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Thursday, August 28, 2014

Thrifty Thursday

I've had this jacket in my line up of free patterns for a while. Although the weather has not changed, fall and winter are fast approaching, so rather than put it off, I thought I would go ahead and get it together.
The jacket is an unlined jacket meant to be made out of boiled wool or a heavy weight knit. You can find the free downloadable pattern here.
The instructions are in the December/January issue of Sew News. Back copies are available here. There is a print version as well as a digital version available. The instructions really aren't necessary for this coat, but the magazine has so many wonderful projects, so you might want to go ahead an order one if you do not already have one. Click here and you can see the other projects that are available in this issue.
Here's my coat. I had a piece of wool that I have wanted to felt, so I decided that this would be the perfect project.Sadly, I did not take a picture of the wool prior to felting.
A little note about felting wool, especially a piece this light in color. If there is any lint in your washing machine, it will get caught in the fabric as you can see below. I was able to pick this out of my fabric, but it does take a little time. Also, I have a front loading washer. I set the dial on the hottest setting and the highest spin. It took 3 tries to get the fabric to where I wanted it to be. So felting is possible in a front loader, it just takes a little longer than it would in a regular washing machine. One last note, your fabric will shrink considerably. This fabric was 60" wide and by the time I finished, it was 42" wide, so keep that in mind if you decide to do this.
The only change I made to the pattern was to enlarge the sleeve. The sleeve on the model looked to be rather close fitting and I want this jacket to easily slide over a bulkier garment without being too tight. My picture is not as clear as I would have liked for it to be, so hopefully my explanation will be enough. To enlarge the sleeve, I drew a line from one armpit to the other. Off of that line, I squared a line to the hem of the sleeve which gave me a straight sleeve rather than the tapered sleeve that comes with the pattern. I also wanted a cuff, so I added 2". My arms are rather short, so if you decide that you would like a cuff, please compare your arm length measurement to the length of the sleeve pattern prior to cutting the sleeve.
The seam allowances are 1/8". Rather than sew a normal straight seam, I zigzagged all of my seam allowances. The foot was put right along the edge of the fabric.
Just to give you an idea of how long the jacket is on me, here's a very bad picture. Look closely and you'll see my pajama pants :)
The collar is quite pretty. I had initially thought that I would round off the edges, but once I got it together, I rather liked the square corners and how they drape over the sleeves.
This is only pinned in place, but I also decided to create a tie closure. Since the wool will no longer ravel, I cut strips for the ties. I played around with a frog which I think I'll enhance. 
There are 3 pieces to the pattern, front, back and sleeve. The coat takes absolutely no time to sew. There's the center back seam for the collar, the shoulder and neck seam, the sleeves are set in and then the side seams sewn. Voila, your finished. Since the wool has been felted, there's no need to finish the edges. After I got the coat together, I initially thought that I might bind the edges, but once I started playing around with the frog, I decided to cover the collar and the cuffs with passementerie similar to this coat that I did some time ago.  I plan to make the passementerie out of strips that I cut from the  leftover fabric.
Since I'm going to embellish the coat, you'll see it again once I've finished. I think it is going to be such fun!
This is a great coat pattern that is easy to put together, fits well and could also be lengthened into a dress length coat. If you do decide to put one together for yourself, one last note, there is a small dart that is intended to help the collar lay in place. I did not use it as I didn't think it was necessary.

25 comments:

  1. Oooh, this looks perfect for those chilly autumn weathers. And with a smaller collar it could be used as a cardigan even, I think.

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  2. Looking forward to the embellishments! And I have a similar piece of wool, felted by accident tho LOL :-)

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  3. Really beautiful color and I like the "bumpiness" in the felted wool. Did the original have some texture to it? I can't wait to see the embellishment that you add.

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    1. Thanks! The fabric was a boucle and a rather loose weave.

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  4. Beautiful! I love the felted wool. Thank you for sharing!

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  5. Very nice! Thanks for the link!

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  6. This is very pretty in the felted wool.

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  7. I love this. you said the fabric shrunk considerably. How many yards did you start with, and what did you have after the shrinkage?

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    1. Thanks for asking Robin, I should have included that. I started out with 4 yards and I ended up with approximately 2 1/2 yards, so I lost a lot. Just keep in mind that all fabrics shrink differently. I would purchase 2 extra yards just to be safe. And remember, it shrinks width wise as well.

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    2. thanks! just took a chance and stopped at the library-and picked up the copy of sew news. going through my stash this weekend, and hope to find something suitable. this will be perfect for the NW Indiana fall weather that is right around the corner :)

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  8. Rhonda, if I was close, I would steal this from you! Great post and gorgeous coat! I love felted wool, and I have a jacket this color in felted wool. It goes with everything, is toasty warm, and easy to wear. I had not thought of felting my own wool, but will keep that in mind in the future. Is there anything you won't do?

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    1. This would be a great coat for Houston "winters" since it is unlined. If you do decide to felt a piece of wool, it works best in a top loading machine, but you can see that it will work in a front loader, just takes a little more time. I think I'll do a tutorial on felting. I have a bag that I knitted that I want to felt, so I will share the process.

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  9. Beautiful! I like the frog closure as well. Nice personal touch.

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  10. Love this! Can't wait to see what else you do with it.

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  11. Rhonda, good morning. Thanks for sharing this post again. I would like to download the pattern but the link to the pattern doesn't work. Can you help me out, please? Thank you. Have a large day! Meg

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    1. It seems that the entire Sew News website is down. I've tried a number of times to get through and can't bring it up. I will keep trying and as soon as I get through, I'll send you a link to the jacket.

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    2. I apologize as I forgot to come back to you. So sorry. The website was down for a while, but is back. Here's a link to the jacket, http://www.sewnews.com/articles/Sew_An_Easy___Chic_Jacket?bc=c
      It should work now :)

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  12. I can't wait to see your decorations. So simple, I can't wait to try this for myself. Thank you for sharing.

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  13. Hello from Catalunya. I often look at your blog for ideas. You have tremendous creativity !! I have seen this coat and I think it can look great with a fabric I have for a long time and I just can't find how to use it.
    Just one question: the neck goes in the same piece of the front, right? it would be an extended shawl neck.

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    1. Hi Coia, I am going to do a tutorial on putting the coat together starting this upcoming week, April 7, 2020. I'll post a link here once the first post is up.

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    2. This coat is beautiful. I really like it.❤

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