Hi Everyone!

Excited to bring you one of my latest makes: an animal print coat in a style that is as close to my dream coat pattern as I have managed to get until now. Let me back up…

Last year I made Simplicity 8451, and in that post I talk about what my dream coat would have, and how I hadn’t found it at that point. Well, it occurred to me, how about taking my McCalls 6172 blazer pattern, and just lengthening it down to get a crombie style coat? (See here for an explanation of what a Crombie style coat is). After all, the McCalls blazer pattern essentially has all the features I am looking for:

• Single breasted
• Notched lapel
• Two piece sleeves
• Fully lined
• Not shoulder princess seams but easy to adjust the bust

Guys, I LOVE THIS COAT! It feels modern and I think very flattering. I think that is because it follows the “rule of two thirds” which is more flattering to your proportions. Read this great post by Nikki of Midlife Chic which not only explains the rule of two thirds, but also has a great round up current RTW winter coats.

The best part of this coat is that because I had already adjusted this pattern to fit me, all I had to do was lengthen the blazer pattern down by 30 cm below the pocket position. That was it. And in this version I added a back stay. So easy.

The fabric was purchased from The Textile Centre on eBay, but sadly is sold out now. It is a lightweight pure virgin wool. I fully interfaced the coat, with the exception of the sleeves, which were just interfaced at the hems, and the top half of the upper sleeve and around the armscye of the lower sleeve. Here are some inside lining shots, with an additional picture to show you the actual colour of the lining: it is much deeper and richer than shown in the dress form shots.

Just for fun, and even though I never wear my collar popped, I decided to add a contrast solid black undercollar cut from some poly wool melton I had in my stash. Such a cool feature I think.

So, have I found my dream coat pattern? Not quite. I think this version worked so well because this wool was fairly lightweight and was a good match to the blazer pattern. But I am not sure I would attempt this pattern with a heavier weight wool. So the search continues, but in the mean time, I will enjoy swanking around in my new coat until the weather means I need something warmer.

BTW, I had a bit of left over fabric from this coat and couldn’t bear to see it go to waste. So head over to my instagram to see what I did with the left over bits, combined with some leather scraps.

Until soon!