I am so excited to finally share this BEAST of a project: The Rumana Coat by By Hand London. This particular coat has been on my radar for at least a year now, but I kept putting the project off because I was slightly intimidated. I also wasn't sold on it's length- it looked as if it could either be a really amazing length or cut me at just the wrong spot. So I waited.
A few months ago, though, I was re-watching episodes of Gilmore Girls on Netflix (one of my go-to shows) and I saw Rory rocking a long red coat that looked SO beautiful and luxurious I wanted to pluck it right off her from the TV screen. That's when I realized that her coat was almost identical in silhouette to the Rumana! It totally sealed my decision to dive head first in attempting to create this glamorous coat.
As I was looking through my stash to see if I had any coating material appropriate for this project, I came across this teal wool melton I had purchased last year at a local deadstock fabric shop, Fabric World. Fabric World is one of those magical places where you can find some amazing pieces if you are willing to go often and dig through heaps of scrap fabrics. Last year, a friend had notified me of it's existence and, being that I lived so close, I had to check it out.
The first time I went, I wound up snagging 3 yards of a blush pink, squishy fabric that we now use as a blanket, all the fabric I needed to recover our old thrifted couch, and 3 yards of this magical wool (and it is 100% wool- I did a burn test to confirm!)
The best part? The total cost of my wool was $9! Nine. Freaking. Dollars!
When I dug this little gem out of my stash, I was nervous I didn't have enough to make the full length version of the Rumana, but I was determined regardless. I figured I'd try laying all the pieces out and if I didn't have enough fabric, I would simply shorten the coat as much as I needed to make the pieces work. By some miracle, all the pieces fit, with enough fabric left over to create a matching beret!
Making these pockets was probably the easiest, coolest, and most satisfying way to create a pocket I have ever seen!
*Full Disclosure* It wasn't until this past week that I learned that wool can ALSO have a pile direction. Upon closer inspection of my newly finished coat, I can now see why I was able to fit all of my pieces in such a small space: I ignored the pile direction of my fabric! Whoops! Luckily, it is really hard to tell unless you are literally petting me while my coat is on.
My lining is a beautiful Art Gallery Fabric rayon that was gifted to me by my generous friend, Kari. She purchased the fabric at Fabric World as well, so it was almost as if the two were meant to be in one fabulous coat together!
I have to say that I really loved working on this coat (did I already mention that?) I was able to learn new skills, tackle a daunting task, and even exercise my hand sewing techniques! Did you know that all of the interfacing I used was sew-in? And that it was all created from thrifted bed sheets! I even picked up some techniques that help explain why some of my past coats have issues in certain places, and how I can go and fix those issues to increase the longevity of all the coats!
Of course I HAD to add one of my Kylie & The Machine labels to the coat, as well as a matching hanging loop so that this gorgeousness never touches the floor, haha!
Of course I HAD to add one of my
Have you tackled winter wear this year, or do you plan to wait until 2019? I'm currently contemplating my #makenine2019 list and I feel as if another coat may make an appearance! For now, I suppose I should go and sew my Sapporo Coat that is just waiting in the studio, all cut out and lonely.
PS. I totally didn't understand how to do the lining or the back vent, which meant that at the VERY END OF SEWING MY COAT, I had to re-do the vent! I was so so confused, but thankfully, By Hand London has a beautifully photographed sewalong on their website that helped guide me through my mistakes!