Quilted Infinity Dots Coat: Easy Cute Straight Sewing

The quilted square coat I made in 2015 from Yoshiko Tsukiori's Easy Cute Straight Stitch Sewing book is one of my most worn and loved homemade items. Three years on and the book still isn't available in English translation - I really think publishers are missing an opportunity here! It is as essential as the Stylish Dress Book to Japanese inspired dressmaking and a book I wouldn't want to be without.

With spring in the air, I decided my recently culled wardrobe could accommodate another...

I used a pinky red cotton fabric which is covered in zillions of tiny lime-green infinity dots (material originally bought for a dress). The lining is an off-register (market bargain) Dutch wax print fabric in ivory with a wavy print in shades of pink and yellow. I quilted the outer fabric with the last of the thin wadding left over from my quilted ukulele bag making days, then made up the lining separately and bagged out the lining and coat together. 

The quilted layer is thin but substantial enough for the coat to retain a cocoon shape. The cotton lining adds another layer of warmth and comfort making this the perfect coat for our cool spring (so far) and has plenty of room for layering on colder evenings and autumn days. 

Quilted Square Coat: Easy Cute Straight Stitch Sewing

Keen to continue on my quilted coat making odyssey, this is a quilted version of the Square Coat from Yoshiko Tsukiori's Japanese sewing book Easy Cute Straight Stitch Sewing. I made a green felt version of this design last year. The Square Coat is minimal sewing at its best, easy to cut out and very quick to make up. For my second attempt at this pattern I added 5cms to the centre front opening so that it would overlap to fasten, and cut out large patch pockets to better suit the wide quilted lines.

I had two fabrics in mind for this coat, a bright turquoise African Wax print fabric gleaned from eBay and a cheap but lovely teal cotton printed with Marimekko-like black flowers from Fabricland's Hill-Berg range. I couldn't decide which to use for the outside but settled on quilting the plainer teal material and using the bold print for the lining.

Quilting by night...

I cut out the lining to exactly match the coat pattern (the coat has no facings), sewed up outer and lining separately then bagged out the lining for fast, neat results. I used two large metal poppers as fastenings.

I think the finished coat also looks good worn inside out!

Quilted Spring Coat: Burda 7072

Four weeks in the making, my first homemade quilted coat is finished in time for spring! I'd been meaning to get around to making a quilted coat ever since I fell in love with the process of quilting that first ukulele gig bag. However, aware that it would be a bigger endeavour than a simple dress make, I put the project on the back burner. Then, visiting Eclectic Maker's January sale spied three bolt ends of Laura Gunn's Garden Wall fabric collection and knew work on the quilted coat must begin.

Laura Gunn's Garden Wall collection: Garden Carpet, Floral Trivet and Gypsy Vine prints

I had in mind using a simple kimono sleeve sewing pattern but came across Burda Style 7072 and the collarless design looked like it would be ideal. There was enough Laura Gunn burgundy Floral Trivet print to make the main coat, I used the white backed Garden Carpet print to line the main body and a small piece of olive Gypsy Vine fabric to line and trim the sleeves.

Pattern pieces cut out (I added an extra 1cm to the outer coat seams for quilting shrinkage), I prepared to zone out into the zen like state achieved by sewing repetitive straight quilting lines.

Burda 7072 was easy enough to make by following the sewing pattern diagrams and I ignored Burda's written instructions until it came to sewing the fiddly pointed triangular under-arm seams. These were tricky and quite difficult to perfect in thick newly quilted fabric (though I have to say they weren't much easier to sew in fine cotton lining fabric). There are eight of these triangular seams to sew altogether (including the lining) so if you're thinking of making this pattern, beware!

   Once the headache of sewing those seams was over, the rest of the coat was joyously easy to make. I even enjoyed bagging out the lining. I finished off the sleeve edges with homemade bias trim and used large metal poppers for fasteners.

In the finished coat – with all its quilted lines – the complicated sleeve construction is barely visible, though has made it a beautifully shaped coat. On balance I'm glad I chose Burda 7072 for this project as it makes an elegant garment and if I can steel myself for sewing more triangular seams, I may even make another... one day.

Uptown Top Ranking: Favorite Things Uptown Coat

A lot of thought and Pinterest browsing went into looking for a sewing pattern for an autumn coat but I couldn't find a design I liked more than the Uptown Coat by Favorite Things. It has an empire line bodice which flatteringly flares out into a fuller skirt with front and back pleats (perfect for pear shaped humans), a mock double breasted front and dramatic stand up collar. 

I used a richly textured coating material called Heather Glen Rope Twist (£8.99 a metre from Fabricland, Brighton). It's made up of multicoloured strands of yarn and is jewel bright in daylight. For a complete contrast I lined the coat with a fruit and flower print cotton which feels nice and soft to the touch, as well as providing a riot of colour on the inside. The beautiful wooden buttons are from Otterly Beads at eBay.

Sewing instructions for the Uptown Coat are mercifully brief and straightforward to follow for any experienced dressmaker. The coat also has a shorter, jacket version and a suggestion to make up a fat-quarter version, which I'm tempted to try making with some of my many dressmaking remnants. For now though, I'm going to enjoy wearing this one!

Green Cocoon Coat: Easy, Cute, Straight Stitch Sewing

It was love at first sight. The Square Coat is the fourth design I've sewn from Japanese minimalist sewing book Easy Cute Straight Stitch Sewing. 

The garment is made up of three big rectangles of fabric for the body, two small rectangles for the sleeves and two tiny square pockets, much like this dress but with a front opening. The book shows the Square Coat made up in a fine woven wool fabric with raw frayed edge front, neck and arm seams (no facings). There is no front fastening, the coat is shown secured with a simple pin.

I used a stiff double sided green/blue felted fleecy synthetic fabric bought for a song from Fabricland, Brighton and added some embroidered floral braid for Tyrolean folk effect.

I turned over a narrow hem to finish the centre front, neckline and sleeves as it looked too accidental (i.e. awful) in this fabric when left as a raw edge, then added bright blue metal poppers for an easy and secure front fastening – essential when living on the windy south coast of England!

My favourite thing about the coat is the contrast between the vast boxy shape of it and these tiny square front pockets. I used a fancy zigzag machine stitch to edge the pockets.

I love the finished coat and can see this design working in many different weight fabrics. It's another simple Japanese pattern that I think I'll make again and again.

Scissor Sister: Sweet Dress Book - Coat dress W

Tucked away at the back of the designs in Yoshiko Tsukiori's Sweet Dress Book is the bell sleeve coat dress (pattern W). It's easily the loveliest garment in the book - a front buttoning A-line coat with fairytale sleeves. 

I found the perfect fabled frock coat fabric in this grey linen-look cotton printed with French dressmaking notions (including slightly sinister scissors) at C&H Fabrics in Chichester. They couldn't tell me who produced it and there is no name printed on the selvage but it's similar in design and texture to the Berlin Macaroon fabric I made a dress from last month.

I thought the coat dress would be more like outerwear if I lined it, so used a floral print Japanese cotton which reminds me of the wallpaper in BBC TV's Peaky Blinders and gives the finished coat a charmingly retro feel. 

The flower-print wooden buttons are from Etsy shop BerryNiceCrafts - well worth a look for button bargains (I've also got my eye on these and these).

The coat has one front patch pocket and by fluke I managed to line up the pattern exactly.

I'm not sure the photos really do the garment justice, it's such a beautiful thing in real life. I wore it to meet friends last week and they all gasped in excitement at the fabric and ever so feminine flounce of the sleeves! 

Sweet Dress Book is worth buying for this pattern alone but for added cuteness the book includes an almond cupcake recipe and several pictures of this lilac colourpoint cat.

 

The Curtain Coat: Stylish Dress Book 2 - pattern X

Two weeks into my not buying clothes for a year challenge and Volume 2 of the Japanese home sewing guide Stylish Dress Book: Simple Smocks, Dresses and Tops is providing a welcome distraction from thoughts of shopping. 

I've had two large Peter Hall 'Candida' screen printed cotton curtains in my collection of vintage fabrics for some time. This ornate material was originally printed in five different colourways (I have the brown and orange versions but am keeping my eyes peeled for the green, blue and red). I've made ukulele gig bags from this fabric already but saved some large pieces intending to make something for myself out of it one day.

Stylish Dress Book's coat dress pattern seemed perfect. I used the orange Candida print fabric for the front and back yoke and cut the body and sleeves from the autumnal brown piece. Something went wrong in my drafting of the sleeve pattern and the first sleeve came up very small. I retraced and recut the piece adding extra width to the sleeve head which I then gathered to fit the arm hole.

I love the finished result and can't describe how wonderful it feels to be clothed in this elaborate fabric. In my rich and interesting fantasy life I'd be wearing the coat to the opening of Saloua Raouda Choucair's Tate Modern exhibition as part of Shubbak Festival, but as my hectic schedule routine doesn't allow, instead I'll be wearing it to cycle along Worthing seafront, pop into Morrisons supermarket and then collect my daughter from school. If you see me out and about in this fantastic coat, do wave and say hello!