Homemade car coat jacket in beige stripe (Alabama Chanin remake)

Stripe tee on clearance men’s 2XL slim fit. 98% cotton 2% viscose. 
The fabric is beautiful. It’s yarn dyed. The colours are such a warm combination of grey and beige tones. $4 per shirt.   
They called this colour feather. Beautiful word to describe it.  Eight shirts required because need tee back to get the length of the jacket.  

Jacket length is straight line extension of the “crop jacket” which I worked out on screen I believe is 20cm extension. Then another 20cm extension for the “coat” length.  

Machine sewn using around 2 or 3 x 50 yard spoils of button craft thread.  

Size small made here with no modifications to the template.  

Pictures below show fit on different body types.   

Additional snaps added onto pocket flaps.  Snaps covered in fabric and lined up with the stripes matching and the button stitch looking like a square.  Really like the bright silver snaps on this garment.  

Last photo is the packaged photo since it will be a gift.   Halfway through project I felt to not put my usual signature tag on it because it would be easier for someone else to one day own it.  Next day I had thoughts about giving it away to someone as a present, then simultaneously realised it was so and so’s birthday in around a week. Although I initially made this for me I have total release and no qualms about palming it on even though I really like it. But I feel great about giving it and have peaceful confidence the wearer will like it even though she rejects 99% of things anyone gives her. It occurred to me that the fabric is very her for where she is at (or needing). It’s subtle, super soft, not plain, has stripes but not in your face, and will be big enough to fit her. I couldn’t have thought of a more suitable gift. I feel wooed into giving. It doesn’t even hurt. Because it didn’t hurt it was like nothing to continue to make this garment with as much excellence as my amateur skill can give it. There are many points you can call it done and actually stop there and it already looks good.  But I kept going...top stitch every where, trimming off excess felled seam allowances, buttons and more buttons, even covered snap buttons.  Every detail adds something to the finish.  It’s like painting a canvas and liking the result more and more.   She might reject it / me but I still feel it will be well received.  Not that I need it but it’s sad to have to think this way.  It’s not a perfect garment. The next one on machine will be better.   

I only discovered halfway through that you can adjust the tension of the thread on the machine which explains a few things about why it was so loose haha on the underside. Then I went full opposite on the knob it looked so perfect but it was hard to unpick the errors.  I think I will manipulate this so that I start and finish stitches this way in future. It’s time consuming to knot and hide tails by hand if I don’t need to (machine dislikes backing up on this heavy duty thread).  Am also considering using zig zag stitch to reproduce the “puckering” that one would get if sewing the seams together by hand using straight stitch. Will see.   

“Hold me forever. In the midst of the shaking, hold me together. You are the one that I hold on to You are my love, Jesus.” - a worship song written by someone else to be sung from the heart that experiences ongoing sorrow, turmoil and pain (which is not hard in this fallen world; fallen by man.)