Fantastic Faux Fur

Let’s just start with… I Love This Pattern! It’s a perfect style for me. I love a great car coat style. It offers comfort, style and a great vintage vibe. The car coat design originated in the USA in the 1050's with the development of suburbia. They were designed to be convenient for driving, cut at the high hip or three quarter length. Car coats became a popular fashion outerwear that has continued right through to today.

This pattern is not complicated; it doesn't have illustrations so make sure you are familiar with most sewing terms and have constructed a collar before you sew or watch this YouTube video to outline the steps clearly for you. For this version there are only 3 pattern pieces and a rectangular piece you measure and cut out yourself for the collar . This is folded length wise and once the two short ends are sewn together, reversed for a gorgeous high collar that can be popped up or worn down giving two distinct design esthetics. I sewed a size 44 based on bust measurements with no pattern adjustments except to the lengthen the sleeve and bodice by 2".

The front bodice flares out at the bottom which gives the jacket nice flow and drape when you wear it. A front yoke attaches to the bodice which is then sewn to the back. The sleeves are fitted in through the drop shoulder, then sewn up the side seam. Then you attach the collar and hem! I sewed the under collar with my machine and hand sewed the top collar. I always add a fun label from Kylie and the Machine as my final touch. They have a fantastic range of woven labels to chose from.

This jacket can be lined, but I chose not to line mine as it had a shiny backing that works well as a lining for slipping on easily. With it not being lined I flat felted the seams. To flat felt a seam you sew two pieces right sides together. This pattern called for a 1 cm seam allowance but there is quite a bit of ease across the bust so I constructed it using a 1.2 cm allowance. This gives you a larger seam edge to fold over for flat felting. I trimmed away the seam allowance on one side then folded the larger side over then stitched it down. I usually flat felt in the direction that a seam would be pressed. You have easy access to all seams due to the construction of the coat so it sews up nicely in this way.

For finishing touch details I included a larger vintage snap that blends into the colours of the coat to hold it closed securely at the neck. This leaves the rest of the jacket front to drape open nicely. I found a large vintage feature button to sew to the front as an accent piece at my favorite local button store ‘ Buttons and Bows’.

The pattern also comes with separate front bodice pieces and directions to create a patchwork version of the coat pictured below. This is a more complicated sew as far as piecing everything together but it would be a fun way to use up fabrics or combine them in fun creative ways.

If you don’t want the front yoke seam it would be very easy to piece it together with the front bodice to create one front panel. Just lay the pieces out one above the other with 2 cm in between to accommodate for the seam allowance. I will be using this technique for my next jacket so the fabric pattern can be highlighted. I’ll be using more of my museum fabric for the next coat. More information about my Museum Collection can be found here.

This is a wonderful versatile pattern that I will use often. I used it as my Design in December pattern hosted by "Nice Dress- Thanks I Made It" this year.

Happy Sewing,

Lou Sheffer

• Jackets and Cardigans