Sewing the Lining & Facing // Clare Coat Sewalong

Ah, we're almost at the finish line for our Clare Coats! Today we'll be assembling our linings and later this week we'll put it all together, just in time for the holidays. I'll be showing you View A & B together today; it makes for an epic post but I think it's easier and faster to cover it all in one go.

Let's get our facings ready first. For View A, you'll want to sew your neck facing to the front facing on one side and then press the seam open like so:

For View B, you'll be sewing the neck facing on both sides.

Put your facings aside for the time being. Before we can assemble the lining, we need to sew the bust darts. Do this the same way you did for your coat front.

Rather than sewing darts in the sleeve lining, make a simple pleat instead. Match the notches at the elbow on the back sleeve and pin a pleat into a place with the pleat aiming down.

Baste into place on both sides and press.

Sew your sleeves together and press the seam flat.

The back lining comes in two pieces so that we can create a pleat at center back; this pleat gives you room to move inside the coat and helps prevent the lining from tearing due to strain. Match up the lining pieces right side together and sew 5/8" / 16mm along the center back seam.

Match up the notches along the back neck to create a pleat (the pleat will die into the CB seam). Fold pleat to the side and pin into place.

Baste the pleat into place within the seam allowance.

Press the pleat and CB seam flat. Your back will now look like this:

Once the bust darts have been sewn, pin the front to the back lining along the side seam. On View A, this will mean sewing the front panel to one side only.

Sew this seam and press open.

Sew both front lining panels to the back of View B and press open.

Once the body of the lining has been sewn, it's time to attach the sleeves. This is very similar to the way you attached the sleeves to your coat. Line up the notch at the bottom of the armscye with your sleeve seam and pin into place, right sides together.

Sew the sleeve to the body.

Once again with View A, a portion of the left sleeve will not be sewn to anything. Treat this just like the coat body - snip a notch on the sleeve seam a few inches from the end of the seam. Press this portion towards the body and the rest of the seam towards the sleeve.

Once your sleeves are attched, sew them along the center shoulder seam and press the seam open.

Time to attach the facings!

Pin the facing to the neckline edge of the lining all the way around, matching notches and shoulder seams. Since you're sewing two curved surfaces together around the neck, you may need to ease it into place.

View A:

View B:

Stitch the length but make sure you stop sewing at the circle marks indicated on your pattern near the hem.

Grade the seam to reduce bulk.

Flip the facing right side out and press into place. Topstitch 1/8" away from the facing on the lining to secure the seam into place.

The bottom edge should be loose for a few inches where the facing and lining are attached.

If you would like to add a loop to your coat so it doesn't get distorted from hanging on hooks, sew it into your jacket now. You can use a piece of chain or ribbon, but in this example I made a loop from a piece of fabric I folded, pressed and topstitched. Center the loop on your center backpleat and baste into place along the neck facing within the seam allowance.

Now attach your inner collar to the lining/facing in the exact same way you did for your coat body. Make sure you use stay tape on the seam to stabilize it.

Press the collar seam open and the collar up.

If you've sewn in a coat loop it will be sandwiched in between the neck facing and collar. 

And that's it! In a few days we'll be back to bag the lining and finish our coats.