This coat I bought in 2019 sometime. I was in two minds to get it, while the colour was lovely, the wool was stiff and coarse, as well as paneled so there were limited options in the remake. The coat was home-made, and the sew-er was a lot braver than I – a lot of top stitching, some very crooked and the bound buttonholes were fairly wonky – I feel bad even mentioning it. The person that made it put a lot of work into it, and I know if I had to do the same sew I would have avoided top stitching such a heavy wool as well those button-holes – but this person chose to make it this way and the coat was well worn – so it obviously served them well. It was also reduced, so I brought it home.

I took it apart, brushed it and steamed it. I wasn’t ready to do a remake so I packed it away…. for another day. When I was going through my fabric/remake press to do a realistic clear out recently, I figured I better get sewing this one.

It was my size but double breasted so the remake would be a bit tight but do-able. I used simplicity pattern for the sleeves and arm scythe, and neckline and kept the rest of the panels as they were. I did not have much extra fabric to play with, but used what bits I could to recut a collar and undercollar from the original facings. The sleeves have a fake hem with a strip of wool sewing at end. As it was originally double breasted, I turned over the fabric in the front panel to use as a facing (which meant I had to to a ‘patch’ facing to join the back facing to the front fold.

I had a notion to felt over the old buttonholes, thinking it could create an interesting texture – it looked awful, so I went back to my original idea of covering with a strip of gross grain ribbon. As the wool was so stiff, I had to use a thimble for all the hand sewing (which I rarely use).

As I really wasn’t sure if it was going to work out and didn’t cut the lining until after the coat was made – which was my dumbest idea. When I went to cut the lining, I was without a proper pattern, sufficient amount of lining and somewhat impatient. I cut the lining using the simplicity coat pattern adding extra for hips (which are certainly not a simplicity size 34). most of the lining pieces are cut as one, but I did have to sew bits together to make up the sleeves.

The whole sew took far longer than I would have liked – normally I get a sew done over the weekend where this coat dragged a bit but I am really happy with the coat. The simplicity pattern is for a ‘dress’ coat and sleeve and shoulders are a nice snug fit, so its not for wearing with big sweaters. It was only as I sewed I noticed the wool being so worn in parts, so while the coat looks fine, I will be sending it for a big dry clean to help bring out the fibres more in the wool.