simplicity 1254 Leanne Marshall coat: Part Two

The next part of the construction was to attach the lining and outer coat together. With the fabric right sides together I first sewed the side seams together. I then followed the confusing instructions on how to incorporate the lining into the corners of the coat whilst leaving a border of coat fabric around it...


Here's some close up shots of this bit, the instructions on the pattern were pretty useless so anyone wanting to make this coat might find colour photos useful!

Looks great when you flip it back around the right way!

The zip is the easiest bit, its just plonked on top so i bought one with nice metal teeth.

Next you turn the coat inside out again to sew up the bottom seam a couple of cms up from the bottom. You also want to leave the lining a bit longer than your coat to allow for movement. The last thing you want is for all your seams to pop open the first time you bend over!

Ta da! Side and bottom seams done :) I attached the bottoms of the sleeves together and then sewed some discrete stitches by hand to anchor the tops of the sleeve lining to the coat so it wasn't all sitting loose.

I decided against doing the caped hood which, ironically, was the feature that drew me to this pattern in the first place. The main reason was the hood wouldn't have been functional at all and i like a hood so i don't have to carry a brolly! Also, i like the ruffles on my sleeve seams and didn't want this detail hid beneath a cape. So, i drew around a hood off another coat and made one from the wool and one from the lining. I made the lining version slightly smaller so that the wool would roll around into the inside and make a border preventing the lining from poking out.

Here's my little border created by cutting the lining a bit smaller. I top stitched all the edges on the coat to make it look a little bit more professional.

I used the machine to attach the wool part of the hood to the coat then sewed the lining up by hand, adding a useful little hook.

And here's the finished product :)

I'm really pleased with the coat. I like it more and more as i wear it. Once i've worn this one out i'm sure i'll make another...

UPDATE: recently added some applique patches which really seem to be catching on lately...

Simplicity 1254 Leanne Marshall Coat: Part One

This is my first attempt at making a winter coat. I came across this Simplicity pattern whilst browsing ads on ebay and was drawn to the hood/shawl design so clicked 'buy' and started thinking about fabric...

I found my fabric in Barry's Fabric store in Digbeth. It's mainly grey with threads of blue and green woven through so i decided to buy green anti-static lining to compliment it.

The coat is made up of two front panels and two side front panels. Two side back panels and a back panel. Then you have the sleeves and the hood. Everything but the hood needs to also be cut out of the lining. My wool coat fabric was 150cm wide and i bought 4 metres which is more than enough.

The front edge of the front two panels are folded over where the pattern indicates and the zip is attached face down, it will be concealed by the folded edges when the coat is zipped up.

This pic is upside down and i can't figure out how to flip it.... The pockets are half wool and half lining. I initially put them on back to front and had to do a lot of unpicking!! You need the lining half to be attached to the front panel and the wool part to the side front panel. That way if the pocket gapes open you'll only see the wool fabric and the pockets will remain pretty invisible in the princess seam line.

Here's the pocket, wrong way around but right way up, sewed into the seam... I have also ironed on fusible interfacing to the back of the wool for a bit of insulation.

From the outside the pocket is hardly noticeable.

I then sewed up the three back panels and sewed up the side seams.

I read quite a few reviews on this pattern that said the hips come out really wide. I found exactly the same thing so at this stage i started to take a few of the seams in then once i was happy i overlocked it all up. I love the inside of an overlocked garment :D

Next job was to attach the sleeves. As other's have found, the sleeves come out a little short. I wish i'd measured up beforehand because i had to scrap my first set of sleeves and cut a longer set.

 The lining of the coat needs to be sewn up the same size as you did with the fashion fabric, therefore i had to make the same alterations to the lining as i did with the side seams and sleeves.

Before attaching the wool and the lining together i spent some time pressing all the seams as flat as i could.

To be continued.....