While New York City is in lockdown in March 2020. I have been utilizing my free time to sew and finish any UFO (unfinished objects) that I may have lying around, including this jacket.
Back in November I found this multicolored fur tweed fabric from Prime Fabrics in the NYC Garment District. I was on my way to an appointment and I stumbled upon this HUGE fabric store on 35th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue. Prime Fabrics has two floors full of fabrics from every kind. They have beautiful wools, brocades, linens, silk, and upholstery fabric to choose from. But what caught my eye was this fun outwear fabric.
The bolt only had 2.5 yards left... so I went to my appointment but decided to buy it before I regretted it. So I walked back in and purchased what was left from their bolt. At only $30/yd it was a good price for a novelty outwear fabric.
With such a special fabric I wanted to let it shine. I didn't want to use a pattern that had a lot of seams and would chop up the fabric and ruin the print. So I searched my stash for the perfect coat pattern. I even purchased a few options from Vogue Patterns as backup.
But while I was talking to my coworker about this beautiful fabric she told me that she had just the pattern! She had created a custom pattern for a client that only had a dart at the shoulder seam and had a loose and a-line style. That would left the rest to creativity. She had used a beautiful wool and had machine-stitched a multi-colored swirl design on the lining fabric. It was perfect! She let me take the pattern home and use it.
I tested the original pattern and made this muslin using an old sheet:
The original pattern did not need any adjustments to fit me. I chose to not include the center back vent in the final piece though because I ultimately did not like how the fur laid with the slit. The original pattern did come with a collar piece, however, after consideration of the fabric type and overall style, and a poll on Instagram:
I decided to not attach the collar.
I lined the jacket with a thin black woven lining. But other than that the only other design decision to make was the closure for the front. So I went to Pacific Trimming in the garment district to see what options they had:
They had lots of closures to choose from. While they have garment trims, they also have trims for bags and accessories. I really liked the large clasps, but I would need at least 2 to keep the jacket closed enough. So I decided to go with the more discreet hook & eyes to keep with the simplicity of the jacket.
Scroll down to see how the jacket turned out, let me know what you think in the comments below: