Colour Blocked Jackie Coat

Long time, no post. Would you believe I just haven't felt like sewing lately! I haven't been much inspired by any of my fabrics or patterns. I think this might have something to do with the changing seasons. None-the-less I have something pretty special to share. I bought the Jackie Coat pattern from Iconic Patterns so I could "sew-along" with the Janelle and Maria during July and August. Unfortunately I was a little late to sew-along but was thankful for their great posts explaining each step. 

I've had my eye on the colour blocked coat style for a while and had a heap of pins-piration to draw from. I ideally wanted a swing coat and originally thought about modifying the Albion Coat pattern as I'd already made it once for Tim. But why re-invent the wheel? The Jackie Coat had just the right amount of swing and I loved the idea of playing with the blocking placement and welt pockets. 

I cut a Size 10 grading out to a 12 from the waist down. In the end I probably could have dropped down a size but more room in a coat for extra layers never hurt. To enable the colour blocking I cut the front, back, and facing pieces in half 9cm below the lengthen/shorten lines. For the sleeves I made the cut at the top turning line (makes sense if you see the pattern). I then added 1/2" seams allowances. Because the Jackie Coat is asymmetrical most of it is cut on the single layer (not on the fold). This, along with having doubled the number of pieces to be cut meant that cutting out was rather a long process. 

For the fabrics I chose a black and cream flannel wool from AH outlet and The Cloth Shop respectively. The lining is a pink silk twill with printed polkadots for the Fabric Store. I love the pop of colour. I knew I wanted to keep the coat really simple on the front so I dropped the bound button holes for these beautiful snap fasteners from The Cloth Shop. They are quite big with a lovely cream speckled plastic component as well as the heavy duty metal inner.

Sewing up Jackie was surprisingly simple. Unlike usual I took my time and enjoyed the process. I catch stitched all the inner seams allowances down so they wouldn't shift and move once the lining was in. I added black/cream top stitching at all the colour blocked seams to help define the lines. The welts aren't perfect but they're good enough and I really like how the black welt pocket intersects through the cream fabric.

The Jackie Coat instructions are very good. The only time I got a little confused was bagging the lining. I've never done this on a coat before so that's no surprise. I somehow ended up sewing my sleeves in a continuous loop so that if I was wearing the coat it would have been more of a straight jacket - a really stylish one at that!

The pattern is designed to be worn with the sleeves turned up, but I really prefer the look and length of them down. The coat buttons right up (see below), but that's not really me. I'm more likely to wear it undone. I love how my Jackie Coat turned out and I could see myself giving the pattern another go next winter incorporating a symmetrical centre front opening like Janelle has done. I'm so glad I got my butt into gear and made up Jackie before the warm weather settles in.