It's been exactly one year since I've started DIYing, it's amazing how time flies! My very first project was a
circle skirt and I was naive enough to think that I could actually make a circle skirt with no sewing experience. LoL. At least I tried, and this time I'm going about it with a different perspective of DIYing my very first coat. I learned that you have to do a bit of research and planning before diving in to save yourself time and heartache (like ruining your expensive fabric).
For those of you who are interested in making your own coat, I'll direct you to a few resources and what foundations you need before sewing your final piece. This is a project that I started Thanksgiving weekend and just finished a few days ago, so it took me almost a month (spending a few hours each day). Keep in mind, I pattern and sew at a snail's pace so don't get discouraged by how much time it took me to do this....I'm sure most people can do it a lot quicker.
Making a coat your size:
1)
You need to create a bodice, skirt and sleeve sloper to create a dress
sloper. I used the dress sloper (you can also use a jacket sloper) and added extra room all around to
accommodate for layers underneath. There are numerous tutorials on how
to create those slopers, so just Google those terms and you'll be on
your way! More info about slopers
here.
2) Then I added princess seams (
tutorial) to the front and back and also pleats (
tutorial) to the side of the coat.
3) I first drafted an asymmetrical collar, but ended up not liking the look for this coat and decided on the
shawl collar instead.
4) After drafting my coat pattern with princess seams and pleats, I wanted to line my coat for extra warmth. Here's a really easy
tutorial
on how to draft a coat lining pattern. Most coats are lined with a thin
slipper fabric, but I wanted something thicker and cozier. I initially
bought a medium weight satin, but thought it wasn't thick enough to keep
me warm in this unusually cold winter in SF. I decided to use flannel
instead since it's thicker and insulates better. I also remembered that my
J. Crew coat was interlined with thinsulate and wanted to try that. I
did some research and eventually decided not to go that route, as I was
unsure if you sew the thinsulate to the fashion fabric or to the lining.
Before I forget, here's also a
tutorial on how to sew a lining into a coat -- watch after the hour mark.
The sleeves were lined with the satin fabric instead of flannel. Satin
fabric is slippery and it makes getting your arm in and out of the coat
much easier.
5) After your pattern is finished, you'd want to sew up a sample first using a cheaper similar weight fabric.
It's always good to sew a sample so you can see if your garment fits.
If it doesn't, then you can go back to your pattern and makes changes
(which I had to do). For my sample, I used a cheap wool that pilled up in
no time so don't use cheap wool for your final piece! You can get very basic black or grey wool blend for $10 a yard (they
are on the thin side), but most coating weight wool that is not
black or grey will run you about $20+ per yard. For a coat this length, I bought 4 yards (60" width) and ended up with about 1 yard leftover.
6) The buttons I used below are self covered buttons from Jo-Anns. I thought they would be expensive, but ended up being only $1 a button. I was going to send out my coat to get the button holes professionally put in, but I ended up doing it myself. Helpful resource
here about buttons and button holes.
Making a coat is a lot of work and definitely not a cheap process. An alternative you could consider is buying a commercial pattern because the majority of my time was spent developing the sloper, patterning my design and correcting the pattern after the sample fitting. The sewing part felt like a breeze compared to the pattern development. SPG wrote a really good article on
when to buy or DIY and on her list of things to buy are coats....after making a coat and understanding the process, I can definitely see why one would buy instead of DIYing. But overall, I did really enjoy the learning experience and am happy with the end result and would consider using my pattern again (since I've put so much work into it) to make this coat in another color.
DIY enthusiasts - would you consider making a coat? If you have already, please let me know your thoughts and the challenges you faced!
