Intro to Sewing Coats Online class review

The Intro to Sewing Coats is an online class from Sew Over It offering a step-by-step guide to sewing a beautiful tailored Chloe Coat. Details of my finished Chloe Coat can be found here - this additional post will go into a bit more detail about what to expect from the online class.

I've used one of the Sew Over It online classes before (The Ultimate Guide to Sewing and Fitting Trousers) and really got a lot out of it. This time round I learnt everything there is to know about coat making, including some great new tips and techniques. The course is aimed at a broad range of sewers - coat-sewing newbies who want to take their skill level up a notch, along with intermediate sewers who want to improve their tailoring techniques. You will need to be familiar with garment construction and have inserted sleeves and zips before embarking on the course. The class includes a PDF pattern of the Chloe coat (both tiled and copyshop versions), video tutorials by Lisa Comfort explaining each step of the construction process, written instructions to accompany the videos and PDF guides on fitting and alterations. A full list of the techniques you'll learn in the class can be found here.

My main piece of advice is to watch all the videos right the way through before you even think about cutting anything out. It's always good to get a general idea of what you'll be doing and you can flag up any bits that don't make sense. Most of the videos are very short, only a minute or so, which makes it easier to let the information sink in. Believe me, the more times you watch something the more it makes sense! The course also comes with a set of written instructions (without illustrations). I'd recommend using the videos and the written instructions in conjunction with one another. A few tiny instructions that are not mentioned in the videos e.g. slip stitching the turning hole in the pockets, are mentioned in the written instructions. And vice versa - top stitching the front edges of the coat right at the end isn't mentioned in the written instructions. Use them together and they'll cover everything.

There are separate pattern pieces for 'cloth' (main coat fabric), lining and interfacing which is a mixed blessing. On the plus side, you're working with properly measured pattern pieces and don't need to make a stab at drafting the lining yourself. This makes things far easier when it comes to the cutting out stage. On the minus side, it does result in a gigantic pattern to tape together - 84 pages in fact. All is not lost however, as there is a copy shop PDF version allowing you to get it printed on massive sheets and sent to you. I used Print Your Pattern which charged £9 to print out the three large pattern sheets and it was delivered the next day. There are other pattern printing companies that are even cheaper. I know it's extra money to shell out, but in this case I think it's well worth it as it does save a lot of time.

The Chloe Coat is designed to be "semi-loose fitting yet flattering...fitted to your shoulders, and shaped at the front with a long cut-away dart." It's a simple, classic design and because of this there's very little fitting involved. As advised in the fitting video, it's essential to get the shoulder measurement correct, then work from there. Any pattern adjustments you do need to do such as lengthening/shortening are all outlined on PDFs which are clear and self explanatory. For reference, I cut a straight size 12 with two small adjustments to the pattern. I shortened the sleeve length by 6 cms and re-positioned the pockets about 2.5 cms to allow for my short arms. I'm 5'2" and I didn't shorten the coat hem, so if you're taller and/or prefer a longer coat you may need to lengthen the pattern. It's also worth noting that the side seams have a generous 2cm seam allowance to allow you to fit as you go.

Coat finishes just above the knee on me

Once you have your pattern pieces ready to go I'd allow a full day to cut everything out. Cloth, plus lining, plus interfacing equals a lot of time spent cutting out, plus time spent ironing on the interfacing pieces. As tempting as it might be to press ahead with the sewing, I'd recommend starting the next day when your brain is fresher!

The Chloe Coat is collarless, which means there's less bulk to contend with when it comes to layers of collar and facings. That doesn't mean it's problem free though - I still ended up with bulky sections because of the weight of my fabric, even though I trimmed everything down as directed. My fabric was a medium weight wool which is on the list of recommended fabrics so I'm not sure why this was a problem. I actually ended up omitting the top stitching down the front edges of the coat because I couldn't fit the layers of coat front and facings under my sewing machine! If I had the choice, I would have top stitched to prevent the facing from rolling out, but I'm still happy with the end result.

One of the new-to-me tailoring techniques in the class is sewing ice wool wadding to the sleeve head to give it shape. I've used pre-cut sleeve heads before with some success, but had never heard of ice wool. It's a strange fabric which looks like a cross between cotton wool and candy floss! You're instructed to hand sew it into place, probably because the texture is a bit fragile to put under a sewing machine.

I must admit, I had my suspicions about how effective it would be because of its weird texture, but it really does give a lovely, rounded shape to the sleeve head.  It just seems to mould to the shape of the wearer's shoulder like magic!

The majority of the video steps were clear and well explained - I did exactly as Lisa directed and they seemed to work. I did however, have a little trouble with one or two steps, largely because I couldn't see exactly what was happening on the videos. One of these was Sewing the Sleeve Hems - it was difficult to see how she pinned the hems together because of the camera angle. The thing to remember with this step is that you're joining the two raw edges together. Just keep that in mind and you should be fine.  The other section I had difficulty with was Finishing the Graded Edges of the Lining. It does get a bit easier to understand the more times you watch it, but I just couldn't get it to work. Eventually I did my own thing and it seems to look OK - it's only a tiny area of the coat at the end of the day.

My final piece of advice regarding construction is to follow the seam allowance instructions to the letter when inserting the zip. The seam allowance at the bottom of my zip meandered in slightly and it does make a difference when you zip the coat up. It still zips up (imagine the horror if it didn't after all that work?!) but it's a bit of a fiddle getting the short zip end into the zip pull. There, I've warned you!

The class really is comprehensive and covers everything you're likely to encounter on any coat-making journey. It definitely worked for me and I now have a beautiful, well fitting coat to show for it. x


The Intro to Sewing Coats online class was given to me free of charge for review. All views my own. 

Chloe Coat

At last... something finished to show you! This is the Chloe Coat from Sew Over It: a classic collarless coat with lined, patch pockets, an open ended zip, tailored shoulders and long front darts. There's nothing super fancy about the design, it's just a simple, elegant style that's totally wearable. I'm very happy with mine! The pattern is part of the Intro to Sewing Coats online course and I'll be writing a separate post reviewing the course shortly. This will include lots more detail about construction and the techniques used in the course.

I was fortunate to be able to try on a sample of the coat at the Knitting & Stitching Show this year, which was great for checking the size. The sample was a size 10, and although it was a good fit across the back and shoulders etc, when I tried to zip it up it was far too tight across the bust - imagine a sausage squeezed into a skin! I also wanted a bit of additional room for winter layers under my coat so decided to cut a straight size 12 all over. 

I made just two small adjustments to the pattern, I shortened the sleeve length by 6cms and re-positioned the pockets about 2.5cms higher to allow for my short arms. It's also worth pointing out that I didn't shorten the coat hem which is normally a standard adjustment for me. You'll note from the photos that the coat finishes well above the knee on me and I'm only 5'2", so if you're taller or prefer a longer coat you may want to lengthen the pattern. 

I love the roomier fit, it's much more comfortable when you're bundled up wearing layers of knitwear. I also far prefer the patch pockets to in-seam pockets. The last coat I made had in-seam pockets in the side princess seams and having worn it quite a lot, I do feel like they're positioned too far back. 

The main coat fabric is an acrylic/wool mix from Doughty's (no longer available I'm afraid) and I was able to cut out the whole coat comfortably from 2.5m. As I wasn't originally intending to make a coat, I wanted to save costs by using a lining from my stash. There was just enough polka dot lining fabric left over from my Abbey Coat (which, incidentally I never wear, anybody want it?!) so I used that.  

Inside: lining and facings

Luckily for me it's a perfect match with the baby blue coating and a really good quality lining fabric to boot (originally from here), so it was all a bit fortuitous. The other notions needed for the coat - an open-ended zip, tailoring interfacing and, wait for it, ice wool - I purchased from Sew Over It. 

Because of the nature of the online course I sewed the coat in small chunks, which corresponded with the video tutorials. It's a great way to take on a large project such as a coat, which can seem quite daunting, or if you're simply short of time and need to fit your sewing around short bursts. The only step I didn't incorporate is the top stitching down the front edges of the coat. This wasn't a design decision, it was simply because I couldn't fit the layers of coat front and facings under my sewing machine! If I had the choice I'd have definitely included the top stitching as the front facing does has a tendency to curl round (see last photo). 

I started wearing this coat as soon as the last bit of hand sewing was finished and it's sooo warm, even warmer than my red coat which was underlined with flannel! Given the current cold snap, I haven't had a chance to take it to the dry cleaners for a professional press, which is why it looks a bit springy in some photos. When I can bear to remove it from my back I might take a trip to get it beautifully pressed. But then again, I'm enjoying wearing it so much I probably won't! x

Thank you to my friend Joe for this lovely picture of me (and my coat) in Lambs Conduit Street last week.

Slow sewing

Hello! Things have been a bit quiet of late on the blog, which doesn't necessarily equate to a lack of sewing. I've actually been sewing constantly for the past few weeks, but the projects have been so slow moving I don't have anything to show you. My main project has been a set of memory quilts for a family member and her sons. If you've read this post, or this one, you'll know how long these things take and there's still a fair way to go. I'm now at the quilting stage and am looking forward to several days of sewing straight lines over the Christmas period!

The second project I've been working on is a coat. I know, I don't even need another coat, but sometimes these decisions are taken out of our hands.... At the GBSB Live in September I had a spare half hour wandering around on my own before meeting up with some sewing friends. Before I knew it, I'd somehow managed to buy 2.5m of baby blue coating without meaning to. Some kind of sorcery was clearly at play as I wasn't even looking for coat fabric!

The fabric was from Doughty's and I think it's an acrylic/wool mix which annoyingly, doesn't seem to be on their website. In fact there are hardly any wool fabrics listed, maybe they sold them all at the show? Anyway, sorcery aside, the fabric just happened to be a perfect match for the Sew Over It Chloe Coat, so that was another chunk of my autumn sewing sorted in one fell swoop. 

Coat making has been going swimmingly so far - just bagging the lining and hemming to finish - so I should have a shiny new coat to blog about before too long.

My final pre-Christmas project will be to make something from this lovely silver faux leather I bought from Fabric Godmother. 

Again, I don't know what possessed me, but I have a vision in my head of a chic little pencil skirt. Worn with a plain black top and a big necklace, I think it has the makings of an effortless Christmas party outfit! I've purchased some leather needles and leather glue and will probably need some of those bulldog clip things - I'll report back. Anybody else working on a slow project? x

The Ultimate Guide to Sewing and Fitting Trousers

The Ultimate Guide to Sewing and Fitting Trousers is the latest class from Sew Over It and the first online course I've been tempted to buy. At £45 (or £35 in my case as there was an introductory £10 off) it's pretty good value for money - you have access to all the online tutorials plus two downloadable patterns: the Ultimate Trousers and the new Carrie Trousers.

The class focuses on two areas: basic trouser making for beginners (where you make the easy-fit Carrie trousers), then fitting and sewing the Ultimate Trousers for those who already have some trouser making experience.

I've made a few pairs of trousers (including the Ultimate Trousers), so the latter part of the course was what I wanted to focus on. With my first pair of Ultimates the fit wasn't too bad, but there were still a couple of things that bugged me about them:

- The waistline is too low for my taste and the trousers feel like they're riding down throughout the day.

- There's a weird bagginess around the front crotch which you can see in the blog photos here. I needed to find a way of removing this excess fabric.

So I sat down to watch the class to see if I could sort these issues out. The first bit was easy - there's a whole section on making style changes to the pattern, one of which is raising the height of the waistline! I made the adjustments to my pattern pieces as instructed and raised the waist by two inches. For reference the waistband now sits level with my belly button. It's worth noting that there's also a lesson on adding a waistband to the pattern, including a downloadable pattern piece - very handy.

This just left the baggy crotch to sort out…. The 'Fitting Surgery' section of the course is made up of seven downloadable PDFs. Each part focuses on a different fit issue and includes a line drawing, a photograph on a real body and a description to help you diagnose the problem. I went through each section several times before finally realising what my problem was - thin thighs! What?! I can honestly say that was the last thing I was expecting.  

Image: Sew Over It

The adjustment was quite easy, I measured around the fullest part of my thigh, then the crotch line on the front and back pattern pieces. The difference between the two measurements was the amount I needed to remove, spread equally between the inner and outer seams of each leg piece. In my case, this was 1cm from each seam. I then sewed up the trousers, tried them on and the fit was exactly what I wanted. Yay!

They're very fitted, in fact they look more like jeggings than trousers, but that's what I was after. The higher waist is a much better fit on me and stops the trousers riding down.

I think that baggy crotch has disappeared...

The fabric is a stretch polka dot denim from Classic Textiles on the Goldhawk Road which is sturdier than the previous fabric I used, but still really comfortable to wear. I think I'll wear them a lot.

Based on what I've watched of the course so far (60% of it), I'm impressed. I've managed to sort out my fit issues, I have a fab new pair of trousers and a shiny new Carrie pattern to try out soon. All in all, a good investment! Has anybody else tried this class yet? I'd love to know what you think. x

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