I’m the girl that has everything in my purse, in my bag and in my closet. Since I make my own clothes it is hard not to go bonkers and want to make everything I see. Sometimes, I ask myself “what do I actually need in my closet” or “how could I enhance my handmade wardrobe to mix and match with the things I already own?”

I was gifted the perfect grey French Terry Fleece to work with and now I simply needed a pattern. The coat was my first choice. Turns out I didn’t have enough fabric though. Well, the first choice isn’t always the best anyway. I sat on the fabric for 2 months until the perfect pattern finally came along.

Vogue 8605 seemed like it would be a good fit because my fabric had 2 different textures that I thought would look great on the collar. Leave it to Vogue to make something simple, yet highly complicated. I love a full day puzzle project.

I cut everything out, marked sewing lines and cutting lines and got my machines together the week before. Sometimes this is more than half of the project, but it’s worth it if I can start sewing with a clear, fresh set of eyes.

Tips. Welted pockets aren’t hard if the pattern has great directions. These were some of the easiest I HAVE EVER DONE! Although, if you want your welted pockets to look professional you better make sure you clip right up to your stitches. A good pair of sharp scissors or snips will do the trick.

All of the seam allowances were supposed to be double folded in and top stitched down from the outside of the garment. This is because stitching on the outside of the garment always looks nicer.

I cheated and did this by serging my seam allowances with the looper thread tensions just a bit tighter. This made turning each seam in much easier. I also did not top stitch because my terry knit was so loopy the stitches didn’t even show up on the outside. I still didn’t want my serger stitches showing because we are sewing fancy. I did this with all of the inside pieces including the pockets to make my garment look as clean on the inside as on the outside.

The best part of the project, besides finishing the whole thing, was adding my fancy diamond hardware. I am so short though that when I tried the jacket on I realized all the hardware needs to be moved up an inch to have the right proportions.

In the end, this jacket being neutral in color, can be added to almost all of my winter clothing to fancy it up while keeping me warm.

Behind the scenes~

All of the winter classes have been listed.

Here you can see what one of my unedited photos looks like. I like to set up a little photo studio with two umbrella lights in my garage. I edit out the background and when I do it tends to give my photos a cloudy effect. I also use a filter to soften all the edges.

Thank you for reading,

Tracy McElfresh

Dream it! Sew It!

 

Tracy McElfresh