Making a coat is something I'd had on my to do list for ages, but I'd not really got round to it because it seemed like a really big project to take on. Of course when I finally got on with it I found that it was not as big of a project as I feared and banged out a coat in just a few days!
I'd had Simplicity 1254 in my stash for aaaages and enchanted by the great big collar I dived into coat making for the first time. I picked some coating that had been in the stash for a while as my main fabric and chose some shiny grey stuff for the lining which has honestly been in the stash since before I even had a stash. I think I thought it would make a lovely dress back in 2007 or so but thankfully that plan never saw the light of day! I also decided to use some yellow tartan flannel as interlining to give my coat a bit more warmth and body. The most time consuming part of the entire project was cutting out all of those bits, but I'm glad I did, my coat is lovely and warm and the structure is just right.
I opted not to include the pockets on this coat, which did mean I had a few less pieces to cut although I'm not entirely convinced in was the right thing to do. I felt that the pocket area looked a little sloppy on the pattern envelope, like they sort of compromised the structure somehow so I decided to leave them off. I can't tell you how many time I've tried to stick my hands in those non existent pockets though so I probably should have included them.
On the whole, the making of this coat was fairly straightforward. The main body and lining were very simple to construct until it came to sticking the two together. This pattern has some seriously mixed up priorities as far as I'm concerned, dedicating barely a sentence to the lining of the entire coat and yet taking an entire paragraph to explain understitching. Seriously just say 'understitch collar' and use the rest of the space to explain lining the damn coat properly! I'm still not convinced I did it right, but my coat is lined and that is all I can ask for. Things did not seem much clearer when it came to sticking the collar on, but again it's on so job's a good'un as they say.
So, it may have been a bumpy ride but I achieved coat and wearable coat at that. It has a couple of issues, the most obvious being that the zip shows and because I thought it would be hidden I used a blue one so it is even more obvious that it would have been if I'd matched it better. I'm assuming this is my fault, but again I was confused about exactly where I was supposed to place it so I'm not taking full responsibility for that.
Also, it doesn't show on the outside but despite knowing that the lining needed to be bigger than the outer fabric I followed the pattern and cut them the same size so of course I've now popped a seam in the lining. This was almost inevitable given that I wear Felicity in a sling on my back nearly every day and the action of getting her up there will put a lot of stress on a none too flexible seam. This was really a lesson in giving myself some credit and trusting that sometime I do know better than the pattern.
All in all though, I'm very proud of my coat, even though I'll be giving this pattern a miss for my next foray into coat making. I love the overall look of it, but I don't need another like it and I'll pick something with slightly clearer directions next time. Oh and lastly, that hood that the model is so enticingly holding up on the envelope? Don't do that.
That is all.
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