I used to sew clothes, but for a long time now my only sewing projects have been for household items like quilts, throws and bags, or mending.
But I’ve been inspired by talented friends here - especially @craftygardennz @zeborah and @YGathGoch - and now I’m going to have a go at making this pixie coat! The last time I made a coat was probably in the 1980s 😆 Luckily the pattern comes with excellent instructions.
I’ve got a formal wool coat that I never wear, so I’m going to try and use some of the fabric from that for the new coat. The old one has a lot of panels so some jiggery-pokery will be needed with sewing skinny bits together to make it work. Maybe I’ll use it for the hood, pockets and sleeves.
It will be a slow process because fatigue. Yesterday I bought the digital pattern. Today I printed the 40-something A4 pages of pattern pieces, and figured out which size to make. Tomorrow I will tape all those bits of paper together and separate each pattern piece! Then I will investigate what I can do with the old coat and how much more fabric I need.
Maybe I will head into town to find fabric on Friday. I think I’ll check if Stitch Kitchen has any recycled fabric I can use first. It’s fun starting a new project!
Thank you fedi friends for the inspiration 💚
Today I spent ages crawling around the floor as I carefully lined up small pieces of paper 😆I’ve cut out the paper pattern pieces now, so that’s a relief.
This is the old coat I plan to deconstruct - I can use its red wool fabric for the hood, pockets and button loop strip of the new coat. I can reuse the buttons too.
That depends on finding some other fabric that goes nicely with it though! I will have a hunt tomorrow.
I’m delighted that I managed to pick up almost all the supplies for my coat from Stitch Kitchen! It’s a social enterprise that aims to reduce textile waste. Everything in the store is donated - bits of fabric and haberdashery and wool and anything you might need for textile projects. They also run classes etc. Even better, they have a sale on and fabric, already sold cheaply, is half-price (ending tomorrow)!
Here’s what I got for the grand sum of $28! The main fabric is a beautiful soft wool. The photo doesn’t show the colour very well - it’s a soft beige and pink with a mottled design. There’s enough for the whole coat, but I think I’ll stick with my plan of using my red fabric for the pockets and hood to make it a bit more interesting.
The other fabrics are for linings, and I got some partly-used reels of matching thread too.
The only thing they didn’t have was suitable interfacing, so I bought that new.
Minnie likes the lining fabric 😆
Today I made further progress in my slow sewing project - I cut out all the exterior fabric pieces. Then I ran out of oomph so will cut out the lining and interfacing another day!
I cut out the lining and interfacing for my coat today, with some ‘help’ from Minnie 🐾
That means the cutting out is complete and in my next session I can start the best bit - the sewing!
My coat is starting to come together now - literally 😆
Next up will be stitching the sides together, then the hood, facings and lining.
I’m pleased with the way the colours look together.
I learned a new word today - armscye. It’s a sewing term for the fabric armhole edge to which the sleeves are attached.
Might come in handy for Scrabble one day (I play that a lot). 😆
A wet Sunday afternoon was ideal for sewing! I made good progress with stitching together bits of lining and facings for my coat.
I ran low on thread of a vaguely matching colour, but Mum (lives next door) had some suitable stuff in her sewing box. She doesn’t sew any more and was happy to pass thread on to me 💚
When I started sewing up my coat I had 32 separate pieces of fabric (plus 8 of interfacing) - now I’m down to 2 💪🏼
Next stage is to join those together, but that will be on another day.
If you’re wondering why the sleeves are a different colour from the rest of the lining, that’s one of the compromises from using recycled fabric! That’s also why there’s a lack of pattern matching. The sleeves won’t really be visible and are nice and slippery to help slide them on 😆
I finished my coat today 🎉 It’s warm and comfortable and I’m so pleased with it. I enjoyed making it too! The Twig + Tale pattern came with excellent instructions.
Thanks everyone who encouraged me along the way 🙏🏼
I spent a grand total of $69.25 making this wool coat, so a real bargain! The only new things I bought were the pattern and interfacing.
The red fabric and buttons are from an old coat I deconstructed. The beige fabric and linings I thrifted from Stitch Kitchen. Most of the thread also came from there, supplemented with some old stuff I had, plus some from Mum’s stash.
@simplicitarian Oh I'm just so happy for you.
It looks amazing, and it's toasty warm too. I don' t think you could buy anything of that quality for anywhere near that price.
@simplicitarian That’s gorgeous! I love the contrast of the red against the main fabric, and that lining is just beautiful.
@simplicitarian Yeah that bit is the worst.
I did just see a thing on social media where it suggests that with patterns you'll reuse all the time, to print on tracing paper, so you can see all the way through and line up pieces easier 🤔
@craftygardennz I use some old cooking paper that sucked as cooking paper (went brittle when baked 😬 ) which works pretty well. Only trouble is being from a roll it has a tendency to roll up....
@simplicitarian Ooh exciting, you're doing so well with your finds.
I keep meaning to go into Stitch Kitchen...
@simplicitarian Nice source material!
I love reusing material - all the hidden parts of my circle skirt outfit were made with fabric from a skirt that was starting to wear out after 20 years use. I used the less worn parts to cut a channel for the drawstring, reused the drawstring with no modifications, and used some more of it as lining/pocket for the capelet.
I admire your patience piecing together the pattern from A4!
Ali Clarke 
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