A few notes:

Shoulder pad attachment: I did not notice Marcy Tilton’s observation of Armani’s method for attaching shoulder pads, even though I have read the article a bunch of times over the years. I am very glad I took the time to read it carefully this time. Attaching the shoulder pad to the shoulder seam with a strip of lining is ingenious.

Thinsulate. I discovered quickly that the 3M Thinsulate Fabric/interlining could not handle direct heat higher than low to off. I admonished myself for not looking online to find handling instructions before ironing. Later, I found information about the fabric, but no mention of ironing. As I continued to search, I found instructions in a thread on PatternReview.com.

Vogue Fabrics instructions for using Thinsulate are to place the quilted side towards the outer garment and the flat side towards the lining. I did the reverse. The wool fabric was catching the quilted side and creating a lot of lint. In instructions to manufacturers, 3M recommends using a “scrim” between the outer layer of fabric and Thinsulate. I had never heard of this before, but learned that it is the same as or very similar to cotton gauze. I really think that adding scrim would have caused bunching, therefore I am happy with how I constructed my coat.

Buttons. I didn’t order buttons until the coat was nearly finished, which is one of the reasons why I have not posted sooner. I searched far and wide (internet) for suitable buttons and found a wonderful place to buy wood buttons – Little Big Buttons. It takes a little extra time to get them from Canada, but the price and quality are unmatched to what I was finding elsewhere.

Bias interfacing strips. I used the strips in the sleeve hem, but decided not to use them in the coat hem. The sleeve hems looked formed, which was okay in that area, however I felt the designers were going for a more draped effect with the version of the coat I made. The other versions required topstitching over most seams, where my version did not.