Oh Bother

I like to have a lot of coats in winter, so that my coat can contribute to my outfit rather than hiding it. Two years ago (or so) I made myself this black coat out of an old coat I already had:

The old coat was a classic long black men's dress coat - I'm not sure how to describe the style, but you'd know if you saw it. The wool is lovely and thick and good quality (I got the coat second-hand; I forget if I bought it or if it was a Free Thing.). However the neckline made an inconveniently deep V for someone of my stature - I can only assume the coat's intended wearer was over 6 feet. And of course the skirt of the coat was straight up and down, so as my taste in skirts expanded sideways the coat couldn't keep up. So I made it over into this shorter coat, which is in the style of an 1860s coat with full sleeves and wide mid-thigh length skirts. It was recognized as probably 1860s by a stranger in a restaurant once so I guess it's not half bad.

Now because I was making one shaped garment out of another, there was a need for quite a bit of piecing, especially in the sleeves. In order to perserve as much width as possible, I pieced by zigzagging the abbutted edges of the fabric together, with a bit of hem tape behind to support it. But, while this wool is thick, it is not felt, so there are a number of places along the piecing lines that are trying to come apart.

a crack in one sleeve

this one's a bit harder to see. it's along the line where the pocket attaches

I do not much like this state of affairs! Having worn the coat for some years now, I am quite sure there's enough space in there to make proper seams instead of weird zigzag nonsense. Unfortunately, that means I need to take the coat pretty much all to pieces and put it back together again...