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.

The Patrick Kelly One Seam Coat

My eye infection has really given me a run for my money. I finally just gave up and went to bed. Sometimes bed is a very good thing :) I'm feeling better, a bit of a headache and my eye is still swollen, but I'm definitely on the mend. Yea!!! Thanks for all the well wishes.
A friend sent me a link(hey Miss P!!) that she thought I would enjoy, especially since I've been doing the Thrifty Thursday posts. It's the One Seam Coat that was designed by Patrick Kelly.

It really does have only 1 seam!  Here is a link to the Pattern Vault website where you can find all the information on the coat, http://blog.pattern-vault.com/2014/05/05/free-designer-pattern-patrick-kelly-one-seam-coat/.

As for downloading the pattern, I was not able to download it as it is larger than what my copy shop could do. Okay....there's always more than one way to do anything, so I came home and just figured it out.

Here is the pattern graph. The picture on the left is the front of the coat and the picture on the right is of course the back. Take a closer look at the photograph of the coat and you can see that it has a very large back pleat.
Okay, with that information, we can move forward. You will need about 4 yards of fabric to make this coat. The first thing that you will want to do is establish the back pleat. Take a look at the picture and you can see that the pleat ends at the shoulder. I am 16" from one edge of my shoulder to the other. Whether your shoulder measurement is 16"or not, I think this will be a good measurement for just about anyone. Divide the shoulder measurement in half. Along the selvedge of the fabric, find the center. Measure over 24" (3 x 8). Bring this point to the marked center and fold in half of the pleat. Do the same to the other side. You will now have a box pleat.
In the drawing, you can see that the back neck has been shaped. At center back, measure down 1 1/2" and mark. From center back, measure over 3 1/2" on either side. Draw in the back neckline and cut it out.
I finished my neckline with a bias strip.

To determine the length that you will need for the sleeves, measure from the center of your back to your wrist. On your jacket fabric, measure from center back, along the selvedge the measurement of center back to your wrist. Do this on both sides. Cut the fabric at this point.

Now for the 1 seam. This video shows you how to make a doll size version of the jacket, but it also shows in detail how to form the 1 seam.

If you would like to see the blog post that accompanies this video, you can find it here, http://fashiondollstylist.blogspot.ca/2013/02/the-cocoon-coat-homage-to-patrick-kelly.html

Now for my coat. My fabric was 60" wide, but I did not want a long version, so I cut off 15" in order to make it more of a knee length coat. Remember, the coat is cut along the length of the selvedge. The fabric that I used is a linen and silk blend, and as you can see, it is double sided. Great for this project as my coat is reversible. Please forgive my pressing, I could have, should have done a better job :(  At least you get the idea.
As you can see, the coat is a roomy cocoon shape.

 The reverse side.

To be honest, I like the reserve a little better as I really like the look of the inverted pleat rather than the sleek box pleat.

 Above, the inverted pleat side and below the box pleat side.

As soon as I'm feeling better, I'll take a few pictures of me in the coat. I'm excited about adding it to my wardrobe as it will work great with everything from jeans to, slacks, to a dress. Very versatile.The coat would be lovely made out of fleece or a boiled wool for cooler temperatures.

In order to make my coat reversible, I sewed the seam as a flat felled seam. It basically melts right into the fabric.

As I said, it's a nice roomy coat that will go over just about anything in your wardrobe. Give it a try, I think you'll enjoy having one in your wardrobe too!