I finished Hambet's fireman coat last night. I did cut the boots, but I'm not worrying about finishing them -- Hambet is too little for them just now. He can just wear his snow boots and a pair of black jeans.
If he wears the costume, that is! When I brought it out for him to try on, he said, "no!" and ran off! He's been refusing to try it on since.
The fireman coat is made of yellow vinyl with black contrast banding. (The pattern is Butterick 3244.)
I had such a time with the vinyl! It's got a felt backing, kind of like a vinyl tablecloth, and I'm sure the fabric was intended for upholstery. It was very cumbersome to sew. Most vexing was that I couldn't sew the applique stripes onto the costume -- it just kept getting knotted up into the machine! I think it just wouldn't feed properly, that the felt back of the top layer, when laid on top of the vinyl of the second layer, made the whole thing too slippery. I made a 911 call to my mother and another one to a lady around here who is an experienced seamstress. They were both out. So I clicked around Mothering With Grace, read about someone else's costume woes, and then remembered.... the glue gun.
I used the glue gun for the applique stripes and for the fastening tabs. So far it seems to be holding together. My mom called me back this evening and suggested sandwiching the vinyl between layers of tissue paper. Maybe sometime I'll go back and try it. The glue should hold up through tomorrow night, though -- especially if Hambet won't wear the costume! I cut it plenty big, so he can be a fireman next year too.
Next time you sew anything that's fuzzy enough to snag in the feed dog, put a piece of tissue paper between the fabric and the teeth of the feed dog (funny name, isn't it?). Excess bits of pattern tissue work very well.
That's what my mom recommended. I don't think the fuzzy backing was the issue; it fed (slowly, but I could work with it) as long as it was right-sides together, so that both fuzzy sides were turned to the outside. It was sppliqueing right-side-out on top of right-side-out that was the problem; I don't know whether the vinyl didn't like the pressure foot or whether the fuzzy back of the top layer was sliding against the slick vinyl front of the bottom layer.
"Feed dog" is indeed a funny name.