Winter Coat



I am so excited to be a part of The Norah Dress by Mouse House Creations pattern tour. This is my second Norah (my first one is HERE), and I absolutely love the pattern. It's well done, only 12 pages to tape, it has unique details (just check out the collars!), yet it's basic enough that it can be easily modified. It's also an easy and quick sew; no zippers or buttonholes involved.

The idea for this Norah was presented to me by my one year-old. She was emptying the shelves in the fabric cupboard one afternoon (perhaps her mother forgot to close it) and dumped a box of upholstery remnants on the floor. I got the box at a garage sale last summer. A nice shade of green piece of fabric caught my eyes; I thought it would make a nice pair of shorts for Ania. It was really too small for anything else. Later that afternoon, my three year-old accidentally spilled a jar of buttons on the floor. I thought the vintage golden buttons would be perfect with the green fabric for a pair of shorts... or a coat. Yes, a coat for Evelyn and I could use the Norah pattern as my starting point. Serendipity.

I only had a tiny piece of fabric, clearly not enough to make the coat, but such a small detail wasn't going to stop me.



Getting annoyed by the snow effect? Sorry, couldn't help it. :)

I had just enough to cut the bodice and had to piece the sleeves from scraps. There is a seam in the middle that I topstitched. I actually like the detail. Alas, there were no scraps left to make the collar. Minor insignificant detail. :)

Instead of the collar, I attached the scarf to the coat. It came from a wool cardigan. I used the rest of the cardigan to line the coat. I quite like it; it's different and practical. I also added a pleat in the back.

Everything was going as planned until it was time to make the buttonholes and my machine absolutely refused. I tried three times to no avail. Ugh. I attached snaps and added buttons on top.

I think the pattern works nicely for a coat. Here a few things to keep in mind:

- Sewing Like Mad has an excellent tutorial on how to add a button placket to any pattern.

- Since the coat patterns are drafted a bit different with more ease added to the sleeves, the easiest way to do adapt a dress pattern is to size up. I made a 2T, instead of an 18 months. I left the sleeves longer, hoping that she will be able to wear it longer.

 - If you decide to line a coat with a stretchy material, cut your pattern pieces with considerably smaller seam allowances.  

And off she goes. It was -1F (-18C) when we took the pictures, so it had to be brief. This was my second attempt at the photo shoot. The first time I was so busy chasing her around, that I forgot to adjust the settings on my camera and the pictures were too overexposed. Head over to the Mouse House to check out everybody's awesome creations and buy the pattern!