Spring coat

This week Sofilantjes organized a pattern flip sew along. Melissa Malic from Rebel and Malice showed how you can flip the Irdis wrap dress to a spring coat. The sew along started on Monday and the sewing should have been done on Friday, but nice as they are (and probably anticipating that many of use can sew more in the weekend) Sofilantjes and Melissa gave people two days extra to catch up, and the winner (yes there is a price) will be announced coming Monday. For me this meant that I finished cutting yesterday (Friday evening) and sewed up the coat this morning (Saturday morning).

The Irdis dress comes both in a woven and a jersey pattern version, and the woven pattern should have been the base for a woven spring coat. Besides sizing, the difference between the jersey and the woven pattern version is that the jersey version has a three layered skirt. Both the Irdis wrap dress and the proposed spring coat have a skirt in three pieces (which you can use for some interesting color blocking). Due to my fabric choice I did not wanted to cut the skirt part in pieces. I therefore used the jersey pattern as the base of my coat. I simply used bottom skirt pieces (the largest from the three layers) only. The fact that I used the jersey pattern of course complicated the sizing. I took my daughters old coat and a pattern piece I recently used for a woven dress, and the width I needed was that of a size 158 (13 years). For the length I picked 116 (6 years). I had to be a bit creative while combining the two very different sizes but I managed.

I added the suggested collar, of which the pattern can be found in the Sofilantjes sew and show Facebook group. A coat should have pockets, so I also added those. I thought very much about adding a hood, because a good coat has a hood, but I have not come up with a good solution. I fear that due to the relatively low collar there would not be enough place to attach the hood. The hood would also obscure the back collar, which is one of the coats nice details. For now I decided to let the hood be, but this might change in the future. Maybe the other sewers will have found a solution.

The fabric I used for the outside of the coat was the oldest fabric in my closet. I actually inherited it from my grandmother who died over 10 years ago. I therefore have no idea where the fabric came from, or what the fabric is, but I assume it is wool. I now only have a small piece left that could become a hood if I find a way. When I started cutting I did not pay attention to the pattern. After cutting the main pieces I realized that with such a checkered fabric it is important that the stripes form a continues pattern. For my coat they do not line up exactly. If I would re-cut the fabric I would have cut differently anyway. I would have cut three (one back, two front) main pattern pieces, by putting the bodice and skirt parts together.

For the collar I used a thicker mixed knit fabric I bought a few months ago at Textielstad, the fabric is not available anymore. For the lining and the pockets I used a jersey which I bought on a crazy sale at Suz designer stoffen. I used the jersey for the bottom of the collar as well, two layers of the thick knit might have become too much. Now the collar sometimes shows a bit of the very colorful lining, I think it has a certain charm. I lined the sleeves with a polyester smooth lining, this trick I learned while reading about the Lars of Zonen09.

I wanted to flip the pattern flip a bit so I added an empty pipping allover the coats sides, I needed a three meter strip of jersey for that. I sewed the pipping with my serger, it went slow but it went well. To nicely finish the coat I put a decorative seam next to the pipping, this also fixated the lining and outer fabric. Decorative stitches and me are not great friends yet. That is why I rarely use them. I assume like with many sewing techniques, I need more practice and to get to know my machine better. My usual problem is bobbing thread showing, which also happened this time. This is partly caused by the fact that the bobbin and the main thread did not have the same thickness. I used embroidery thread in the needle. I did not wanted to use it in the bobbin as well because embroidery thread is a bit weaker than normal thread. In the case of this coat I do not really mind that the white from the bobbin is showing, I think it fits the design of the fabric, but I really should start studying how to get the effect done well. The picture is a bit blurry, my apologies if you get a bit nauseous looking at it.

I put one kam snap to close the coat. My daughter will have to practise a bit, but she will quickly get the hang of closing it. The coat is only almost finished, I just have to come up with a way to fixate the inner coat piece. Now it is still hanging loose (creating a bit open collar in a few of the pictures), I will probably use another kam snap to fixate the inner piece, but I wasn't sure about that this afternoon. I have learned to let things like that rest a bit, if I am not sure, to avoid regretting a quick solution. Due to the deadline of the sew along I decided tot post the coat anyway.

*** update May 24***

A week after I sewed the coat, I added a second button and indeed added a hood. My daughter loves the coat and wears it every day, preferable with hood up. The design of the coat is not distored when the hood is down. When the hood it up the front looks a bit strange, but my daughters preferences are more important than fashion.

I love to hear what you think of my creations. Feel free to leave a comment in the language you prefer (although Google translate might have to assist me if you choose something different than English, German, Dutch or Hungarian).