[aprilshowers]

I am wondering how much ease you’d recommend in the School Days Coat. My daughter is a size 6/7 in most clothing but I see the size 7 coat says 34 1/2″ chest which is, um, my own size! Her actual chest size is about 24″ over clothing. 10″ of ease just seems like way too much. But, since it is a coat that she’ll hopefully wear for a long time, I am loathe to go down.

What would you recommend? For reference, I recently made the size 7 Ice Cream Dress and it is huge on her but the size 7 Hopscotch Top fits her like a glove. The size 7 Sleepover PJs are roomy but not ridiculous. All three of those patterns have chest size listed as 25 1/2″. Is the School Days coat really supposed to be 9″ larger around than the clothing?

Thanks!

Laura

[Nicole]

My little one is still wearing hers from a few seasons back. http://www.flickr.com/photos/motherof5/sets/72157625184981969/

I find the coat a lovely roomy fit and don’t forget the optional padded vest would take up room.

I should think it has also been designed to go over layers.

If you feel that is too much ease,size back to a 6 but I have seen many of these coats being modelled on the large size and they look adorable!

It is such a buzz to sew. Lots of straight lines,so not too tricky but looks amazing!

~Nicole~

[with love Heidi]

9″ larger than the clothing for a major winter coat is not that much. This is a circumference (around the outside of the circle) measure.

5.5″ radius for a circumference of 34.5″

3.8″ radius for a circumference of 24″

So that’s less than 2″ of space around the coat over her clothes, so add and big wooly jumper and the liner and you wouldn’t want it much smaller!

Hope all the maths hasn’t blown anyone’s head!

I would probably make the size 7, and she’ll hopefully get next winter out of it as well.

[Mama_Knowles]

My girl wears 2T Oliver + S but the 3T length so I made the 3T for my daughter, it’s a bit big but should fit her this next year. My thinking is that if it’s cold out I can layer her clothes and the coat should fit over her clothes no problem.

Now my baby boy I made him the 6-12 size coat, the same size in O+S patterns he wears but the coat is big on him but is lovely for wearing. I used fleece for the inside of his coat so it’s very snuggly on him. So I would say that this coat runs bigger in size so it should fit her some time if you make her the saze she wears in other O+S patterns.

[Liesl Gibson]

The amount of ease in a coat can, indeed, look daunting. In this case, it sort of depends on how you’re making the coat. If it’s a light jacket, you might be able to go a little slimmer/smaller. If you’re using an insulated interlining like I did with S’s winter coat a few years ago, you may even want to make a size larger. But yes, the ease is mostly necessary to fit over other layers, unlike a dress or blouse.

Edit to add: I would generally tend to make something that seems a little bit large when it comes to kids and outerwear. They grow so fast, and you’re probably not going to want to make a new jacket every year. (Or I wouldn’t, anyway. But my sewing time is streeeeetched these days…)

[aprilshowers]

Okay, you guys have me convinced. This is going to be a raincoat but there will still be plenty of opportunity to wear sweaters under it so I will forge ahead with the 7. I also had to remind myself that my mom bought her her current raincoat 3 years ago when it was about 2 sizes too big for her!

Thank you!

[meleliza]

My son grew out of the sleeves long before it was too small in the chest. I still made him wear it for two years If I ever made it again, I would add a cuff as in the Sunday Brunch jacket. Alarm he’s grown out of that pattern!