Opera Coat

If it is fit for the opera its fit for any occasion. The cloth is a fine worsted fabric, not a tweed, the difference is that tweed is being made to feel woolly, but a worsted fabric is made to fell less woolly. That is done by aligning the wool fibres, which makes for a finer and smoother texture.

I learned that in order to weave a fine cloth or actually any cloth at all, the loom should be singing. The weaver sits at the loom but is almost never sitting still but in a rhythmic manner, treads on a pedal, trows the yarn with a flick of the wrist, catches the yarn at the other side and treads another pedal. It is almost like a dance though sitting down, with all of one’s focus and concentration on the thread about to go in on top of the previous one. Every movement has a particular sound, and I find it very enjoyable.

After finishing weaving the cloth, my fabrics are washed and get a good hot iron and, in this case, I also over-dyed it with a natural indigo plant dye. The lining is a silk also dyed with indigo. It give a unique and overall pleasant look. One theory as to why that could be is that synthetic dye makes only one impression on the eye, whereas a natural dye has many other components in it and therefore presents a spectrum of colours to the eye.

The coat has one pocket set in the right side seam. Both side seams end in a slit. The coat should be finished with either poppers or a button.

The coat from shoulder seam down measures 36 inches (98 cm), and 15 1/2 inches (40 cm) across the shoulders at the back of the coat. It’s a size 38 (medium).