A Garment A Week – Week 27 – 08/07/16

Our town holds the school netball competition on Friday afternoon/evenings. And every Friday in term two for the last few years, I freeze! Last week our year 3/4 team played at 5.50pm on a still evening, it was so incredibly cold all I wanted was to have a big heavy blanket over my shoulders. I’d have been the only person there in a blanket lol but I’d have definitely been warmer!
So here is my old wool blanket – turned into a wearable coat!
The blanket had seen better days, there were a few tiny holes to work around and some areas were more worn than others. There is also some discolouration of the wool as parts of the blanket have seen more sunlight. So some panels are slightly yellower than others but overall the creamy colour is pretty good.

It is lined with cotton and a soft knit on the collar with calico underneath it for strength. No fusing as I’ve run out of white – tricky to complete things on deadlines when the closest dress fabric store is an hour away 🙁
The design for the collar came from a short crop jacket I found on pinterest, the rest just came together as I created the pattern. The bordered edge runs right around the collar, front edge and hem. There are two big welt pockets on the front – These should have been a little lower as the top edge kinda gets in the way of the belt but they’re still usable. The belt is held on by loops at each side. I wanted a tie belt so it can be tied up tight in the cold.
I like being able to pull the collar up around my neck in the wind and I don’t feel the scratchy wool thanks to the knit lining.

The sleeve hem is a little tight but not too bad.
The coat hem is a little rounded.
The lining seams are sewn to the seams of the jacket at the shoulders, front placket, top of hem band and under the collar. This helps it all stay together and the lining doesn’t show – there was no fold under of the wool option for the hem etc as it was just too thick.
I’m glad I have industrial sewing machines as I don’t think a domestic one would have liked all the thick wool layers.
I’m looking forward to being warm in the wind tonight – although hoping it won’t rain too much or I shall smell like stinky wet wool!

Leggings from Week 21 🙂