of the jacket and the collar is almost ready to attach. I need to cut out the lining and construct the jacket lining so I'll be ready to puzzle through the neckline.

Cut-on facing prep for button holes

There is one unusual aspect to this pattern. There are NO notches. Not even on the sleeve. There is a dot on the sleeve cap to match to the shoulder seam, but otherwise no markings on the sleeve pattern. (There are also some helpful dots on the collar.) The sleeves have to be vertically symmetric, I guess. It is a dropped shoulder so there is not a lot of shoulder shaping. Louise's shoulder pads give it a nice shape.