First Ever Coat!

Pattern Review: McCalls 7058

Long time no see! I started this coat back in August and have been chipping away at it for several months. I am finally finished and very pleased with the result!

Initially Butterick 6292 featured as part of my #2018MakeNine goals, but I wanted some more sleeve shaping an opted for McCalls 7058. I went for the short coat length as I already have a long ready to wear coat that still has some wear it in yet! This length is perfect for when it is too cold for a light jacket but not cold enough for a full winter coat. 

I was drawn to a princess seam coat as I find princess seams easy to fit and grade between sizes. Speaking of, I cut a 16 on the bust and waist and graded out to an 18 on the hips. I took in an inch on the middle of the back seams to take out some of the excess roominess. I also took in the shoulder seams around one and half inches as the sleeves sat too wide for me.

The wool was purchased around 2 years ago during a Goldhawk Road fabric shop with my sewing group. It was £20 per metre and I purchased 3. It was easy to sew and cut, but pressing was a nightmare. Luckily, my Dad kindly made me a clapper and dropped it in during a trip to London. It was a huge lifesaver and made sewing this coat so much easier. Overall, I would say that I spent the majority of my time sewing my coat at the ironing board. 

In addition to the dart in the sleeve, the other feature that I loved about this coat is the hood. This is super practical for getting round a sometimes rainy London. My full length coat doesn't have a hood and I really miss always having to use an umbrella when it is raining. 

The main achievement (for which I cannot take credit for) are the self covered buttons. After looking for a while for potential buttons I couldn't find any that I liked. In the end I decided to go for self covered buttons. My partner Alex on a local walk stopped into the Village Haberdashery in West Hampstead and picked up some 38mm self-covering buttons as a present for me!

They look fab, but due to the thickness of the wool they were a nightmare to get the two button parts to stay together. After many weird and wonderful ways of trying to cover the buttons (standing on books was one of them!), Alex ingeniously used pliers to loosen the teeth to allow more wool to fit into the back of the button. The buttons were a mission, but it was definitely worth it!

Due to the large size of the buttons I had to sew all of the buttonholes vertically (the pattern has you sew the first buttonhole horizontally), and decided to leave off the top buttonhole completely as there is too much bulk to sew vertically as the top of the coat. Three buttons is plenty for me as I always wear a scarf with a coat, even a light jacket. 

My only dislike on this coat is the in seam pockets on the sides. They add a huge amount of bulk to my hips, which is generally not an area I feel overly comfortable drawing attention to. That said, it serves me right not have sewn the pockets when making my muslin. However, I still LOVE this coat! 

The lining is a black satin lining purchased from John Lewis at £13.50 per metre. It is the most expensive lining I have purchased, but is so soft and feel very luxurious. Most importantly it makes getting the coat on and off a breeze. It will be hard to use any other lining for future sewing projects now. 

This was a relatively simple coat, and one that I would say would be suitable for beginners that would like to tackle a coat. The hood option is a simple view that doesn't include sewing a collar which is a bonus. 

This was a challenging sew for me in terms of conquering sewing fear. Lots of us can relate to that feeling that we all have of being scared of ruining expensive fabric, committing lots of time and energy to something that might not turn out how we want it to, or not getting over the last hurdle (for me this is generally buttonholes). 

For some reason, I found that this project also demanded alot more focus, i.e. that I needed to set aside a few hours, rather than 10, 20 or 30 minutes here and there, which is how I sew around 50% of the time. I started this coat back in September and only finished it just before the New Year. I enjoyed doing some slow sewing and am looking forward to a challenging sew again in 2019!