McCalls 5525 Archives - Handmade by Carolyn

floral trench coat

26/09/2018 8:54 pm \ 72 Comments \ Carolyn

I’ve made a new trench coat; a riotously floral-tastic, blowsy English rose of a trench coat. As soon as I spotted this print I was smitten! delightfully old-fashioned, vaguely reminiscent of Granny’s china cabinet and a wholly unabashed celebration of spring-time. Because that’s what it finally is now… SPRING!!!

This very thing, by which I mean an over-the-top floral trench coat, is a thing I’ve had percolating in my mental wish-list for aaaages, ever since I first laid eyes on the floral trenches by Burberry from a few years back. I originally bought this paler pink magnolias floral fabric to make the trench coat but got distracted and made that dress instead, obviously! Anyway, a little after I finished that dress, I still really really wanted my imagined floral trench coat, so I bought some more floral sateen. And I’ve finally made it!

Pattern; McCalls 5525 view E, the view with all the bells and whistles. The only things I left off were the flap thingies over the pockets, because I didn’t have enough buttons for them!

Fabric; a floral cotton sateen, from Spotlight. The trench is fully lined with pure white cotton poplin, also from Spotlight, and the buttons… the buttons! – are totally gorgeous vintage ones that I’ve had for about ten years. I was actually the lucky person to get them in a Secret Santa pressie swap at a very early Burda sewing community meet-up, way back in 2010? I think?

I had only 11; they are a deep bottle green, possibly made from Bakelite or something very similar. I’ve been looking out for yeeeeeers for the the perfect project for them and I thought this trench coat was it… they are in fact a perfect colour match for the deep teal-y/ocean-green of the foliage in the print. However! now they’re all stitched on, I’m not completely sure the fabric was the right choice for them after all? ahhhh, the agony of high, followed by unattained, hopes and expectations! The thing is; the busy busy busy colourful print, while it is really gorgeous and I LOVE it! it really just swallows up the impact of those buttons and at any distance you can hardly see them on there at all. They just disappear. As in, buttons, what buttons? I can’t seen any glorious buttons!! The fact that they are beautifully profiled, and slightly marbled, and vintage, well, you’d never know. So, I’m just thinking, maybe? I should substitute them for some plain buttons, and save my exquisite vintage buttons for another project – another, different trench coat, something in a solid colour where the buttons can really be allowed to shine? Hmmm….

the one under the collar is not one of the original set, it’s a modern, plastic, flatter one…

Making a coat is always an activity that brings me huge amounts of joy and satisfaction, and this one did too, keeping me blissfully pottering away the whole time I was working on it. Constructing all the little bits and bobs that go into a trench coat, like the tabs, the collar, putting in the sleeves and bagging out a lining is enormously fulfilling to me, just about as enjoyable as any project I can think of. I’m totally in zen mode, throughout. As it happens, I’m perfectly happy with all the construction details of this one; all my seams and sleeve insertion and symmetry of the tabs and collar, the walking vent, topstitching, and the neatness of my buttonholes and all that jazz all worked out exactly as I hoped, and I’m very pleased with all this.

for some reason, this arrowhead tab on the collar stand is always an especially pleasing detail to me!

So that’s all super good and satisfactory. However?! I have to admit to a little frisson of disappointment at the halfway point of making this coat, at about the point when the body was together, and I slung it over Bessie and took a step back to have a first look… and, oh dear. See, I had barely enough fabric to cut out my trench, and in fact several pieces are pieced together! Which ones? oooh, I’ll never tell!!! See if you can see the seams! But that’s not the problem here, after all, piecing is something I’ve done in a lot of garments because of lack of fabric and I’m perfectly ok with doing that when I have to…. The thing is, I really had to be clever about laying out the pattern pieces to have any hope at all of getting the coat cut out, and I did some very premature self back-patting when I managed to lay out the pieces. Because the way the print has turned out on the finished coat is just not good. Specifically; the front is quite a lot “busier” than the back, and I wish I could have been switched-on enough to see that while I was juggling those pattern pieces but sadly, I did not. The front and the back are to my eye almost like two completely different coats, which is very sad-making (please excuse my little Evelyn Waugh-ism there…)

It’s definitely not as obvious when the coat is worn open, like this; which to be honest is how I was planning to wear it most of the time anyway.

I can’t do anything about the unbalanced “busy-ness” of the print; but as far as the button issue goes, well I’m gonna wear it for a while and sleep on it, but button-switching may just happen sometime down the track.

I’ll just see how it goes for a while. The coat is quite lovely to wear, and perfectly comfy, well-fitting, and I did pour myself into making it well. Oh well. I’ll give it a crack! Quite often, early dissatisfactions I have with a project evaporate a little bit down the track when I look at it one day and kinda go, what was I worried about? I adore the overall vibe of my trench coat, how it looks when worn both belted closed and open are both very pleasing to me, and as usual, wearing a coat always makes me feel amaaaaaazing, no matter what! Sometimes, well, very occasionally really, I have a tiny little wish we lived in a climate which was more conducive to coats? But not very often really. Like, hardly ever, to be honest 😉 #devotedtotheaussiesummer

I am mostly planning to wear it casually and glamorously open, like I’m wearing it here with my white Inari tee dress, I’m actually rather thrilled at how super swish this combo looks, and feels! I’m even thinking this could be my Christmas soiree outfit over the upcoming festive season? Maybe!!

Details:

Coat; McCalls 5525, cotton sateen, lined with cotton poplin
Dress; Named patterns Inari tee dress, white stubby cotton, details here
Heels; Zomp, from Zomp boutique

also looks pretty good when accessorised with a dog… mmm? sorry, I couldn’t resist roping her in for just one picture!

Posted in: sewing, Uncategorized \ Tagged: coat, daily outfit, jacket, McCalls 5525

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

Ivory trench coat

03/04/2012 11:04 am \ 65 Comments \ Carolyn

My new coat!
This is McCalls 5525, view D. I have used this pattern before; my first version is view B, pictured here. My second version here is mid-length also, and has the wide symmetrical collar with a button tab on the collar stand (in case it gets really cold, I suppose, so if you want to button it right up to the collar you can), and three-quarter length bell-shaped sleeves (pictured below). I also made the in-princess-seam pockets a mite deeper and bigger than the pattern. Have I said before how much I love this pattern? Oh my… I can see from the post on my previous version that I stated I would be making this pattern again. I can’t believe it has taken me this long! I love trench coats. I want more!
For my fabric, I used a lovely piece of cotton gabardine in a warm translucent-eggshell shade of ivory, that was in the bundle of fabrics given to me by my friend C from her late mother’s stash. I knew the moment I laid eyes on it that it would be simply perfecto for a super stylish trench coat, like some of the oh-so dazzling white ones I have pinned from the last (Northern) winter. Oh, did someone say “shows the dirt”? Shushhhh!! Banish those dirty thoughts! Naturally my coat will stay pure as the driven snow all winter long since I am a master laundress (haha) and never ever indulge in outdoor activities (haha hahaha) But what the hey, that is why Napisan was invented, no? Ahh, Napisan, best friend of those addicted to pale clothes…. what would we do without you and your magical cleaning properties?
There was a hiccup to start. Even though my piece of ivory loveliness was the perfect fabric for a trench coat, I did not have enough for an entire trench coat. Hmmm. A trifling setback. But I resourcefully checked out the bridal section of Fabulous Fabrics… And y’know what? found some de-lustred satin, that was not only an almost pretty-darn-perfect match in colour and very acceptable match in texture, but also was of a thickness, stiffness and weight that was pretty darn identical what my gabardine would be like if block-fused with sturdy iron-on interfacing. Which I joyfully realised that I then did not have to do. Score!!! So I cut all my pieces that required interfacing from the de-lustred satin, and saved myself that extra step of interfacing. Such pieces being the front facings, collar stand and collar facings, tabs, and the self-fabric belt. The other pieces were cut from my gabardine.
Funnily enough, I did this exact same thing, using two matching fabrics of different weights the first time I made up this pattern. Life repeating itself… 🙂
For the lining I used a medium weight ivory satin. This is quite thick too, so I’m hoping this will make it warm enough to wear all winter. (Please don’t write to tell me how pathetic our winters are. Yes, even in the dead of winter we are still 2000 miles away from the nearest snow. No need to rub it in)
The buttons; I did not want perfectly black buttons, and found these at Fabulous Fabrics. They are a deep deep blue-y charcoal with little flecks of ivory. They could not be more perfect.
So, I realise this is quite a picture heavy post. Please excuse that. I guess I’m a mite proud of how it turned out 🙂 And to be fair you need a few pictures to address the all important question of which of these belts looks best with the coat; self-fabric belt (above), black leather belt (below), or even no belt at all (far below)? Which do you think?

Details:
Coat; McCalls 5525, view D, ivory gabardine, ivory de-lustred satin, ivory satin lining, my review of this pattern here
Skirt; my own design, charcoal jersey knit, details here
Shoes; Misano, from Labels boutique

Posted in: Uncategorized \ Tagged: coat, McCalls 5525

Grey wool coat for Spring

19/07/2010 4:09 am \ 29 Comments \ Carolyn

I made myself a coat for spring, using McCalls 5525, view B and grey wool fabric, bought back in March on a whim. So, it took some cutting magic to get this coat out of the small amount of wool I had bought because there really wasn’t enough for this pattern! When I realised this and went back to the store to get some more it had all been sold and I needed to buy a small amount of a different grey wool fabric which I used for the under collar and front facings, you can probably see on the close-up pictures the different fabric on the under/in-side of the coat but I think it’s not so different as to stand out in an ugly way. Actually I think it worked out to be a blessing in disguise, because the second fabric is a much stiffer and thicker felted wool than the outer woven wool fabric, so I decided there was no need to interface, and I think it was the right decision not to do so. The weight of the two wool layers together feels quite thick and stiff enough…
I lined it with a purply-pink cotton poplin, which makes the weight of the coat perfect for Perth’s sometimes chilly but sometimes warm spring weather. I’m looking forward to wearing it more!

Details:
Coat; McCalls 5525 view B, grey wool flannel
Skirt; my own design, charcoal stretch jersey knit
Shoes; Misano, from Labels

Pattern description
Semi-fitted, lined, double-breasted jacket and coat have collar, lengths and sleeve variations, princess seams and side front pockets. Here I made view B with back vent, sleeves with button bands, topstitch trim and button closure
Pattern sizing
8-16, I made size 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 easy
What did you particularly like or dislike about this pattern?
I loved everything about this pattern! I like that it is fully lined, not half lined as some coat patterns are; the inset pockets are in a good position on the front, and the one-piece sleeves are an easy feature
Fabric used:
Woven grey wool for the outer, purple/pink cotton poplin for the lining. Thicker felted wool fabric for the under collar and facings (because I didn’t have enough of the outer fabric)
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I made the pockets slightly larger as I thought the ones in the pattern looked too small for comfort
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
I highly recommend this pattern, the variations mean you can achieve so many looks from this one pattern and I do plan to try some of the others
Conclusion:
This is such a stylish and versatile coat pattern. The pattern is well designed; it went together very easily, all the pieces fitting together as they should with no difficulty. The one piece sleeves make this a breeze to sew. I made view B, and I particularly love the flattering asymmetrical collar, very “designer” and slightly retro. I think this view would work beautifully in heavy satin for an evening coat. I also particularly like the button bands on the sleeves of this view. I hand-tacked these bands to the sleeve seams to lessen the risk of them “rotating” around the sleeve during wear.