new fall patterns: school days jacket, raincoat version

Our new School Days Jacket and Coat can be made in multiple ways: as a lined raincoat, as a fall jacket, and as an insulated winter coat with a removable quilted lining. The lining even has options. You can make it either with or without quilted sleeves.

You also have a choice in closure details. You can use either a traditional duffle toggle or a button tab. You may be happy to hear that as a courtesy for our website customers we’ve kitted up a few sets of the duffle toggles, snaps, and leather cording. We’re thinking that some of you who will want to use this hardware may have trouble sourcing it locally.

This post features the raincoat option of the pattern. One reason we decided to do a raincoat is that there are a lot of interesting new laminated fabrics coming on the market in the next season or two. We’ll do a separate post about some of these laminate options soon. Stay tuned for that.

The pattern cover features a laminated print from Michael Miller’s Dumb Dot line, which I like because it’s classic but fun. We used the leather cording and duffle closures on this version.

I especially like some of the details on this pattern: the big patch pockets that are positioned over the side seams (they’re more accessible, I think), the hood (which fits really well, by the way), and the duffle-style details. Since laminates can be rather uncomfortable against the skin, I thought it was important to line this jacket. And of course the lining is half the fun when you’re fabric shopping because you can pick something that either complements the outside fabric or is a complete surprise. In the sample shown in the photo above, we chose a printed quilting cotton that matches the blue dots of the laminate and has an interesting scissors print (I like how that scissors print looks a lot like the Oliver + S logo, too!). Quilting cottons work very well as coat linings since they’re soft and absorbent and come in all sorts of terrific colors and prints.

Here is another version of the coat I made for S using an Anna Maria Horner for Free Spirit laminate. (Sorry, this particular fabric isn’t available anymore, but more on that topic soon.) You might notice that on this jacket I skipped the leather cords in favor of cording made from pink cotton fabric, which adds another opportunity for a little pop of color.

What else shall I tell you about this jacket? We decided this should be rated three scissors (out of four), not because it’s difficult but because it’s a more time-consuming project. The set-in sleeves may be a greater challenge in a laminate, and the lining requires some hand stitching to finish it. But, as always, I walk you through the steps gently and methodically. And I know you’ll love the result.

Stay tuned for a post next week on the winter coat version of this pattern and, also later on, a separate post on laminates.