Keeping warm: Sew Over It Chloe Coat

I’ll keep this short as I’ve been procrastinating for a while, having made my coat before Christmas! Photographing navy blue wool is tricky, so I made the most of a rare sunny afternoon to try and capture this.

Way back in March, I bought the Chloe Coat course when it was on offer, printed the pattern (then wished I’d sent it to a wide format printer) and left it for several months. It took me an  afternoon to paste and cut it out, by which time I had bought some fabric – classic navy blue wool melton and sea green acetate satin twill lining from Fabworks. I planned to use a zip at first, but then bought the giant sew in press fasteners on a later visit.

I used both the – fairly brief – instructions and parts of the video course. The onle part that I struggled with, mostly because I tackled it late one evening, was sewing the part where the front facing meets the hem. It needs looking at again as it isn’t quite right, but I’m not in a hurry.

The only significant change that I made was to replace the patch pockets with inseam pockets, which I located in the long front darts. They need a little hand stitching to help them sit straight but have otherwise proved successful.

Having a warm wool coat has proven very useful with a colder winter (2016/17 was unusually mild so I managed with my Closet Case Patterns Clare Coat); much as I love my fluffy Sew Different Cocoon Coat, it isn’t as cosy due to the lack of fastenings and overlap at the front. These three – plus my waxed cotton coat – should see me through the seasons happily, especially with the planned addition of a Grainline Studio Tamarack for spring and autumn.