I made myself a rain coat!

Considering it’s a raincoat this is a project that came out of a clear blue sky! In other words, I had no plan to make a raincoat until, that is, I spied this gorgeous showerproof Missoni fabric on Dibs’s Selvedges and Bolts website. I’m not normally a sucker for impulse purchases of online fabric but this one with it’s eye-catching colours just had my name on it! 

Once I had it in my hot little hands I had to come up with a design for a jacket. My starting point was a vintage pattern for a kagoule-type top which is probably from the late 50s-early 60s but there’s no date on it sadly. As was typical of patterns from that period it’s a single size, medium, which I already knew was OK because I’d used it once before about 4-5 years back. I also have a cheap-as-chips packamac which is a nice style but turned out to leak like a sieve! I would use this as my sample to follow how components like the zip and a storm flap on the front go together for example. There were a few other patterns which gave me some ideas including The Maker’s Atelier Utility Coat and from these various sources I sketched a few drawings to come up with a design I liked. 

As the fabric was expensive I only bought two metres so I had to progress carefully for each step. I made a new pattern for most pieces because the new version would be mid-thigh length and have a full length front zip opening to be covered by a storm flap, plus I repositioned the shoulder seam forwards to minimise possible leakage through the seams. I altered the side seam shaping a little by curving them out slightly, to give a bit more room for bulky jumpers/sweatshirts. I reused the original hood and sleeve patterns, plus I settled on two pleated patch pockets with separate flaps on top. To reinforce the shoulder area I made an inner lining pattern which acts as an internal yoke. 

I read up a few general tips for sewing shower proof fabric before I started-I didn’t need it to be waterproof so I didn’t tape each seam but I did lengthen the stitch slightly, to reduce the number of puncture holes through the fabric which could potentially let water in. I also used a fine Microtex needle to reduce any friction there might be whilst sewing too. This fabric is different to other woven fabrics because of it’s special coating so any mistakes which have to be unpicked would leave holes. It’s possible to press it carefully but not too hot or you could melt it. Use a pressing cloth over the top and warm the iron up incrementally on a scrap piece until you’re happy with the temperature.

It took me a little while to source the hardwear I needed, many suppliers of zips had the length but not the colour, or the colour and not the length! Eventually I bought two open-ended zips of different colours from Jaycott’s.  I couldn’t seem to find any suitable coloured round elastic online so eventually I settled on narrow grosgrain ribbon from VV Rouleaux for the hood and back waist detail instead, plus I sourced some small spring cord-lock toggles to secure the ends where needed. I found the lining for the hood and the shoulder yoke amongst fabrics I already had.

I sewed the jacket up in ‘bite-size’ chunks of time rather than pushing on through-mostly because I was often waiting for something to arrive in the post before I could do the next part. As I wasn’t following a particular set of making instructions I was winging it to a large extent, the order of making was often influenced by another section of the garment having to take a priority at certain points.

the front storm flap somehow came up a bit long which wasn’t a problem, it just meant some unpicking and resewing-at least it wasn’t too short, which would have been worse.

It would have been better if the sleeves could have been just 4-5cms longer-I’m not sure why they seem short because I’m sure they weren’t on the original sweatshirt-perhaps the big difference in fabric types was a factor? Anyway, no matter, I added a small section of elastication to the top of the cuff to bring it in slightly to help prevent drips seeping back up my arms if possible! I should add that normally I would pattern-match the print but I didn’t see any need to do that for this jacket.

elasticated cuffs and pleated pockets

Because this is very much a ‘make it up as I go along’ garment I used some of the ribbon to neaten the neck/hood seam and jolly nice it looks actually!

the finished neck area, I chose to use the purple zip in the end.

Inside, the shoulder area is stabilised with two layers of lining

I gave a bit of shape to the back by adding a channel with ribbon slotted through and secured with the toggles.

I found these pliers amongst my stuff, as you can see from the price they were bought a goodly number of years back! It turns out they work fine and I managed to apply four successful snaps to the front.

Finished!

You won’t miss me in this!

For an unplanned garment I’m very pleased with the outcome, I love the colours and I hope it will be useful, it folds up pretty small so I can shove it in a bag if I’m going out and don’t want, or need, to take a heavier coat. It’s very much one of a kind! In normal times I wouldn’t have been sourcing everything online, I enjoy browsing in real shops for haberdashery and trims, but not just at the moment.

Until next time, happy sewing

Sue

a new Minerva Crafts blog

I’m really happy with this make, it’s the Dawson Coatigan by The Thrifty Stitcher, Claire-Louise Hardie, which I made in Navy Ponte Roma given to me by Minerva Crafts in return for an honest review.

This pattern was released just before Christmas and I think it would be a useful addition to any wardrobe. It’s a softly tailored edge to edge coat with flattering seam lines and integral pockets. It works well in a structured jersey like Ponte Roma, and it would also look good in boiled wool or felted wool.

And depending when you’re reading this the Dawson also qualifies for the Sew Over 50 #so50Visible challenge too which finishes on March 15th. Read my previous blog posts for all the details on that but you haven’t got long if you hope to win one of the prizes!

I love the darts detail on the back and sleeves on the Dawson.

There’s lots more details and photos of my make over on the Minerva Crafts website, thank you as always to them for providing me with the fabric.

Until next time,

Sue

Simple Sew Cocoon jacket

When it came to selecting our next make for the Simple Sew blog there were two new ‘mystery’ patterns on the list as well as all the existing ones. One was a dress and the other was the Cocoon Jacket. As my next blog would be appearing at the beginning of autumn it seemed an idea to take a chance on the jacket-I already know the Cocoon dress which has been incredibly popular and is a very simple and stylish make so I figured the coat would be very similar.

I was so happy when the pattern arrived because it’s exactly that-simple and stylish!  The obvious fabric choice would be a nice woollen cloth-it suggests a boiled wool and this indeed would be perfect but, because I didn’t know just what the pattern was like until it arrived, I hadn’t chosen any fabric from one of our generous providers so I needed to get my own. For some reason it occurred to me that denim would an interesting choice and ideal for the autumn too. Luckily I live very near a branch of John Lewis so in I went and managed to buy 2.5m of a nice quality rigid denim in a fairly dark blue. The first thing I did when I got it home was put it through the wash twice to get out as much excess dye as possible and deal with any possible shrinkage before I started cutting out.

The pattern pieces are an intriguing shape, the back and the sleeve come as one large piece plus a front, a pocket and neck facings. What this means is that every piece ideally needs to be cut on the single which shouldn’t be a problem, it just takes longer and you need to be very careful not to cut two the same of the large pieces. If you want to use a cloth with a large check you may need to allow more fabric for good matching too. A stripe would look interesting as well.

Initially I opted to make my usual size 14 and I could already see from the pieces that this was likely to be too large. Before anything else I tissue-fitted the pattern. This is when you pin the tissue or paper pieces together accurately as though they are sewn and try it on carefully either on yourself or your dress stand if you have one. From this I could tell that the sleeves would be really long so for the toile I reduced them by about 8-10cms by folding out carefully about halfway down the sleeve. I cut and sewed the jacket then in some grey suiting fabric from my stash so that I could assess the size. I’m so glad I did this because it was HUGE, not just comfortably roomy, actually ginormous! I’m not sure why it needs to be so oversized but that wasn’t how I wanted to wear it so I chose to come down two whole sizes and make a 10. As you’ll see later it’s still plenty big enough. [I’ll recut and make up the grey one at some point so it won’t go to waste.]

Hmmm, plenty of room for everyone in here!

The instructions tell you to overlock all the edges before starting but I made all the darts first (which aren’t indicated in the line drawing-why not?) and then overlocked. If you’re using boiled wool, or decide to line it, then I wouldn’t bother overlocking unless your fabric frays a lot. Denim does fray a bit because it’s a twill weave but it wasn’t really a problem here. As the overlocking on my coat was going to be visible I picked a mix of three fun colours, fuchsia, orange and teal. I used a jeans needle throughout too although a sturdier size (90 or 100) of a regular needle would do if you haven’t got one.

multi-coloured overlocking

Because I’m using denim I wanted to use topstitching to highlight the seams. I was going to buy some specific topstitching thread but I couldn’t settle on a colour so instead I tried out a few colours in regular thread I already had and then used the triple straight stitch on my machine, which looks like topstitching. [You may not even know your machine has this stitch, it looks like three rows of straight stitch close together in the diagram so have a look to see if it’s there-it’s also known as saddle stitch] In addition to sewing on the patch pockets with like this I highlighted the darts at the back neck, elbow and hem, as well as all the seams and outer edges. Be aware that the triple straight stitch uses a lot of thread though.

A very generous patch pocket, I used squared-off top stitching at the top edge for extra reinforcement.

This jacket goes together so quickly! You simply make up each half and then join them down the centre back. [Since writing this it’s been brought to my attention that the instructions for attaching the front to the back at the raglan seam are currently wrong! I’ve realised that I probably disregarded the drawing because I couldn’t make sense of it and did it intuitively which isn’t helpful to you! The illustration shows the front piece attaching to the back the wrong way up, in so doing it means the neck edge won’t form a curve and the underarm sleeve seams don’t come together, below is the instruction as it currently stands, together with my drawing of how it should be]

This is how the instruction sheet shows it. It has the neck edge attaching to the underarm seam and will never work if you do it like this.

This is my little drawing of how it should be. The illustration looks like the raglan seam won’t match up but it does, you have to manipulate it a little.

 The sleeve seam falls to the front as a raglan and there’s the darts in the back and elbow/underarm to give a little shaping but that’s it. I would urge you if you’re using a boiled wool or other fabric which looks the same on both sides to mark them in some way so that you don’t make up the two halves the same not a pair! If you use boiled wool there’s no need to finish the edges unless you want to, or use the facings. You’ll need to use plenty of steam to press those seams open too.

I used facings cut in denim but you could easily cut them in a contrast if you like. I didn’t bother with interfacing because my jacket is meant to be very soft and slouchy and denim is already quite firm without adding more weight. At the lower hem don’t forget to trim away the excess fabric at the corners so that they turn better to make a sharper corner. When you’re sewing at a point like this always start from the fold or seam (marked with the pointer in my photo) and sew towards the open edge so that you don’t get a wrinkle or lump forming, it pushes any excess fabric away flat as you sew with this method.

When you stitch the facing at the hem start from the point indicated and sew across.

trim away the excess at the corner but don’t take it too near the hem itself, to the left.

Once both halves are made and joined there’s only the hems to turn up and the fastenings-if you’re using any- to sew on. I bought a pair of HUGE metal press studs in John Lewis, the pattern suggests magnetic fastenings or bold decorative buttons would be fun too.

Considering I didn’t know anything about the pattern before it arrived I’m really delighted with how it’s turned out. I reckon this will be a very popular pattern this winter as it’s so quick to sew, just be very careful about your sizing though, at the very least do a tissue fit before cutting your fabric. It’s going to be a great casual cover up, for me it’s a variation on the denim jacket, but it’s still generous enough to get woollies underneath.

It would be easy to fully line as well, simply cut all the pieces in a lining fabric too and make up the same. Attach it at the neck and front edges and then add the facings is one way to do this but there are others. Alternatively, you could use ‘Hong Kong’ finish on the seams, this is to bind all the seams with bias- or seam binding, it makes the inside of the coat look lovely although it’s time-consuming. What about using a heavy drill fabric, or a waterproof one even? Add a hood? In-seam pockets? Fleece-lined sweatshirting? So many possibilities!

dart near the elbow

front raglan sleeve seams

darts at the back neck

GIANT press studs!!

I used bright pink to top stitch the CB seam

I managed to top stitch the whole under arm seam too.

Even coming down 2 sizes it’s a generous fit and there’s room for jumpers underneath.

there are darts at the back hem

The blouse is a favourite Maker’s Atelier Holiday shirt.

The trousers are New Look 6351

The jacket will gradually soften and scuff as time passes which is exactly what I want and I think I’ll get a lot of use from it. I’m looking forward to seeing lots of versions of the Cocoon Jacket appearing over the autumn/winter months ahead, I wore it to the recent Sewing Weekender in Cambridge organised by The Foldline and English Girl at Home and it got a fair number of very positive comments. You’ve only got to wait until the November issue of Sew Now magazine when the pattern will be the free gift with it, unless Simple Sew can be persuaded to release it sooner than that…

Happy sewing

Sue

 

 

I made a coat!! Butterick 6423 to be precise…

Two years ago I did a 10 week tailoring course at Morley College, London but it’s taken me until now to actually make my own coat. I settled on Butterick 6423 partly because it’s a fairly similar silhouette to a RTW coat I already own and wear a lot, and then, ironically, it came free with Love Sewing magazine just before Christmas.

Added to this I had 3 metres of lovely turquoise-coloured wool in my stash that was gifted to me about a year ago by a friend who was clearing out her mother’s belongings and wanted the fabrics and patterns (LOTS of them) to go to an appreciative home. Not only that, I had just under 2 metres of almost psychedelic lining fabric which came from a different elderly lady ( I had no idea what to do with it at the time but, as is often the way, it goes really well with this wool)

Because I had plenty of fabric, which makes a change for me as I tend to underestimate, I could cut out the coat without having to watch every centimetre. I didn’t have quite enough lining though so I cut all the pieces which would be visible inside the main body and the sleeve linings I cut from plain lining, again from my stash.

Sleeve lining, with 4cms of the length folded out

Initially, before I cut the fabric, I pinned the tissue together to check it on my dress-stand. I chose to take 3cms out of the overall body length and 4cms out of the sleeves because they seemed terribly long. This proved to be sensible as you’ll see in the finished garment.

I used loads of good old-fashioned tailor’s tacks on all the balance marks, I’m not always this meticulous but it proved invaluable for this project.

coming together slowly…

I found the instructions very clear to follow and I don’t think at any time did I get in a muddle although I do think a common problem with the ‘big’ pattern companies is that the diagrams can be very small making it difficult to see exactly what you should be doing, particularly areas like clipping into important corners eg at the collar/shoulder seam.

Because I do a lot of alterations for people I’ve noticed various techniques employed in the construction of RTW garments. Cuffs, for example, are usually stabilised with iron-on interfacing of some kind so that’s what I did here.

By doing this it stops the cuff from stretching (my fabric is fairly loosely woven too) and gives it firmness and stability. I bought my iron-on interfacing in Goldhawk Rd, London so I can’t really give much detail about it except to say I was told it’s suitable for woollens and tailoring with a light jersey backing. I used it on the collar facing too and it seems to be absolutely fine. You could use a firmer one if you wish, that would make the collar firmer than mine.

There are a few places where you’re told to hand sew hand, attaching the sleeve lining to the inside of the cuffs for example, but if you’re not a fan of hand sewing  it is possible to do this by machine, you just need to get them pinned correctly (double-check you’ve got it right first by turning the sleeve right-side out before you sew it)

I sewed up the sleeve hems inside using herringbone stitch.

It’s also worth attaching a small amount of the sleeve-lining seam to the sleeve seam inside, this stops any chance of the lining sliding out of the end of the sleeve.

You can do this on the machine, or a few running stitches will do the job.

This is the inside of the back-neck collar seam. I’ve pinned them together and then stitched to keep the seam from shifting about.

Making the back pleat needs a bit of concentration partly because the lining gets stitched together with it-this makes sense because it reduces the bulk if you’d done them each separately. I opted to partly stitch the pleat together for about 10cms down from the top simply so that it didn’t have a chance to be to flappy in wear.

Once the pleat section is sewn on the instructions say to slip-stitch the lining down. Again, it’s possible to do this on the machine, you need to work your way into the right place by going in through the gap at the front between the facing and the coat front. 

I sewed the coat hem up using herringbone stitch because I think it holds a hem nice and firmly. You sew this stitch from left to right, looping each stitch backwards from the previous one, one above then one below.

Throughout the making process I pressed often and used plenty of steam, with a pressing cloth to prevent shine. If you’re using pure wool you can press and re-press because it’s very forgiving although be more careful if you’re using a fabric that isn’t well or is made with mixed fibres. As my tutor on the tailoring course often said, “steam is your friend” A tailor’s ham is a great boon too because it will enable you to press in tricky areas or under curves seams, for example.

The lining hem was just turned and machined. To neaten the bottom of the front facing I applied a little bit of self-made bias binding, it’s looks nice and it doesn’t add the bulk that turning the edge over could do.

I also added 2 small loops of fabric to hold the lining and the coat together at the side seams, again this stops it flapping about in wear.

I added a hanging loop at the neck which I should have sewn on by machine at an earlier stage but I forgot so I had to sew it on by hand at the end.

I sewed a few stitches through the CB neck seams to secure the collar facing and under-collar to each other.

The last thing to do is the single buttonhole. I had a rummage for a suitable button first and I came up with a single beautiful mother-of-pearl one which I’d bought a couple of years ago, simply because it’s lovely! I paid £1 for it and I’ve actually left the tiny price label on the back, just because…

I created a surround of tacking stitches to hold the area firm and stable before sewing the buttonhole. I did several trial ones first because my Pfaff is so new to me and I didn’t want to mess it up at this late stage. Unfortunately the thread I’d used for the whole garment was clearly too dark in such a prominent position so I had to go and buy a single reel of thread just for the buttonhole! When I sewed the button on I sewed another small button on behind it so that the fabric doesn’t have to take all the strain of a button being done up and undone constantly.

This is a coat with a slightly retro aesthetic, it’s a little bit 50’s, the back is a little bit 20’s. The result though is modern and wearable and I’m really happy with it.

I love the fun lining inside too. The wool fabric isn’t that thick though so I don’t think I’ll be wearing it when it’s very cold although there is room for a jumper underneath.

You can see where I’ve sewn up the pleat by about 10-12cms.

As you will have noticed it’s a difficult colour to photograph accurately, the outdoor ones are probably the closest to the real shade.

It’s been an enjoyable process, I took my time over it and I’m very happy with the result. It would be a good project to try if you’re becoming a bit more experienced with your sewing, nothing is terribly tricky, buy suitable but not too expensive fabric and take your time! I’m glad I took some of the length out of the body and sleeves as they would have been very long. I made the size medium and it was plenty big enough, I think the sizing is definitely on the generous-side though so don’t be tempted to go up a size, make a toile if you need to or tissue fit if you can. I didn’t bother neatening any of the seams inside because all of them were going to be enclosed but you could choose to leave the coat unlined and then bind all the seams (Hong Kong finish) which is practical and attractive.

…and the coat cost me barely anything at all!

Because it was the free pattern with Love Sewing I expect there will be lots of versions of this coat popping up over the winter so it will be fun to see how they all vary. Have you made this pattern, I’d love to know how you got on?

Happy Sewing

Sue