Like most of you, time is the culprit on all projects.  And with this one in particular, I take one step forward and one step back.  Learning curves:

–Patterns can be perfect. Patterns can be imperfect.  It’s not always easy to get into the head of the designer.

–The Teflon foot is great on vinyl-covered fabric.  Regular feet work even better as long as I’m working with right sides together.  A big hangup at that point is the vinyl-covered seam allowance running against the bottom of the machine.  It sticks.  Wishing someone would invent a teflon stitch plate.

–The zipper foot with dual feed is almost as good as it gets for attaching piping.

–Don’t rush.  It’s miserable to backtrack.

It’s looking more like it might actually become a coat.  All that’s left is to attach the hood, sew the lining and coat together, then finish up the hems and topstitching.  Still a lot of work but I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.