What to do when making a coat muslin

[KTuakli]

Hello good people,

I'm gearing myself up mentally to move away from trousers and start on the path to making my first suit/lounge coat, and before I get stuck in I want to be as ready as possible.

From the reading I have done so far it would seem that I have a rather hard body to cut a coat for. So, I know I will likely benefit from making at least one muslin first, and I've got plenty of calico to use. Which leads me to the question, what do you do differently when making a muslin vs a finished coat? Do you still do a full canvas? Do you put in shoulder pads and shoulder roll? Or do you leave them out and allow for them in some other way?

Also, if anyone has any tips for how to fit on oneself, I would be very grateful to hear them.

Sorry if this topic has come up already. I did do a search, but I didn't find an equivalent topic.

Thanks in advance for your input.

[peterle]

Fitting yourself is a frustrating thing because you can´t pin yourself, wich is essential to fit the shoulder/ neck area accordingly.
I strongly recommend to make an individual dress form of your body from gummed paper strips, like in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLT6vsfkkkI
I use mine for years, it´s very sturdy, just made of paper ( no padding, no jersey).

Calico will behave differently than the original (wool?) fabric, keep this in mind. Canvas and shoulder pads should be incorporated, they are the foundation of the coat and need to be fitted also.

[KTuakli]

Thank you for that response, I really appreciate it.

I've been aware of the utility of/need for a dress form for a while, but at present I don't have space for one in my flat. Hopefully I shall soon be moving to a place with more space. Maybe I shall hold off on making a coat until then. I will certainly make one when I can, so thank you for the video link.

I imagine calico will behave differently, yes. Unfortunately, I can't afford to waste expensive wool on my first fumbling efforts to get something to fit my triangular back and orangutan arms. Are there any key differences in behaviour that you would suggest I look out for? I imagine the drape will be different and the calico's tendency to wrinkle if you look at it wrong. I'm not sure if the calico will respond to ironworking, I guess I'll find out...

[SO_tailor]

"Classic Tailoring Techniques" by Roberto Cabrera has a entire section on that. There is a free 1st edition version of it on Archive. It's very clear and transparent and has photos for better understanding.
https://archive.org/details/pdfy-LeJSGymvA1pvu1KI/page/n22/mode/1up

[KTuakli]

That's a really helpful resource. Thank you for that.

[SO_tailor]

Your welcome! Glad to know the link worked.