BABY BLUE COAT

 
So finally here is what I've been working on the last five weeks. Actually even picking the pattern for my fabric - light blue fulled wool and soft dark blue coat fabric - took some time.
Then I decided to make this coat pattern from Burda 10/2013. 

 
Here is what I made in the end. Slightly different from the magazine pattern.
I didn't like the furry part of the coat so I cut the front and back panels as one piece and cut the lower sleeve of blue wool ,too.
For the facings and lapels I used the darker wool. I left off the buttons and inserted a zipper instead. I didn't make a belt as well, but added back tucks to get a better fit. 
If you have a closer look at the front you will also notice the diagonal bands where the pockets are located. These are my addition as well.

 
The hood pattern is really nice and if I were more into hoods I would definitely use it again. But otherwise next time I would pick a more fitted coat pattern but that's only because of my own tastes. I always feel kind of uncomfortable if a jacket or coat is very loose although I like them on other people ;)

Of course the coat is lined in all parts. I sewed all hems ,wool and lining, by hand with herringbone stiches. (Please, tell me if it is called differently!)

 I like the overall impression of my new coat although next time I would make a smaller size as the fit is very loose. I'm not sure if this was intended as the original pattern wouls include a belt but I still think the fit was too loose before I took in the side seams quite a bit. Usually I make a size 38 because of my shoulder and chest width but this time I guess a size 36 would have had ample room.

When I was preparing to write this post a serious problem turned up. It was completely impossible for me to take any acceptable pictures of myself. Last time I made a few good ones in the end. 
Pictures 3 and 4 above are examples of the better ones I took when I first tried to take them inside this time. But taking a photo of one's back is just not as challengeing as one of the front and face.
First the light was wrong, then the posture, then my expression, ... I hadn't really anticipated how many things could go wrong!
In the end after almost none of the felt 200 pics were ok and I was really close to giving up the idea of blogging any pictures ever again I decided to try a last time and take some outside. I read somewhere that the light in the shade would be good. And surprise, besides some inevitable grimaces I got some quite nice pictures, too.

So now I'm really really interested how do you take your pictures? I would love to hear what you do to get good ones?