New Winter coat

My mum and my sister have a fabric business and one of the perks for me is cheap fabric! On their last buying trip I asked them to look out for a few metres of wool to make the kids new Winter jackets. Typically, they couldn't settle on just one, and shipped back more than a dozen metres of gorgeous wool/cashmere and plain wool. Heaven!

I have had the Oliver + S School Days Coat pattern for a while but have never tried it out due to not having had the 'right fabric'. Now I do!

The jacket was surprisingly simple to make. It's a lot of work (if anyone knows of a company that will trace off and cut our your pattern pieces for you, please let me know) but all very straightforward. The instructions also had a few tips for working with wool, such as grading the seams and having a wider topstitch, and they gave really nice results.

I was intimidated by working with wool but it was so forgiving. Lots of ease so setting in the sleeves was a piece of cake, and it was even nice to cut out.

The lining is a quilting cotton by Sandi Henderson - medallion bloom from her Farmer's Market collection. It's one of my favourites but I wasn't sure about using it for the coat. In any case Sweetpea decided she had to have it, and I'm pretty happy with the result, even though I would have preferred something to contrast with the pink wool.

The jacket fits really well, with enough room to layer a jumper underneath it. Sweetpea adores it!

I'm working on my son's coat now and am really excited about it. I love that's he's still too little to have any say in the fabric choices, so his jacket is just how I want it.


The finished coat. I choose to use toggles and leather cord rather than buttons.


The coat has the option of concealed snaps or velcro. I chose velcro as it's easier for the kids to mange on their own.


The lining. Sweetpea's choice but it's not too bad at all.


The jacket has lots of topstitching. I followed Liesl's tip and made mine a quarter inch, and love the results. I pre-treated the wool by hand-washing it in woolwash then laying it flat to dry. I plan to wash the coat in the same way.