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Coat with leather (ish) sleeves. Part two

Posted by Fabric Godmother on 1st Jan 1970



I would love to be able to tell you that making this coat has been a labour of love. BUT to be honest it hasn't.  It has been frustrating, irritating, and a down right pain in the arse.

I started making this coat back on October see blog post here. I have thought it was finished so many times. I then had to go back as after an hour or so of wearing it as it just didn't feel right. Here are just some of the issues I battled in this war of a coat:

  • Lumpy collar, in my original post I mentioned the collar, I managed to save this by undoing the whole collar and resewing it, having trimmed the offending bumps.
  • Once I had made the shell of the coat and inserted the sleeves it felt really wide across the back, sleeves removed and side seems taken in, sleeves re inserted and I no longer feel like the hunchback of Notre Dame. (Phew)
  • The lining, it just didn't sit right, it felt smaller than the coat and twisted round as I was wearing it. To resolve this I added an extra piece of lining in at the back, not very pretty but seems to have done the job (I am not even going to show you a picture of this as I am so embarrassed about how badly I did  it)
  • The hem was very wobbly and the front kept on flicking out like it was trying to escape. I tried a blind stitch, stitching the lining in place to the hem, then finally settled on hand sewing the hem and steam pressing it. A LOT. It appears to be behaving itself now, although it has felt like a petulant child being sent to the naughty step many times.
  • The fastening at the front. The pattern called for a large snap fastening, the fabric I used is quite thick and the snap fastener just didn't cut it, it also made the front of the coat look a bit plain and I felt it needed something there. I removed the snap fastening and added a nice large button. But as the front overlaps quite a lot it felt as if it needed a double breasted fastening as the underneath bit kept on slipping out. Finally a second button on the inside (along with a stupid split button hole) and the fastening was sorted. TIP do not try and slice open a button hole late at night when you are tired and frustrated with what you are sewing! Luckily it was the underneath one so a quick darn and it doesn't show!
I feel as if I have made this coat about 3 times over but finally it is finished and although I don't L O V E it, I do like it. It is also the warmest coat I have so has been great to wear over these past few really cold snowy days!


In case you are wondering which fabric I used it was the Aine wool herringbone fabric  and the sleeves were made from faux leather which was a gift.

Happy sewing xxx