I made a new coat and I am so pumped about it! The pattern I used is the Gaia Quilted coat by Named Patterns. I am surprised that I lean toward coat patterns that are not fitted, because when I was buying RTW ones before, I always looked at them being more cinched in the waist. Funny how that changes.

This pattern has some details I never saw on a coat before and it just drew me in. Shoulder detail is here no. 1 for me and I just love that. Lapel is the very second and it maybe the thing that draws the eye in more. I was in!

The pattern is oriented towards advanced sewers. It would be useful if you already made a coat before you take this project on, but maybe with time and patience even an advanced beginner could make it. Maybe? I made my first coat last winter so had already the experience of bagging out the lining and working with wool. That was the Chloe coat by Sew Over It from the Intro to Sewing Coats course and I blogged about it here. I am a visual person so working on my first coat with video support was really helpful.

 

I did encounter few glitches along the way. Maybe that was just me, maybe it was the fabric I choose. I made my coat from boiled wool I got at a local store in Zagreb. This fabric is thicker that the fabric Named girls used in their sample garment. It looks great in the end, but it did mean more pressing and more volume on the seams where more fabric layers were on top of each other. But hey, that is coat making…..

 

And let’s talk about the colour! I am feeling a bigger need for colourful clothes than ever before. I used to dress in black, gray and brown all my teenage years and it probably remains my base palette now. I did make more colourful garments but overall I am craving it more and more. That is why I am happy to have a coloured coat now! The first one was camel and although it is not black it still felt „too safe“. Not that I am screaming colour with a rust coat but I am closer to that. It really cheers me up to put it on and whenever I look down or in the mirror I smile. So I guess I did it right.

 

COAT CONSTRUCTION

I made a muslin to check the fit before cutting into my precious wool. I made my coat in the smallest size offered in the pattern. After I saw this size would work I made up the lining and then started assembling the coat shell. It takes longer because of all the pressing and I used a wood “tool” for better results. Usually a tailor’s wood clapper is used for this, but I do not have one and just used a leftover piece from the floor moulding. But any flat piece of wood in the right size works. I used a gauze between the iron and wool not to leave any marks on the fabric and pressed (not ironed) the wool. Ironing it might stretch the fabric. Then I removed the iron and the gauze and pressed the seam surface with wood until it completely cooled down. This way wood takes the heat from the fabric and wool keeps the shape. I had to repeat it few times with bulkier seams at the pockets.
I avoid pressing from the right side of the fabric to avoid any possible marks on the fabric, especially if the fabric has a nap.

 

I made the mistake of making entire pockets out of wool. I could have used lining fabric for the inside of the pockets. I went with wool because I wanted it to be warmer. Now when the whole thing is finished and pressed and pressed (and pressed) it looks good and is warm but I had to work on it way longer than needed if I had one less layer of wool there. Just something to keep in mind for next time.

 

A slap in the face was when I constructed the shell and tried it on. This is the first moment you get to see how it will look on you. I was a bit disappointed because I looked lost in it. I looked like a 12 year old girl in mom’s big coat. It was just too big and this is the smallest size in the pattern. It really made me feel all different kinds of feelings and I realised that in my experience there are pattern companies that stop with a bottom pattern size that is apparently above my size. So I let it sit for that day and picked it up again the day after. Then I took the sides in from the middle of the sleeve all the way to the pockets. I took it in for about 2 centimetres which sums up to a total of about 8 cm in the overall width of the coat! This helped a lot with the fit on the back as there was too much fabric there that just looked funny. I also had to take in the same amount on the lining so they would fit together.

 

 

When facings were attached it started looking like a proper coat and I fell back in love with it. Then the problem was figuring out how to get the lapels to sit flat without doing topstitching. I posted a question about it in my Instagram stories and got some great advice. Thank you to everyone who wrote, I really appreciate it and I did learn something new! Read bellow.

 

 

Advice I got:

1. Topstitch
2. Understitch bottom side of the fabric (bottom side being the side you can not see. You change understitching from the facing on the bottom to the shell on the lapels).
3. Hand stitch from the inside – invisible from outside and would anchor the facing down
4. Use fuse tape
5. Press and lay something heavy on it until it cools down

I tried to avoid no. 1, because I just did not want to do it on this particular coat.

I tried no. 2 on the lower part of the front understitching the facing, but that did not make much change at all. I ironed it and it did sit flat but when moving the facing kept poking out and the seam turned to the outside.

I also tried to avoid no. 3 because I am lazy and as I did not have any fuse tape at hand no. 4 was also not an option.

I tried no. 5 several times, and it worked well only when I used a wet gauze. I was afraid it would shrink my wool as I did not pretreat it (preshrink it), but it did not do any of that. It flattened the wool so beautifully. I tested it on a scarp first of course to make sure I don’t cry when it is too late. That was my mom’s advice, so thank you mom!

 

From all the great advice received I went with no. 3 in the end and hand-stitched both front seams from the inside with a ladder stitch. I saw Cotton & Curls on Instagram repairing clothes that way recently and I thought that would be a good option. And it was, it worked like a charm! I think that might be my go-to method from now on. What I will do better next time is not pull so strong on the thread because you can see a bit of pulling if you look closely. But not something that bothers me too much.

 

After that it was a breeze. I sewed the lining to the facing, finished sleeve and bottom seams and bagged out the lining.

 

In the end I hand stitched the best label in and that is basically all I could have said about this coat because it truly was made with love and swear words!

 

I love my new coat and I have been wearing it non stop since I made it. And that is what it’s all about folks! I also caught the coat making bug and really want to make another coat this winter. Let’s see if that happens.

 

Thanks for reading and happy sewing!

Ana