Lilli Ann coat update

[Joji Furukawa]

So the Lilli Ann coat finally arrived and I grabbed some pictures. Please tell me what you think! Mannequin would be roughly 5'7"/8" with a head. The hand stitching is beautiful, so well done. The photos of the seam show the hem with the lining up and then with the lining down. I personally don't think it has been shortened because there are little chain threads holding the securing the lining to the coat and they are placed in very distinct places. Also the hand stitching on the lining hem matches the other hand stitching on other parts of the coat.

 

[Joji Furukawa]

Just bumping before it falls to the bottom. Still not 100% sure.

 

[poppysvintageclothing]

Lovely coat. I can't be sure if was cut or not from the photos.

 

[Joji Furukawa]

Hi Mary Jane and thank you for the reply! Please let me know if you need anymore pictures and I will get them for you asap. Also, would you advise dry cleaning? I've never dealt with seal hair before so I'm not really sure.

 

[Circa Vintage Clothing]

Looks much better now, doesn't it? Yes, I would dry clean. I routinely dry clean all tailored wools because you need to make sure there aren't any bugs in them.

The skirt look like it was taken up. I would unstitch a little and peak inside, the original hem looks like it's still there so you can take it down.

Nice score!

 

[Pinkcoke]

I agree the hem still looks like it's been altered. You can also see a crease line on the satin lining where it has been hemmed shorter previously. The thread chains are self-enclosed and can be removed and reattached by a seamstress who knows what they are doing. I can see the extra length in the lining, but it looks to me as though the outer fabric may have been cut, probably because it is too bulky to fold over. You should be able to tell in hand.

 

[Joji Furukawa]

Hi Nicole, thank you for the reply! You are definitely right, I checked the hem and it had been pinked and then folded over, none of the other swans are pinked. Also, the original owner must have had the cuffs narrowed as in other examples of the coat, they are much looser and the construction is different. I think I'll leave the alterations as is as they look to have been done by a professional tailor and are quite well done. Looks like a lot of people found this coat to be too long!

 

[Joji Furukawa]

Hi Melanie, so would that mean they made the lining longer, but shortened the exterior fabric? The extrior fabric was pinked and then folded inside then sewn. This must have been owned by a more petite woman, as the cuffs have also been narrowed. So would the alterations have been made to shorten the coat?

 

[Pinkcoke]

It means at some point the coat hem was shorter than it is currently. You may be able to make out a faint crease line on the outer fabric but it will be less noticeable than the lining, if present, due to the weight of the fabric helping to pull it out over time.
As for the current hem length - both the lining and outer would have been shortened at the same time, but because the lining is thin enough this was simply folded over and tacked up higher. The thickness of the outer fabric means it can't be folded twice without having a bulky hem that is very visible, and it can't be hemmed with a really deep hem because the flare of the panels mean the hem would be longer than the width of the coat where it needs to be attached, so it had to be cut for a successful alteration with a seamless look outside.
Seeing the original advert, with it shown over a crinoline boosted dress, I think it would have been maybe a foot longer to achieve that flare.

 

[Joji Furukawa]

Thank you for clarifying! That makes a lot of sense, so I imagine the coat must have been almost floor length originally.