coat Archives - Page 3 of 5 - Handmade by Carolyn

Kelly anorak as a raincoat

06/10/2016 3:10 pm \ 51 Comments \ Carolyn

Hello! I’ve made a new raincoat! This is the Kelly anorak by Closet Case patterns, and I knew straight away I wanted to make it as a raincoat… why? well we’ve had officially the wettest winter and early spring on record, since they started keeping records, so like ever. EVER! It’s been hideous, I tell you! I’ve been wearing my old me-made raincoat all winter, but I’ve noticed that it’s not quite as effective as it used to be. I would classify it as shower-proof now, rather than waterproof *sob*. Well, it is a few years old now so possibly the fabric is becoming a little brittle with age, because I’m pretty sure it used to be lovely and watertight! Now, not so much! #sadface

So a new raincoat was needed… I really wanted a white-ish, cream or ivory one. I just love off-white and think ivory looks so chic and really smart in outerwear. Actually, I think it looks chic in anything!! #welldocumentedivoryfan I bought a plain white shower curtain from Spotlight, and gave it a little water test, posted here on my instagram account. I love how the water droplet looks like a wee little living thing, zipping about on the surface. Obviously the fabric passed with flying colours. Pretty cool, huh?

The fabric was quite see-through, and while I don’t mind a little bit of sheerness in a raincoat it really was TOO sheer, so I decided to underline fully with polyacetate lining fabric. I didn’t want white lining fabric, pure white is quite harsh for my colouring, so I chose this pale golden beige colour. I had this idea that it would tone down the pure white to a warm, off-white, oyster white, which I think my colouring needs. SO. Funny thing! To my mind, this lining fabric is a definite gold, or even brown, wouldn’t you agree? I would not call this colour “pink”… so I’m pretty surprised that the overall look of my raincoat reads pink! Don’t get me wrong, I love it! just that I did not expect this! In retrospect, I can see the colour does have a sorta peach-y look to it…but still! Golden brown under white; gives… pink?!?? Well alrighty then!!

In a raincoat, you need to seal the seams, and for my previous raincoat I used some stuff called Seam Grip, which has done a stellar job in that raincoat for years. So I was pretty sad that I couldn’t find it any more! BCF sold me some of this stuff… it’s a little different, far more liquid-y than the gel-like Seam Grip. It dries on the surface of the fabric forming a slightly hard, just slightly stiff, matte finish; similar to what you would expect if you painted clear matte nail polish on the seams. It does seem to do the trick, though only time will tell. The good thing about it is that it “disappears” on the fabric and you can hardly tell it’s there… unlike the Seam Grip which was a definite visible, shiny “smear” on the seams inside my old coat. Not that anyone ever looks on the inside of my raincoat, but you know what I mean! this new stuff is quite invisible which does look really neat and tidy. So that’s good.

Materials: my shower curtain, zip, eyelets, nylon cord, press studs and the “stops” for the cord; I bought everything at Spotlight. Seam sealer from BCF (boating camping and fishing) store. It’s intended for use on tents and sails! My shower curtain was just enough fabric for my pieces!! Just a few scant patches left enough for me to cut a few extra pocket flap pieces and after that? almost nothing leftover.

Pattern; the Kelly anorak, by Closet Case patterns, available here. Heather asked me to be a tester and I gleefully jumped right in. I really like Heather’s patterns, she has a modern young woman’s aesthetic, with clean lines and unfussy shapes. Basically, I’ve loved everything she’s designed! I made up the pattern just as is, grading out from a size 8 at the top to a size 10 at the hips, according to my measurements, and I reckon the fit is spot on, with just the right amount of ease. I believe Heather has shortened the sleeves, lengthened the body and widened the biceps a touch in the final version in response to tester feedback, however I’m happy with the fit I’ve got here!

Alterations: I just made some very minor alterations simply because it’s a raincoat:

The bellows pockets are designed to have a faux flap, so you can just shove your hands satisfyingly right in those pockets with absolute no impediment… however because mine is a raincoat and I thought functional pocket flaps would be a good idea, you know, to protect whatever is in the pockets from the rain! so I made and added extra pocket flaps on the outside. I LOVE the little double flap effect this gives! ok, maybe it looks a bit weird but I really like it!

I added press studs to the wrist cuffs but left them off the opening front zip placket; reason being that I think a raincoat doesn’t really need them and might actually be more of a nuisance than useful. You know; it starts raining, you want to just throw on your coat and just zip it up quick! bob’s your uncle. The drawstring is good enough for pulling it all in, for me.

In most cases, I overlocked all raw edges to prevent fraying then flat-felled all seams UP, which you always do in raincoats for waterproofing reasons. I remember I went into some detail on this in my previous raincoat post… it’s a little thing but I believe it does make a difference! The shadow of up-flatfelling can just be made out above on my sleeve seams and this front/front yoke seam, which is slightly curved to give some subtle bust shaping.

I hammered in two eyelets tucked up high under each arm to allow body heat to escape; this is an essential in a non-breathable, waterproof garment…

I also added eyelets and pull-cord to the hood opening because, well obviously. A raincoat hood is never merely decorative!

You know what? I’ve worn the raincoat several times, and it’s brilliant. I love it! And so far so good; it’s stood up to a a pretty heavy downpour and I’ve remained happily dry inside It is actually very warm too, which I guess is what you’d expect from a completely waterproof fabric. I’m happy!

Details:

Raincoat; the Kelly anorak, Closet Case patterns, made using a shower curtain with polyaceteate underlining.
Jeans; Morgan boyfriend jeans, Closet Case patterns, details here
Top; modified Nettie, ivory knit details here… hehe, I’ve just realised I’m wearing all Closet Case patterns, this was not planned, honest!
Shoes, designed and made by me, details here

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: anorak, Closet Case files, coat, jacket, kelly anorak, pattern review, raincoat

a shearling jacket

07/02/2016 7:25 am \ 34 Comments \ Carolyn

As sneaky-peeked previously; my shearling jacket, and man, I’m so happy with it!! It turned out just exactly how I hoped, and was the most wonderfully cuddliest, comfiest thing to have with me in our recent visit to Japan; I loved bundling up in it each day in Tokyo and used it as a snuggly rug while on the plane… without a doubt the warmest coat I’ve ever made formyself, evah. Like wrapping myself in a fluffy blanket, and I was perfectly snug enough even in the subzero temperatures of Hokkaido.

Obviously, and with my usual attention to weather appropriate sewing ahem, I chose to get started on this super fluffy thing during the most heinously hot heat wave… 42C anyone? phew, try-ons were hideous. Seriously I question my sanity sometimes. Well, lots of times actually 😉 Anyway it was all worth it in the end, since I’m quite chuffed with how it turned out.

What is it about making jackets that is so enormously satisfying and fulfilling? I don’t know exactly why, but I always find jackets, and dresses too, to a slightly lesser extent; to be the projects that give me the biggest of happy warm fuzzy buzzes… 🙂

wrt this one; well I’ve wanted to make a shearling jacket for oh, about ten years now. Ever since the first time I clapped eyes upon one belonging to our friend S; a colleague of my husband’s who is always super suave and cool and has a slightly alternative, very hip and happening taste in clothing. He owns a beautifully thick, oversized shearling jacket that he’s had for years and years and trots it out every winter once or twice. Every single time I see it I’m struck all over again by how awesome it is and have harboured a secret desire for one of my own…

I bought the faux shearling from Spotlight and the burnished, dull metal buttons from Fabulous Fabrics. The pattern is loosely based upon McCalls 5276, a pattern I’ve had for years but only muslined once and not got any further… oops! I pretty much chose the pattern just for the collar alone, since I wanted that big oversized 70’s lapel collar on my jacket, but not much else.

My alterations included;
Body and sleeves slimmed down and lengthened somewhat.
Welt pockets added as described here,
Belt and belt loops added.
I also fine-tuned the front edge and collar to have it so I could happily wear it in a variety of ways… a) open, cardigan style b) buttoned up halfway with the lapels flared, c) buttoned up to the neck with the collar laid down in a peter pan style, and finally d) with the collar turned up and buttoned up right to the very top in a funnel-neck style. Also, having the belt tightened or hanging loose adds to the wearing options too.

Because I was using a shearling obviously I left off all facings and all edges are left raw. When working out how to seam the pieces together, I checked out a pattern for a shearling jacket from one of my Burda magazines… which mentioned overlapping some edges to be joined and top-stitching the overlaps to minimise bulk. So; I overlapped the shoulder seams in this way, and also the collar-to-neckline seam. The other seams; namely the sleeve, side and armscye seams are sewn right sides together in the conventional way.

Even though I used the McCalls collar, I still cut it a bit bigger on the edges – just in case!!- never forget the golden rule of sewing… you can always cut away but you can’t add it back… EVER!!! And then trimmed it here and there to allow it to sit how I wanted it to look, to fit how I was imagining my collar. I’m particularly pleased with how the collar looks when buttoned up to the neck like this..

I made the sleeves extra long, so I could turn them up and have a woolly “cuff” on the sleeve ends, and also made wrist strips. These are sewn to the sleeve, then wrapped around and buttoned to themselves. The seam allowance of the cuffs are topstitched down for a neat look when they are turned back, and then I stitched-in-the-ditch of the sleeve seam down to the sleeve so the cuffs stay folded up permanently.

Welt pockets: my tutorial for how to do the welt pockets is here

Buttonholes: I’ve written a separate post detailing how I did the buttonholes here, so as not to clog up this post more than it is already! aaaaaagh! picture overload!!

In summary; I thoroughly enjoyed having and wearing my cosy new jacket in the subzero temperatures of Japan, and now we’re back home…. and it’s 35C… lol! so it’s off to the back of the wardrobe with this fluffy hulk of a thing. See you again next winter, you snuggly bundle of cosiness!

Details:

Jacket; my own design based loosely upon McCalls 5276, faux shearling
Top; the twist top from Pattern Magic by Tomoko Nakamichi, in ivory ponte, and in charcoal ponte
Jeans; Burda 7863 modified to be flares, in ivory cotton denim, and made as regular bootcut in black cotton corduroy
Gloves; hand knit by me in 4ply charcoal merino, details here
Socks; hand knit by me in Noro 4ply, details here
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

Posted in: sewing \ Tagged: coat, daily outfit, jacket, McCalls 5276, own design, parka

Caramel suede cardigan/jacket

05/07/2014 4:05 am \ 63 Comments \ Carolyn

o hello 🙂
I’ve made a suede cardigan for myself, or is it a jacket? The pattern says “jacket” but I tend to think of jackets as being kinda involved, time-consuming things to make, with lining and so forth. While cardigans are unstructured, unlined things one can whizz up in a blink of an eye. Which actually describes this thing pretty well.
The pattern is jacket 132 from Burda style magazine 11/2012, which Philippa sent to me in a giveaway, thank you so much Philippa! I lurve Burda magazines, the designs are usually both interesting and stylish, the cost per pattern is very very low, and still not bad even if you do only make a few things in an issue. I reckon they deserve to be a heckuvva lot more popular than they are. You don’t need every issue but I generally get maybe one magazine in a year and manage to make several things in each one. This design caught my eye straight away, and was firmly in my mind when I bought my leather. I actually made a muslin for it, which is only worth mentioning because it’s such a rare thing for me to do. Well my leather was kinda precious and I did not want to stuff it up! I did a minor sway back adjustment and shortened the bust darts by a few inches.
I used my two pieces of caramel brown pigskin, bought in Copenhagen on our trip. I liked both sides; the smoother, leather-y side has some interesting brand marks, but the suede side has the most glorious, rich caramel colour. Colour trumped brand marks.

The cardigan is quite long in the body with wide-ish front flaps so it took some layout wizardry to get the pattern pieces out! I re-laid the pieces down over and over and over again, trying to fit them all in and cut it with the skinniest little 5mm seam allowances. I did have to do just one little fill-in piecing on the left back back, but I managed to position this at the very top, centre back, so it’s as un-noticeable as I think it could possibly be!

The pattern has pockets; which I cut to be nice and huge, to accommodate my nice huge hands, hehe. Burda magazine patterns have the teeniest tiniest child-sized pockets of all, I swear. Very cute, but seriously?! Maybe it’s just me; I like to plunge my hands right down deep into my pockets 🙂 I used chocolate brown silk charmeuse, which I fortuitously just happened to have in my stash already, hanging around, in the perfect colour, you know, as you do 😉 Hopefully cutting those pockets out of it won’t mean I now don’t have enough for it to fulfil its original destiny.

below left; I have no idea why the colour is so off in this picture here, but… pocket!

The pattern called for a waist tie, to be sewn in the side seams. I preferred the idea of a separate belt that I could wear or not wear, whichever I wanted, however whim and whimsy struck, and not to have the ties dangling uselessly and annoyingly at my sides whenever I was wearing the cardigan loose. So I put little belt loops in the side seams, seen at top left in the picture above, and made a very long skinny belt as a separate thing. This has tonnes of mad bias-cut piecing all along it, as I was dealing with mere scraps of leather by the time I had cut out the main pieces of the jacket. But I don’t think that matters much, you can barely see all the joins when it’s on. This is simply folded in two lengthwise and topstitched.

I think worn loose, as at top, it looks quite modern, and with the waist tied up it looks a little bit boho 70’s, yes?

I am very happy with, and am very much going to enjoy wearing my Copenhagen souvenir!

Later edit: some technical details on sewing with leather, and thank you so much to Erica for asking 🙂
This is the first leather thing I have made so I learned a few things… I used a denim needle and regular polyester all-purpose thread, and used paper clips to hold edges together in lieu of pins. Lots of experimenting to get the tension right, I ended up with a medium-loose tension and a long stitch. The leather didn’t move through my machine very easily, so I used strips of tissue paper while stitching the seams, which helped a lot. Fortunately, this jacket had few seams! I used tissue paper both top and bottom, and did this by folding a wide, single strip and wrapping it closely around the edges before clipping it all together with paper clips, then sewed the seam; which was easier to hold in place than I imagine two separate strips would be, and also made it easier to follow an even seam allowance while stitching too.
For short seams, like piecing the belt pieces together; I started stitching from halfway along and ended at the edge, then turned the piece over and stitched the other half of the seam from the same halfway point to the other edge, because my machine didn’t like “starting” on an edge, and behaved badly on these. If I was to do more sewing with leather I think it would probably be very well worth getting a teflon foot for my machine, which will enable the leather to glide through more smoothly.

Details:
Cardigan; Burdastyle magazine 11/2012-132, caramel pigskin suede
Jeans, Burda 7863, white denim, details here and my review of this pattern here
Tshirt; self-drafted, white cotton jersey, details here
Socks; hand-knitted by me, details here
Shoes; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Burdastyle 11/2012-132, cardigan, coat, daily outfit, jacket, pattern review, Sienna, tip

Piped trench

05/04/2014 5:00 am \ 86 Comments \ Carolyn

I have made a winter coat for myself! It’s a dark charcoal woollen trench with the seaming and edging accented in pale grey/ivory/bone pleather piping. The charcoal wool has a light gauzy check woven throughout; itself with a teensy houndstooth pattern woven in each window. Clever. Seriously, I often wonder how they make these fabrics. Who would have conceived a thin houndstooth gauze, woven tartan-style into wool?

The pattern is McCalls 5525; my third version of this pattern. This is such a great pattern; I completely love it! It’s so versatile. Each of mine is quite different from the others; my first version is a smart but pretty-ish thing for winter and early spring, the second one I like for winter evening functions when I want to look glam. I don’t know what function this one will fill yet. I would like it to be a just throw on over and go with anything and be instantly warm kind of a coat; but we’ll see. The piping is a bit distracting. Hopefully I’ll find it good for something 🙂

I bought the fabric a few years ago from a shop called Wool on Collie, in Freo. At the time it was mostly a knitting and crochet shop, with a very small token offering of fabrics. I bought it on a mad whim. The leatherette is from Spotlight; and was also bought on a mad whim. Me and my bold plans. I have to confess that the leatherette piping tested my patience and sorely depleted my fun-meter once or twice. And I feel like unless you get up really close and have a good nosy squizz; you can’t even tell that the damn stuff is leatherette. Should I have gone for some easy-to-manipulate fabric? Well, what is done is done; and I’ve learnt new things. The plus is that there’s quite a bit leftover, and I have some idiotic plans for it…. which may or may not eventuate 😉
The coat is fully lined in black acetate lining fabric from Fabulous Fabrics. The pale grey, slightly streaky buttons from Fabulous Fabrics are a fortuitously perfect match to my leatherette. A lucky find!

I’m pleased that my coat is finished, but I was feeling a little flat about it at first. Y’know when you spend hours and hours meticulously fiddling with something and then aren’t sure whether you even like the thing at the end? Yeah. Although I actually like it a bit more after seeing these “another person’s view” pictures of it here. It looks a little better here than I thought it did in the mirror. I’ll admit to almost hating it in the few days since I finished it, and only hauled myself into it to take pictures out of a sense of duty to my swap.
Maybe it’s just that the forecast is 29C today and I feel like a right dork putting on a thick winter coat.

Details:
Coat; McCalls 5525, charcoal wool with leatherette piping, my review of this pattern here
Skirt; Vogue 7303, ivory wool (old)
Camisole; Country Road
Shoes; Vitulli Moda; bought in Melbourne

To the bat cave! Long coats look satisfyingly dramatic in a gust of wind…

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: coat, McCalls 5525, SWAP

Army jacket; 6 different ways

12/09/2013 9:33 am \ 28 Comments \ Carolyn

My khaki army-style jacket has been my go-to coat/jacket this winter. I made it two years ago, completely inspired by all the fabulously cool examples I had seen out and about in Tokyo. I got home and pretty much immediately set about gathering all the bits and pieces to make one for myself, adapting a jacket pattern from Burdastyle magazine so the features matched the ones I had seen in Tokyo.
Australia often marches to the beat of its own drum, fashion-wise; and looks that are IN! overseas may or may not take off over here. You can never tell…. but anyhow, this winter army jackets were IN! here and I remembered that I had made one (o serendipitous moment!) pulled it out and have been wearing it pretty solidly since. It is sooo warm!
Now, you might think it could only been worn as a casual thing, but being such an on-trend item I’ve found it incredibly useful and the deep olive colour goes with everything I have in the wardrobe. I also made an attachable fur-lined hood to go with it but obviously such a thing is pretty irrelevent to our climate and so I’ve never attached it. Maybe one day I will visit a snowy climate soon and can happily button on the hood without looking ridiculous? A girl can but dream…. but in the meantime these are some of my favourite combos with it from this winter.

Below: at left; casual to the max, worn with my purple flared jeans. Funny thing, I’ve kind of gone off jeans completely lately and don’t want to wear them at all. I’ve semi-tossed these ones out now… they’re on probation…. At right; the jacket kept me toastily, snug-as-a-bug warm on our coldest day (15C) along with my crocheted Granny squares skirt, a black Tshirt, black woollen tights and biker boots. I had my knitted gloves on for part of that day too, but not for the picture… brrrr!

At left; I’ve seen sequins combined with utilitarian khaki in a gazillion gorgeous street-style photos, and loved the craziness of the look, so I wore the jacket over my own silver sequinned skirt, a drapey white top, and with black suede pumps to a dinner with friends, and felt like an ultra trend-ite, for once! At right; sporting a symphony of satisfyingly subtle sludgy goodness, worn with my khaki linen shirt, my sludgy little skirt (incidentally, the same fabric as my purple jeans in the photo above, dyed brown), my olive leggings, and olive knitted socks (not really showing here) A bit drab maybe? but then again drab is my middle name. Seriously, you should see the looks I get when I fill in forms.
(10pts to anyone who can pinpoint that quote….)

At left; worn into the city, with my rusty-red wool/silk skirt, black woollen tights and high-heeled booties, and at right, worn with my gunmetal blue silk dress, red hoodie and paprika tights. Incidentally, this is today’s outfit, and I had a lovely lunch out with Dad. He was wearing this shirt, actually nearly every time I see him he seems to be wearing it! Which is super nice of him 🙂

So, the weather is warming up gradually, in fits and starts, and soon I’ll stop reaching for this jacket but I’ve sure appreciated and enjoyed its cosy comforting warmth and its easy-going style. Hopefully the trend will stick around for a few more winters to come!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: 6 different ways, Burdastyle magazine 05-2010-127, coat, jacket, own design

Future Grrrrl!

22/06/2013 1:10 pm \ 65 Comments \ Carolyn

Whoa! who is that babe?
It’s FUTURE GRRL!
So; Cassie was going to a Futuristic party… and had a firm idea of how she wanted to look. To make this sartorial vision a reality she wanted a flamboyant and luxuriously textured coat.
Mission accomplished!
She took her inspiration from an Alexander McQueen outfit, and looks kinda Blade Runner I reckon. We bought the fabric and pattern together. Wait, wait what am I saying? I bought the fabric and pattern. She buys her own clothes now, but I do pay for her fabric when we’re out together… I’m hoping to encourage that creativity and DIY spirit. Well, that’s the theory, anyway!

below: Alexander McQueen Fall 2010 RTW

source

Fast forward a coupla weeks and Cassie having spent hours and hours and hours of her free time on meticulously hand-sewing another friend’s costume for him to wear to the same party (he looked very cool too, btw) suddenly realises the night before the party that she has to work the next day, and so there is absolutely NO WAY she can get her own costume finished on time. Daughterly pleading with promises of chocolate followed. *sigh* Mum to the rescue. I did not want that fabric and pattern to just sit there and not even get to the party!

Hehe, I’m joking of course, I was very happy to step in and take over the making of this ultra glamorous jacket. Isn’t it rather gorgeous?? And, she did construct most of the shell herself. Probably we each did about half the work involved.
btw, this is NOT the fab, self-indulgent, frivolous thing for myself I mentioned in my previous post… I had to abandon that for a while to make this! That is yet to come!
The pattern is Butterick 5144, a reproduction 1948 pattern. My, but this is a wonderful silhouette, isn’t it? Fortunately I’m allowed to wear it too if I want 😉
The fabric is a heavy Chinese brocade from Spotlight; emerald green and gold and black, with dragons writhing all over, and lined with black polyacetate lining fabric.

Cassie made her own “sunnies” too. Aren’t they amazing? She tells me there was another girl at the party with homemade mesh sunnies on. They met up and were like:
Hey cool sunnies!
Hey, yours too!
Can you see anything?
Nup! Can you?
No!
cue massive rofl…. in that way that girls at a party have…

Details:
Jacket; Butterick 5144, Chinese … silk? (can’t remember for sure) brocade
Sunnies; made by Cassie
Cami; Country Road
Skirt; Manning Cartell
Stompin’ boots; bought in Japan

Pattern
Description:

Very loose-fitting lined jacket has shaped front and flared back, shawl collar, side seam pockets, two piece sleeves with turn-back cuffs and shoulder pads

Pattern
Sizing:

16-24, unfortunately the only size the shop had. I graded it down to a 10.

Did
it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you had finished
sewing it?

Yes.

Were
the instructions easy to follow?

Very! This is rated easy, and it is!

What
did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
Oh My Gosh, you guys. I was doubtful at first when my daughter chose it, but now I could not possibly love it more. It could be the most glamorous thing in the house! The shaped hemline is chic and looks quite high-end, the draped back is elegant, the long and very wide sleeves look lovely. It has pockets! and is overall a surprisingly simple make.
I have no dislikes.
Fabric Used:
Chinese brocade (I think silk? but am not 100% sure of that)
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
Unfortunately the only size in the store was a 16-24, and my daughter had her heart set on it. However I did not find it difficult to grade it down to a 10; there are 11 pattern pieces which are quite basic and the instructions are simplistic and straightforward. No fiddly or difficult bits at all.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
My daughter and I made this one together for her, and I think I would like to make one for me now! And, yes!
Conclusion:
Very very cool. This is a 1948 reproduction pattern, so at first glance it might appear a bit costume-y but in this unexpected fabric it manages to fit beautifully into a funky modern wardrobe. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out. This one is for my daughter, and me? I’m dreaming of one in lightweight camel wool… or maybe in black or chocolate coloured velvet… (sigh)

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Butterick 5144, Cassie, coat, jacket, pattern review

Raincoat the Second

09/07/2012 12:13 pm \ 46 Comments \ Carolyn

Ta da! please allow me to present the raincoat that I have made for Cassie.
It is made using the same self-drafted pattern I used for my own raincoat, with just a few minor fitting adjustments. All the details are identical to my own coat; the seams in the shell are French seams, waterproofed with Seam Grip, and the coat is fully lined with soft and lightweight white polyester net.
Cassie chose the colour herself and I am happy with the knowledge that she is unlikely to get run over crossing the road whilst wearing this 😉

I ran into a snag buying the pink fabric, that fortuitously turned into a stroke of brilliant good fortune: previously when buying the royal blue fabric for my own raincoat I had bought 3m to ensure I had plenty to play with, since there is nothing worse than running out of fabric halfway through a project, no? It turned out 3m was plenty, in fact it was way more than plenty and I ended up with an annoyingly large leftover piece. This is a pain, because I am really trying to rid my life of leftovers. Especially icky nylon leftovers which have a very small desirability in my wardrobe. So when I went in to buy the nylon for Cassie’s raincoat I asked for 2m of pink, and was mildly horrified when the roll only had 1.4m left on it. But the cunning stash-busting part of my brain instantly saw a beautiful possibility…. a quick consultation with Cassie, who cheerfully agreed that yes, a wide blue stripe did indeed sound very nice (phew!) and I went home with the 1.4m of pink, joyful that I was going to be gainfully using up the rest of that blue nylon after all… and so quickly after it had joined the stash too! (air fist punch) Yeeah!

Of course it was not all beer and skittles from then on; I did have to conjure up a bit of pattern placement magic, and do various mental calculations for various stripe scenarios, and there is one short extra piecing seam in the blue under one sleeve, but I did manage to squeak the raincoat out of my pieces of royal blue and pink successfully. I’m pleased to report that the final scrap count is almost non-existent too (‘nother air fist punch).

There was a hiccup; the making of this second raincoat did not go as smoothly as the first. You know how the second time you do a thing everything is supposed to go much much quicker and easier?

Well, no.

Halfway through, my ironing cloth slipped a bit and I managed to iron a hole in one almost-completed front. It was a very small hole, but it was. An. Unmistakeable. HOLE! When I saw this; steam started to emit from the ol’ ears and I had to walk away to calm down for a few hours.
Once I had regained some composure, I returned to the coat and thought about possibilities. Y’know when life gives you lemons there is always a silver lining, or something or another, yeah? And I surprised myself with my own ingenuity by coming up with the idea of a little pocket for her iPod. Where the offending hole was, there is now a welt, covering a little internal pocket. It closes with a little mini-strip of velcro, with enough room at the top for the headphone cord to come out. And fortuitously, the welt is in the perfect position where its vertical opening is covered by the zip placket when the zip is closed, improving waterproof-ability. Yowza! It’s like I planned it all along!!

Below left; I made the welt as small as I could that could still fit the iPod sliding in sideways, the pocket bag hangs below and to the side… Below right; I stitched the top of the pocket bag to the lining to help reduce the drag effect of having the pocket bag off to the side of its opening. Fortunately, iPods are very lightweight!

I am happy now.
And y’know what? I am even more ecstatically happy that none of my boys wants or needs a raincoat, and that this is the end of raincoats. At least for now. I’m raincoat-ed out. I want to make something fun and easy and selfishly frivolous now!
Later, fellow self-fashionistas!

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: Cassie, coat, hoodie, jacket, own design, parka

Operation Raincoat

01/07/2012 12:38 am \ 50 Comments \ Carolyn

Warning: distinctly un-humble and boastful post to follow…
I have made this; my first ever raincoat… :0 and I am thrilled!!!!! with how it turned out!
Making a raincoat is one of the scary things I have always wondered was too hard for me, whether the technicalities were beyond me. Now I have successfully made one I feel like I have achieved another small step toward having an entirely me-made wardrobe.

Thank you so much to all who left a comment regarding good quality raincoat fabric sources 🙂
I checked each and every one of your recommendations.
I found extremely helpful this article written by Caroline, the link sent to me by bloodsweatshoptears. Caroline wrote about making a waterproof cycling jacket and included bundles of relevant and very interesting information for the outdoor-gear sewing newbie like myself. And the jacket she made is so awesomely fantastic and inspiring…
Caroline’s article included a link to another very very informative article on how to choose rainwear, which I read and reread. This article really helped me to honestly assess what I actually wanted from my raincoat… which was: another raincoat almost exactly like my old one!

I had bought my previous old raincoat at Kmart for our eldest son Tim when he was about ten years old. After he had worn it for a coupla years I had to buy him a new official school uniform one, so his old navy blue one became mine. I have worn it and worn it pretty solidly every rainy winter’s day since … and Tim is now 22 years old, so you can see the old raincoat has done very good service! The only reason I am replacing it is because it is finally starting to fall apart…. so, I did a close inspection of the old one to work out what to copy and what I could improve. And this is what I did, and have learnt…

I used my old raincoat to help me draft a new pattern: I didn’t have to chop it up to do this, but this would be an excellent plan for someone who hasn’t done much self-drafting. It has raglan sleeves, a hood and a high, inner collar. I incorporated a few, very minor, fitting alterations and small design improvements at this stage.
I decided my raincoat doesn’t need to keep me warm, just dry; so: waterproof, non-breathable fabric, something like nylon ripstop would be the best. I knew from my old one that this kind of fabric does keep one plenty warm enough in our climate already.
I wanted a full lining in my new raincoat. My husband’s raincoat has a polyester net lining; something akin to the fabric school sports shirts are made of; that is smooth and comfortable and very nice against the skin. I added this to my shopping list.

Now, I am sure everyone is dying to know where I bought this awesomely gorgeous fabric (hehe, kidding!)
Well: I browsed the online fabric stores, and had even bookmarked a few and was pretty much all set to BUY, when, like, the next day, I happened to be passing Spotlight and thought it would be worth going in to check out the separating zips. Well, you never know whether the ones you are buying online are dearer than Spotlight, and I’ve always found their zips, while not plentifully stocked, to be very reasonably priced. And while I was there, I idly checked out the fabrics; and hey, whaddyaknow? Nylon ripstop! The colour selection was not huge, but it was definitely cheaper than any I had seen online, so I picked up some royal blue plus a glow-in-the-dark green for trim, just for fun. Polyester net? They didn’t have exactly the same sort that was in my husband’s raincoat, but they did have some that seemed pretty good, so I picked that up too… Velcro? check! Zips? check! Cording and cord-stops? check and check! Spotlight is a much maligned store, and frequently by me, too 🙂 but I have to eat my words now since they had almost everything I needed! The only thing they did not have was some of that marvellous Seam Grip I have read about to waterproof my seams… but I recalled reading that its primary use is in tents and camping stuff, and barely 50m away from the front door of my Spotlight is a BCF store (Boating Camping and Fishing); practically next door. So I popped in, and yes of course they had Seam Grip. I promptly bought some. I was all set!!
The nylon ripstop can be cut just with ordinary household scissors, so I did not blunt my good dressmaking shears on it… bonus!

One can’t use pins willynilly since it has to be waterproof! But when necessary I pinned within the seam allowances.
Not for looks (since the raincoat is fully lined) but for extra waterproofing, I sewed all the seams as French seams; bar some of the internal pocket seams which are inside the coat and so are not a waterproofing issue.

I ironed the seam allowances “up”, against gravity (another waterproofing tip) before topstitching in place.

Seam Grip is messy stuff. Apparently it is the best product around for this job, but check out the fine print; it contains toluene. This is nasty… back in the dark ages when I was an analytical chemist I would have only opened a bottle of this substance in a fume-cupoboard. Not having access to a fume cupboard anymore, I worked outside and used disposable rubber gloves. I cloaked Bessie in plastic bags to protect her (not that she is susceptible to carcinogens….) and draped and pegged my half-finished coat inside out to do the seam sealing.

I left it to cure for 12 hours, and kept on going out regularly to pull apart the bits like the underarms, that were sticking to themselves; to ensure nothing became permanently glued together. Even when fully set I have found the Seam Grip has a tendency to stick to itself. Having the lining in has alleviated the problem somewhat, but not completely. I sure hope it de-stickifies eventually :S

Ventilation: meaning, an aperture for one’s body heat to escape outside; is a must in waterproof non-breathable garments. So I copied a feature from my old raincoat and hammered in two eyelets under each of the arms, at the back. These, as well as the eyelets in the hood for the cording (pictured below), are each re-inforced on the inside with an extra four layers of self-fabric, for strength.

Quick and simple velcro-lined tabs to tighten the wrists. I’ve used something like these on my old raincoat for the last dozen or so years: so they’re second nature to me and I am accustomed to them, so I copied them exactly for my new one. No need to re-invent the wheel, right?

Waterproof pockets; an essential. These have a full-width flap that is an extension of the upper front, covering a zippable pouch that is an extension of the lower front. These are similar in design to the ones on my old raincoat; I simply extended them so they are much wider, thus eliminating seams. In fact, at the sides they extend out to and in to, the side seams and the front placket. Less stitching therefore simpler to construct and finish off, and you get wider pockets! What’s not to love about that? (I can do a tute on these pockets, if anyone is interested. I’m frankly a bit terrified of doing tutes now, but I am pretty chuffed with how they turned out, so please let me know, ok? 🙂 )

This has been a fun learning curve.
Of course, eagle-eyed Perth readers will instantly see that I could not possibly have taken these photos during the last 4 days, since it has been unrelentingly sunny. Truth: I raced out to take these during some early morning showers last Wednesday, but have been too apathetic to even look at my photos since then, let alone write up this post. But anyway, here we are. And I am sure we will get more rain soon. Hopefully.
And yes, flushed with my own sewing success, another raincoat is already in the pipeline, this one for Cassie…. 😉 stay tuned!

Details:
Raincoat; self-drafted, with the help of an old one, nylon ripstop with polyester net lining
Skirt; Vogue 1247 lengthened and lined, red cotton velveteen ombre dyed brown, details here and my review of this pattern here
Leggings; self-drafted, red cotton jersey, details here
Boots; Andrea and Joen, from Uggies in Dunsborough (now renamed Eco-boutique)