Sunday 21 August 2016

Winter coat

I can feel spring in the air so it's probably time I blogged about my winter coat! I made a WINTER COAT! Can you tell I'm very excited about it? It's probably my most advanced and complicated make yet. Not perfect but it keeps me warm and I absolutely love it!


I wanted to make a longer coat with high collar and slightly military style. Burda 12/2012 #104 was just perfect! I got a PDF pattern and it was surprisingly nice to work with - no need for tracing the pattern is always good ;) I cut size 44 and decided to make a muslin. The overall fit was spot on but I had some issues with the sleeves. Once the sleeves were in, I wasn't able to move my arms much in any direction...not ideal. It took me a while to figure out what to do but when I found this post on Ikat Bag blog everything became clear. I lowered the head of the sleeve by 5 cm and kept the same seam length. It worked like a charm!


As usual with Burda, I had an issue with the instructions provided. They were only marginally better than "sew the pieces of the coat together." After reading them I decided I'm better off relying on my own experience. It actually went well! Turns out that sewing a coat is not much different than sewing a dress - it just has a few more pieces. In this case around 40 of them! As my fabric is almost the same on both sides I used masking tape to label the pieces and seam numbers.


The fabric is some sort of the woolen mix I got on sale. The lining was originally going to be bright yellow but my fabric was way too delicate. After going trough my stash I found a piece of silk taffeta from The Fabric Store that worked well. It's slippery, feels really good and I absolutely love the colours. The amazing metal buttons come from Made Marion - the best craft shop in Wellington :)


I'm quote proud of myself. The coat is super wearable, keeps me warm and doesn't look bad. I made my first bound buttonholes and I was amazed how easy they are to make. And then I realized the problem is to make them all look the same! Mine are a bit wonky, I'm not going to lie here ;) I'm a bit angry with myself that I listened to Burda and only interface the facings... After a couple of months of wearing my coat the front got a bit out of shape. I think a good steaming session will fix it but it could have been prevented with interfacing the whole front. Lesson learnt! Other than that I think my first coat is pretty awesome!





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