… not that it has even snowed yet. Hopefully it will not be anything like the freaky Winter of ’96 (photo below and see source post here).
It doesn’t snow much here (“knock on wood”) but I intend on getting warm and cozy in December anyway. So to start I have made a fuzzy fleece house coat for myself. I didn’t have a pattern for a house coat, but I figured how hard can this be anyway? I have a RTW house coat I can copy for measurements, besides having my own body handy, and I have my bodice sloper and pattern block I made here. I added seam allowances to my bodice sloper and 1″ of ease front and back, and lots of length so my house coat would reach my knees. I did have to cheat a little, I used a sleeve piece from a T-shirt pattern I like. Hey it all fits!
I didn’t get a photo of my fabric before I took my scissors to it, but it is a blue 100% polyester fleece with a wild kitty cat design on it! I love it! It’s BLUE, it’s CATS! Although, the sales lady thought it was constellations. You’ve got to be kidding me! (She probably wasn’t a “cat person”.)
So after cutting out the front and back, I sewed together the shoulder and side seams, and sewed the separating zipper on to the front openings, facing the wrong way. They will be folded over towards the inside later, after the front facings are sewed on. As personal preference, I didn’t place the zipper too high up, close to my neck opening. I wanted a V-neck on my house coat.
There, one side done and one to go. Am I the only sewist who puts my pins in vertically, instead of horizontally? A bad habit, I think!
After cutting out and constructing my collar – another cheat: I borrowed the collar piece from a shirt pattern – I sewed it onto my house coat. I made up front facings by copying the front outline of my house coat…
… and pinned and sewed them on, keeping my finished collar inside the facing, along with my zipper.
I think I am going to cut off this pointy piece as it doesn’t go all the way up to my shoulder seam and will just look funny hanging there.
Front facings sewed on.
I thought I would try something different when hemming up my 3/4 length sleeves. I going to use some “Wonder Tape”. This is a double-sided tape that really sticks to the fabric.
After you peel off the backing, this is what you are left with.
I measured the 1″ hem and folded the fabric over, where it stayed, …
… sewed it down, …
… and as an after thought, added a row of fancy stitching.
Collar on, sleeves on, facings and zipper attached. I added some black single fold bias tape to the inside seam where the collar was sewed to the neck opening. I didn’t want any stretch and it looked more finished that way.
Dolly wearing my finished house coat.
Sorry, you won’t see any photos of me modelling my house coat on the internet. Dolly’s not camera-shy like me! Trust me, my house coat is very relaxed and comfortable. Next… PJ’s!
Happy Sewing!