FOUNDATIONS REVEALED COMPETITION ENTRY
Denna’s red coat
(click images to to enlarge)
Outline the story …
This coat was made for Denna, character in Patrick Rothfuss' "The Name of the Wind". She is described as "pretty and charming", "restless" and "wild" (p 471). "Young gents court her, buy her presents, dresses, jewellery" and "she sells those things for money to live" (p 473). She seldomly has money for luxuries so how did she come by this coat?
Presumably one day a suitor wanted to take her to a ball and wasn't pleased with her old coat, so he bought her this elegant red one. Although they soon parted ways, she grew fond of the coat and kept it. In the meantime she had to sell the main golden buttons and replace them with cheaper wooden ones, but she kept the ones on the pockets for a later date.
In the book, there is very little information on the clothes of Denna. She travels a lot and with few things, so any coat she might have would be either very practical and inexpensive or extravagant and gifted to her. For me, the most elegant coats are form fitted, long and have big collars (I might have gone a little far with the last one...) Obviously a coat has to have pockets and this is the most pretty design I found. They are designed to keep ones hands warm when walking (size, placement) and are closed with zippers to keep things safely inside. As this is a winter coat, I payed particular attention to making it warm.
Outline the construction…
The pattern for this coat is based on the Ulster coat in "The Keystone Jacket and Dress Cutter", although I made many alterations. The main ones were reducing the width of the skirt part, due to my fabric choice. The collar is self-drafted. The coat is made from heavy felted/boiled wool, the color in picture 1 is the closest to the real one. It is a knitted material, as I discovered after I bought it, so I strengthened it with some fusible batiste (see picture 6). I really wanted to try some of the tailoring techniques seen in the live workshop of FR, so there is horsehair canvas in the front of the coat and linen canvas pad-stitched in the collar. The coat has a layer of cotton batting to make it warmer, which is cross-stitched to the inside of each panel via the seem allowances to reduce bulk in the seems.
This coat is completely stitched by hand, as working with a machine isn't in my set of skills yet (and of course, there probably are no sewing machines in my characters universe...). It is - excluding some masks - my 4th sewing project ever and was only possible with a lot of research and patience for altering things again and again to get it right.
Amazing! I was considering making an outfit of Denna’s too! So beautiful and I love all the details
I want to own this coat! And never apologize for big collars 😉 Your pad stitching looks great too!
Beautiful! I am so impressed with all of you hand-sewers 😍 This looks wonderful. It is finished so well and the color and silhouette look great on you! Beautiful work.
The fit is so on point! Your tailoring and hand sewing skills are so impressive.
Just like Denna was seen by Kvothe, your work is so beautiful that no words can describe it.
Numbers can though: 10/10
Beautiful attention to detail! I love the wooden/gold buttons explanation- well done
Beautiful! It fits you so well! I would definitely buy this if I saw it!
Beautiful and well executed! Well done!
Oh my….this is simply beautiful! very well done, thank you!
I am impressed with your attention to detail! Extremely well executed !