Small Stones...

The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.

~ Chinese proverb

Well last weekend wasn't as productive as I had hoped, but I did make some progress on the raincoat.  First, I got the sleeves inserted into the outer coat:

It was a bit stressful, as the laminate doesn't gather easily - plus those instructions kept warning me to be careful because the pin holes won't close up...  :(

Normally I would pin sleeves perpendicularly to the seam and use tons of pins.  But with this warning in mind, I decided to hand stitch them in place before machine stitching them.  

One sleeve set in perfectly.  The other has a small bubble, which I decided to live with - rather than add to the holes in the fabric by pulling out the stitches and re-sewing.  

I also assembled the lining.  Notice that there are lapels in the laminate and then the rest of it is in the soft, brown flannel that I picked out...  

Here's a close-up shot of the lining to show 2 things:  

First, the seam connecting the laminate and the lining is a bit of a princess seam.  As with the curved seams on the hood and the princess seam on the outer coat, I found it easier to clip into the laminate first, before fitting the 2 pieces together.  (Something I don't usually do...)  It wasn't quite as tricky as the hood as these curves aren't as sharp and the lining layer of fabric has some give in it.  

Second, the instructions had me take a 1 inch tuck down the center back of the lining.  Apparently I'm going to open it at the end and it will allow for some movement and give inside the coat?  I'm not 100% clear on how it's going to work, but we'll see...  

The next step is going to be a doozy - connecting the lining to the outer coat!    I'm kind of nervous - wish me luck!  :)