Tracy's Coat

I have a special project to share.  My friend Tracy wanted to make a coat.  I prefer to make "yardage" out of felt, and custom tailor the coat with my sewing machine.  With my workshop space and my assistance, she started with these lovely ingredients: 

 Above you see merino rovings, vintage sari silk pieces, and a merino batt (for the base) in medium grey.
The next two photo shows the layout of the "fabric" that will become the back of the coat.  She laid out a layer of the batt, then various silk fabric pieces, and merino roving ...

 then yarns and bamboo fibre and silk fibre, all in the warm autumn colours.

 And after felting the whole piece.... here is the back of the coat.

 and a close up shot with one of the sari fabrics.

 This one is the back and the front felt pieces.

 For the third piece (the sleeves, and collar) I remembered to take a photo in the earliest stage.  The grey batt, with the start of the neutral taupe merino.  The whole thing is covered with taupe before adding the sari fabric, then the other colours and details.

 The top of the sleeve, collar piece after wetting down.

 Then we flipped it to add edging and "back of collar" colour.. (the gold).

 On the last day, after all pieces were dried and steamed with the iron, we cut the coat pattern, and sewed the seams for a perfect fit for Tracy.  Four different buttons were spaced along the front, and four secured button holes created.  The collar can be up or down, and the cuffs of the sleeves are turned up to show pattern on the underside.  Nice details.