a little peacoat

I’m not sure what it is about coats and jackets, but they’re among my very favorite things to sew. I knew I wanted to make Oscar a coat as soon as he started walking – there’s something about being upright that raises the cuteness factor on a little coat like this. He’s still pretty tentative and falls down every seven steps or so, but he’s earned his big kid coat!

The pattern is the Dear My Kids Unisex Trendy Pea Coat. I don’t see this one in their Etsy shop anymore ((update: it’s available! Thanks, Ashley!!)) – I bought it over three years ago to make for Lila, after seeing this version from Adelaide Lemonade. And since then I’ve admired Tara’s coat from Girl Like the Sea, as well as the many versions sewn by Ashley of Everything Else We Do.

I was finally ready to make it myself after coming across some Robert Kaufman Chamonix Cotton Moleskin at my local Fabric Depot – this stuff feels downright amazing. It’s an unbelievably soft, sueded cotton with a very substantial weight, all of which made it seem like a good candidate for coat fabric. Plus it came in gray, which is probably what put me over the edge.

I picked up the lining from LiMa Sews – it’s from Eloise Renouf’s Bark & Branch collection for Cloud 9 Fabrics. The whole line is beautiful and I was immediately drawn to this print (Passing Clouds in Gold). You know, because of the clouds and all. This coat should go well with the weather around here – we’ll see plenty of gray and cloudy for the next six months. Hopefully it fits him that long.

Speaking of which, I made the 12 month size and added an extra 1/2 to the length, based solely on the fact that I live in constant fear of things ending up too short. I think it came out about right.

The pattern itself was good, and everything came together pretty easily – there’s a lot of great detail and information included in the directions, but it’s missing a few little things in my opinion – like notches (I can’t help it, I miss notches when they aren’t there!), and basting stitches on the sleeve caps to ease the sleeves into the armholes. No big deal if you’ve set plenty of sleeves in your day, but if it happened to be your first time, you might be a little confused.

And one thing I might change next time – it has a sort of flared, swingy shape, and I think I would cut it straighter next time, for Oscar anyway. Lila says he looks like a girl in it, but I think it’s plenty masculine for his 14 month old self. And overall I think it’s a pretty adorable coat – I love the wrist bands and the big, boxy collar, the fit is great, and the construction was really simple and straightforward. Plus, I used a pattern purchased 40 months ago. Based on that fact alone, I’m calling it a success!