One of the goals I set for myself in 2017 was to improve my sewing of clothing by committing to make twelve articles of clothing that I would actually want to wear. I am pretty confident in my non-clothing sewing…it’s clothing which gives me high anxiety these days. We all know the problems with sewing clothing: you finish a project that you’d begun with high hopes, only to be left with an article of clothing that misses the boat and either hangs in your closet forever untouched or just moves straight on in the donate pile, a discouraging occurrence which then messes with your sewing motivation. This year, I decided that I would muscle through until I ended up with twelve truly wearable articles of clothing no matter what.
I am proud to present to you item Number One! I finished this coat in February, but I’m just now getting around to sharing it.
This coat is a modified version of Simplicity 2153 Misses Anorak. I combined views C and D, eliminating the sleeve loops, epaulets, moved the drawstring to the inside and substituted buttons for the zipper, as well as leaving off the breast pockets.
I also sewed down the facing for a cleaner look. Finally, because I’m 5’10”, I added 2″ to the length of the coat and lowered the drawstring casing by 1″.
If I were to make this again, I would add another 2″ to the length (for a total of 4″), add a top flap to the lower pockets…and I might try it with the zipper without a drawstring at all. I will definitely be making another version of this coat and this first time definitely counts as something wearable…I’ve already worn it a number of times. There you have it…Number 1 of 12!