Unlined Linen Paletot

Now that the body of the coat is basically done, it’s time to begin work on the collar. If you haven’t drafted your collar already, or you want to double check the fit, you can measure the coat around the neck starting at the center back, ensuring both sides are the same size, and that …

Finally, with as much work as we could do on each half of the coat complete, it’s time to join the left and the right sides together. Lay one half of the coat on the table, right sides up, and lay the other half on top, right sides together, aligning the center back seam. Baste …

With the facing attached, we can now join the shoulder seams. First lay the coat flat on the table, and check the alignment of the facing and the shoulder seam. If you allowed the shoulder to drape over the hand while basting, you’ll probably find that the facing extends a little beyond the shoulder. Trim …

Attaching the facings to the coat is a somewhat involved process, but just take things step-by-step and you’ll get it. First, lay the facing on top of the forepart, right sides together. Baste along the front edge from mid-neck, down the front, and along the bottom using a diagonal basting stitch. When you get to …

We now need to draft the facings for the coat fronts. This is pretty easy to do, and relies more on artistic expression than mathematical formulas to draft. I like to draft mine right on the cloth by tracing around the forepart from the shoulders, neck, down the front, and the bottom, then drawing the …

Moving on to the front facing area of the coat, I like to add a strip of linen on the wrong side of each forepart, where the buttons and buttonholes will be. While this is optional, and I don’t think it was present in the original coat, it adds a lot of strength and longevity …

With the back vent completed, we can move on to attaching the back to the front and sidebody. Begin by laying the back and side body right sides together. Align the pleats at the waist as shown. As you can see, I have a small discrepancy in that the width of the front skirt extends …

Now we’re ready to begin construction of the back vent area. It’s very easy to get the two sides of the back mixed up, so I always begin in this manner: lay the two back pieces out on the table, wrong sides up. Take the half that will be the wearer’s left side and remove …

With everything cut out, we are finally ready to start construction on the linen paletot. This first step is optional, because I don’t think it was present in the original coat from what I could tell. The intersection of the side seam and the waist seam at the side body and front is potentially weak, …

Before cutting out your nice linen fabric, be sure that all the parts of your muslin toile are fitting properly. You can leave off the sleeves for now and cut them out later, or if you know how, you can put fit them with your toile. It’s also important to prepare your fabric before cutting …