Is It Too Vintage??

In a whirlwind of sewing on Tuesday I almost completed my vintage coat Wednesday night. (I really thought I'd be done with it by now but have had a two-night buttonhole breakdown! They're still not done.) This is the pattern that I took all that time to re-size last October.
Then I tried it on. Hmmmmm

My first impression was that I looked like someone who got a great deal on a vintage coat at a second-hand store. That is not exactly the look I was going for. So, is it too vintage?

(looks really odd without a scarf - or maybe I just need to balance it out with a hat!) The buttons are just pinned on right now because of my buttonhole issues.

Oh well functionally, it's exactly what I wanted. A medium-weight coat for running around during the fall/winter.

Here are some of the details:

• Call me vain, but I LOVE how my pockets turned out! I didn't want to topstitch the welts but when I've hand-stitched them before it hasn't been very durable.
  I ended up hand stitching them from the wrong-side of the jacket using a back-stitch. The first one was so strong I couldn't pull it apart, so that's what I stayed with.
• I didn't realize until I cut out the sleeves that I was running out of fabric. So the sleeves will remain at this too-short-for-me length.

The coat calls for 3 gigantic buttons. I used two because a.) I had them in my stash and b.) they remind me of my grandmother ;) I'll be keeping my eye out for a set of three buttons that are the same size and match better.

• I used Gigi's recent tutorial for that lining-facing-hem intersection on the front. I think I've almost got the process memorized - love it!

Here's my blouse that I started ummmm, I think it was in October and hoped to finish in one day. I finished it completely on the 24th...of this month.

By the time I was ready to wear it, it just needed a few extra buttons.

This is New Look 6783 (OOP). I was inspired to make it because of another blogger - thanks Nancy! I just loved her blouse and really loved it paired with the white skirt. According to the guy at the fabric store this is a linen that has been treated on one side to create the shine. Shiny but not in-your-face shiny. Love it.

Not too many sewing details (that I can remember).

• I added a strip of fusible interfacing at the shoulder seam. After the sleeve was attached it looked like the shoulders seam was growing and starting to look like a dropped sleeve.
• The button situation isn't pretty. But who cares? It's all covered up! I used what I had available but it turned out they were spaced way too far apart. Since I ended up finishing this on Christmas Eve day (so I could wear to church that night) at my mom's house. But, I forgot to bring my additional buttons and had to use what she had on hand. It's not too pretty under that lap.

So, I was able to put together a real live honest to goodness sewing post on the last day of this year. Well, here's to you 2010. May you roll over, fall in a deep hole, get buried, and never be spoken of again ;) Hope everyone has a wonderful New Year. I mean a full 365 days of wonderfulness!