Check coat - UFO finished for New Year 2020

I started this coat in the summer of 2018 thinking it would be quite nice for Autumn but not warm enough for winter. I cut out the check part and it was meant to be part of the capsule wardrobe. Well that was that. I stopped then and it has remained most of the time on my sewing (dining!) table ever since. I did move it most weeks to clean and to cut out new things or to trace patterns but sewing.......NO! It just ended up back on the pile.

So its been here for ages. I have made lots of excuses for not sewing this up - most notable the truth - that I did not have clue what to use for a lining. I sewed the outside part but since I had nothinhg for a lining I just kind of ignored it till last summer.

According to my pattern it needed to be a stretch fabric for the lining but nothing in my stash seemed suitable. Then in spring 2019 it was still unfinished and I bid on loads of Ebay fabric and won most of it which is most unusual in itself. I was after neon brights. The same seller listed a neon yellow, neon pink, neon coral but I never expected to win it all so then I bid on what on my screen looked like another bit of neon yellow. Then I won them all. Its quite good really that this bit of bright yellow was not the same fabric as the neon yellow cos then I would have had 7m of it. I am unsure what I could do with so much over-bright fabric. They were just in fashion then but who knows for 2020. Mind you I am quite sure I will find uses for all of ths fabric haul.


The lining fabric I used in the end then is a stretch scuba type of crinkle stuff. I hate the right side but have (extensively) got into using the wrong side to make all sorts of things which you can read abut in many many previous blog posts.

I will not bother to link back because you can pretty much select any post with stretch fabric to see what I do with that stuff.





The photo of the coat on the floor is rubbish I admit, but my house is small, and there is really no where I can actually lay something this big so that you can see it all at once.

Anyway back to the lining fabric which I think is a kind of scuba and is, when reversed, very good as a substitute for the performance types of fabric used by companies like Rab to make their somewhat expensive polyester jackets. Right side I hate the stuff. Wrong side I will not say love it but my intention to never ever buy more was dashed as I found ways to use it. It seems to contain lycra and wears well even on the reverse though the reverse is more delicate that the crinkle front. It does make for extremely warm excercise leggings though. The outer layer is a very thin and lightweight fabric with stretch widthwise but not lengthwise. I made a skirt from it previously. With a lining from this scuba fabric it becomes more substantial for a lightweight coat.

Ignore what I am wearing underneath this. I had one of those days you have where nothing quite matches but you wear it anyway😁

So I ended up with 4m of normal yellow and 3m of neon yellow so plenty yellow fabric really. Especially since I am not that fond of wearing yellow!

I do like fluorescents though. I made a couple of items last summer in yellow, pink and green fluorescents but never used the bright non-neon yellow and so far I still have the neon coral as well. Roll on spring for that one!

The non-neon yellow was lying on my sewing / dining table. As my partner who was sick of me trying to decide on a stretch fabric for a lining for this coat and asking him if this or that fabric would work best, said "why don't you use this bit of bright yellow for that" so I did.

Finally, in spring 2019 I found a lining fabric, cut it out and started to sew. As usual the Burda instructions are terrible but I muddled through. Then half way through construction I decided to add a hood. Its not part of the Burda pattern but I reckon I will wear this far more if it has a hood. Its a very lightweight mac type of garment anyway so will be worn in spring now, or maybe even on cooler summer days, and later in 2020 in the autumn. The hood is from New Look 6142 in sixe XL which I used to make several hoody's for my partner. Its a basic hood and has no pull cord or elastic but will  make the coat just a little more wearable for UK spring and summer weather. I think it was a good addition. I sandwiched it between the outer and lining layers of the Burda pattern pieces and it seems to work well.


So I cut this out nearly 2 years ago for a would-be summer mac for work. I have finally sewn the last bit of hand sewing this week which is round the back vent.Two years for what is really quite an easy item to sew!

Unfortunately it was quite windy when the photos were taken which has meant you get to see wind-blown pieces rather than how it actually looks. The back vent is nigh on perfect honest. I am not so happy with the puff-ball effect hemline though. Thats an accident.The outer fabric is too light weight for this garment I think. But all the checkes pretty much line up all around thecoat so just for once I have managed to accurately pattern match. Shame its pretty much a throw away coat really but thats the very light weight fabric I used for the outer. Still it will give me an extra something for this spring. And I can get away with it for work even if its imperfect.

 

I finished sewing most of this in probably, August 2019 but never got round to the hand sewing of the back vent. I could not work out how to do that by machine. Since I really hate hand sewing I left it and despite it being the right weather for this in Autumn I never finished it. Being unable to sew with a sewing machinefor the last few weeks does indeed have some very few advantages. It made me get round to hand sewing at last.

Its definitely got a few imperfections like I have a tuck in the bottom of the lining on one side which you can see on the photo on the floor, but when worn, or even hanging up, no one other than me is going to notice that. I am not good at adding linings probably because I need more practice. I have not made many items that are lined.

I am despite the obvious imperfections happy to make this at last. I am very happy to finally get rid of this from my sewing pileas well. I am sick to death of moving it around and dustig round it. I feel I achieved something by finishing it rather than just sticking in the plastic storage box which is hidden in my airing cuboard with the rest of my UFOs. Interestingly all my UFOs are coats and jackets!

I am also very happy that the two fronts ended up exactly the same length. And I will have a nice lightweight work mac for spring and summer 2020.There is one slight problem with this coat that it should have been a puffball. Or at least it would easily lend itself to becoming a puffball coat because of the very lightweight fabric I used. You can see how the outer layer almost puffs around the bottom in the photos. I actually own Burda's puffball mac pattern as well ( the Tikva Trench ) so I am seeing this as an opportunity missed. It does though make me now desire to make the puffball coat in the near future. Maybe with a definite intention to finish it in reasonable time, or at least certainly to make it faster than I managed to make this mac.

I have a few things I can make from the rest of the bright yellow fabric as well so it will not be wasted and for £2 it was a real bargain - even if it is bright yellow. If nothing else it will make for a wearable muslin fabric for future trials of patterns.

Bracken

66: Finishing the UFOs - waterproof jacket

I started this jacket for my partner back in June with the idea we were going to take it on a day trip at the start of July. When it came to our day trip it was very hot and there was no sign of rain which was good because I never finished making this.

The fabric is a ripstop waterproof, probably nylon. I do not remember to be honest. I bought it from Ebay so was relatively cheap.  I think around £5 but cannot remember exactly. I have loads more left for a second jacket.

The jacket is based loosely on a hoody pattern:

 The lining is navy mesh - I will add a picture later since forgot to take but its just a nylon mesh fabric meant for sportswear linings.

I added pocket flaps to keep the rain out and closures with blue velcro:

 The velcro is from Amazon and was £7 for 25m.
I found it very easy to sew the fluffy side but really difficult to sew the gripper bit. The needle just refused to sew at all and my machine said it was too thick fabric so I swapped to a leather needle. It sewed better with this but still kept missing stitches. I eventually got it all sewed on but it was very difficult and frustrating.

 I added a piece under and over the zip to hopefully keep the rain out and added extra fabric around the hood edge to hold a cord.

This made the hood large which apparently is like "Assassins Creed - Almost" according to my other half! He likes it anyway.

 The front has velcro at the bottom which I have to say looks far from professional here:

This is the main problem area because I did ask him if he wanted the pull cord to have eyelets (buttonholes) but he said no so when it is finally finished the cord now needs stoppers since the two ends do not meet up when the bottom velcro is closed. One end of the cord is on the inside and the other outside. Hopefuly that makes sense.

I made a mistake with one pocket shown here. I had to decide which would show least the top or bottom so I have a pucker at the top where it does not quite fit. I sewed the pocket flap ends down so hopefully they keep the water out and my partner's phone, keys etc safe with the velcro fastenings. He has a habit of losing phones in the sea. I know I never take my phone when paddling but he does!

I decided better to live with this pucker rather than unpick since if I unpick there will then be lots of tiny holes and it IS meant to be waterproof. Other half does not seem to even see it despite my pointing it out to him!

To make the sleeves long enough I added wristbands with an adjuster bit based on a  RTW jacket I already own.

 The wrists are closed with velcro since my other half did not want elastic wrists.

This jacket took me well outside my comfort zone and is I think, if I am honest, well above my skill level hence the problem areas such as the pocket flap being puckered. I needed to be quite inventive since the pattern originally has no lining and is meant to be a reasonably fitted hoody rather than a waterproof jacket. I had to invent extra bits to try and make the water remain outside in a downpour. Having said that though it is a good prototype and in interesting experiment. I also had no actual pattern pieces for bits like the front flaps that go under and over the zips, the cuffs, pocket flaps and hood cord channel or the hem band. All sound reasonably easy to add but when I came to do this getting them perfect was very difficult.

 We have yet to see how successful this jacket will be. I will let you know once its been seriously tested. We are off to Cornwall for a few days soon so that should show if it is actually waterproof. I suspect everywhere I had to restitch due to skipped stitches it is going to leak. We also never glued any of the seams so in a heavy downpour I think the water will just come in. We will see. If it turns out reasonably successful I will make a second jacket What I really need is some kind of, preferably mens, waterproof activity jacket but I have not been able to find a pattern anywhere so if anyone reading this knows of one please comment or email me and let me know.

Here are some pictures of close-ups of the lining and zip etc :

Thanks for visiting and see you again soon,

Bracken