[Jemellia]

I ordered my wool from Quilt Basket: http://www.quiltbasket.com/s-361-wool.aspx. Denver Fabrics has a lot of wool as I noticed in the past.

[Jemellia]

I have lightly touched on the subject of the sew along on my blog if anyone is interested.

[cherry]

I have some wool here ready to go, but need to order some of the lining. I’m just having trouble deciding! There is no rush as we are heading towards summer here in Australia, but a sew-along would be fun all the same!

[Sarvi]

I ordered a swatch of two different colors of wool melton from fabric.com. It’s odd, because there’s a category for ‘wool’ and another for ‘wool blend’ — but the ones under ‘wool’ are 80% wool. I got swatches of both Deep Blue and Currant, expecting only the color to be different, but the material is quite different — the Currant is a looser weave, thinner, and softer. We live in a warm, mild climate, so I ordered the Currant. I’ve been overwhelmed with work and have had zero time to participate in any previous sew-alongs, but I want to make this as part of a Paddington Bear costume for my daughter (and figure any ‘learning experiences’ would only consign the coat to the dress-up bin, rather than the waste bin). I’ll have a look at your blog, Jemellia!

[Nicole]

Do you know I have had to fight the urge to steal that idea,Sarvi?

[Sarvi]

Nicole, please do me a huge favor and steal that idea, so I can in turn steal your techniques and all the little details you’ll add to make it look perfect!

[sarap1979]

Hi ladies. I JUST finished this coat last night. You will have fun stitching it up. I had a hard time finding toggle buttons, but did stumble across a lady who makes them on etsy. Her shop is Actual Size Buttons. Lovely colors and she said she would make them custom for the group with holes big enough for the leather cord or fabric strip.

[Nicole]

Are you serious Sarvi ? It would look so cute!

[Sarvi]

I’m very serious! It would be so helpful to see you work your magic. Gosh, and any of your little ones would look so huggable in it.

Thanks for the tip on the buttons, sara p! Do you also know where to get the cords/leather bits? I was planning to harvest them from another coat I’ve been given.

[Emily]

There are a number of places you can find the leather cording – I picked some up from Nancy’s Sewing Basket in Seattle (they do mail order). You could always check Joann’s in the ribbon/trim section, especially the by-the-yard stuff. I know VV Rouleaux in London sells leather cording. Another place to check would be your local bead store – they sometimes have stuff like that.

[sarap1979]

I didn’t use leather cord, I made my own cord per the directions in the book out of my lining material. It turned out pretty cute and brings a little of the inside out.

[Sarvi]

I think I posted in the ‘what are you sewing now’ thread, but I had to return the wool I bought for this coat. As it turns out, I have the larger size of the pattern anyhow — I very sensibly figured that if I was going to go to the trouble of making a 3-scissor pattern, I wouldn’t like the baby to grow out of it in two weeks.

Then while assembling my fantasy wardrobe for her, I saw these two coats:

http://www.jacadi.us/VAD/AffichageProduit?StoreID=2&MarqueID=1&LangueID=7&produitId=198035

http://www.bonpoint-boutique.com/en/product/11515-coatbr-medium-grey/?

and I thought, for $184 – $290, I can buy a pattern for each piece of the coat, cut it out, throw the rest away, make it all up in cashmere, sew pearls onto it for buttons, and have money left over. My eyeballs are still spinning in my head. Those coats aren’t even made from some kind of exotic baby unicorn chin hairs or anything! The upshot of all this is that I am determined to lose my fear of wool, so I’m starting the music box jumper, but I am going to come back to this coat, and I hope one of you talented folks can show me how to make some nifty little tabs for the wrists like that first coat has.

[Nicole]

So simple Sarvi , I am assuming they are attached in the side seam , they Jumprope tabs would give you the pattern piece . I will have a fiddle and try and post something in my photos for you.

The coat is really not that scary , it just looks a lot of pieces ! I think a little one would be a good place to start.

[Liesl Gibson]

Sarvi, you always manage to crack me up. I like how you phrase things.

[Nicole]

I had a quick play while feeding the baby and have flickr mailed you. If you would like a clearer version , let me know, completely fine if that is not what you are after !

I had fun doing it x N