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Friday 13 February 2015

Can Claire Sew a Coat?



I want to make a coat this year - hopefully before the weather in London warms up too much❄!

I've never made a jacket, let alone a coat before, so this will be totally new territory for me - but I think that it'll be a challenging, yet fun project for me.

I plan to work in my preferred style "slow sewing" and to take my time on this to get a great finish :-). I shall probably work on the coat on and off between other makes, as I don't want to get frustrated with it when I hit a proverbial wall. I don't want to end up making silly mistakes because I want to get it finished and "done with" - I'll be keeping my fingers-crossed that my plan for "slow and steady" will win me that race LOL!

I've ordered a copy of Simplicity 1197 to work with.


It's a re-printed retro 60's style that reminds me a lot of much loved, vintage second-hand Camel coloured wool coat that I bought from a charity shop in my teens. It has Raglan sleeves, and a trapeze shaped silhouette - so, it should be a.) easy to sew-in the sleeves, and b.) have minimal fit issues over the waist/hips etc. (yay!).

I plan to make a Toile in Calico/Muslin fabric first to tweak the fit. I anticipate that I will need to make my customary 1.5cm-2cm FBA (full-bust adjustment). Possible other tweaks that could occur are all problems that I encounter with RTW (ready to wear) coats are: needing to length sleeves + hem, and narrowing/tapering-down the horizontal width between the waist and hem (I have hips typically 1-2 sizes smaller than the pattern-size I use for my bust and waist).

And then, I've got some inexpensive grey wool-mix fabric to try it out in - after which I can hunt down some appropriate Camel toned Wool - yay!



6 comments:

  1. I'm sure you will do a wonderful job with this coat and can't wait to see it all finished up Claire.

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  2. That's it Claire, take your time, do your toile, I'm sure you'll do a great job! I can picture this in a floral cotton drill somehow....
    You're not lining it as well are you?

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! I will definitely pace myself on this make ;-).

      I think this pattern in a floral fabric would be perfect for a guest at a wedding (or other posh "do")!! :-) And a cotton drill would be far easier to sew n press than thicker winter-weight wool.

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  3. Coat sewing is very addictive; enjoy!

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    1. Hi Catherine! Well, if this one goes well then there's a Camel one to make + my mind is now think a black twill-weave short version would be good for date-nights out with the Hubster too (oh dear looks like I may have a lot of work on my hands this year with coats/tailoring haha!)

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