[jay_1965vw]

I’m currently making a School Days coat for my daughter. I read through this entire forum to see what tips I could glean, and the two most useful things were ‘don’t use leather to attach toggles’, and the awesome suggestion of using magnetic snaps. I love the magnetic snap idea! sooo much easier for a toddler to operate!

There seemed to be a lot of people who had problems with either leather breaking, or the cotton cord fraying on the toggles. I just wanted to share my suggestion (I haven’t done it yet, so don’t hold it against me if it doesn’t work!). I’ve just ordered some round waxed cotton shoelaces on ebay in a colour which will hopefully match my wool coating. Shoelaces are available in a very wide range of colours, and if they’re designed to live through being laced in shoes, surely holding toggles won’t be a problem for them.

I’ll probably be back when I’ve got a bit further with the coat. I can’t do too much as I’ve ordered some fabric from Spoonflower to line my hood and do the quilted lining in. The rest will be lined in normal silky lining fabric for ease of wearing, but I don’t want the hood to fall off her head.

[Sarvi]

Oh, clever thought! I think the issue with leather was the perforations caused by stitching, rather than fraying, but I think I know what kind of shoelaces you mean, my husband has some on his fancy boots. They’d be gorgeous on a nice woolly coat.

[Sarvi]

Sorry, didn’t read closely enough … You did mention leather breaking rather than fraying.

[jay_1965vw]

Here’s the shoelaces I have ordered on Ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-Pair-Waxed-Cotton-shoe-boot-laces-Blue-or-Brown-4mm-x-100cm-119cm-/230947472226?ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:AU:3160

they are 4mm thick, so should fill up the toggle holes nicely.

[with love Heidi]

I like the idea of shoelaces because they should be easier to thread through the holes in the toggles!

[Sarvi]

Oh, those look fantastic! Do you think they’ll be difficult to sew through? I wonder if Nicole’s trick of tapping with a hammer to flatten bulky seams would work here as well.

[jay_1965vw]

Bother, I replied to this yesterday and it mustn’t have posted properly 🙁

I’m planning to knot the ends of the shoelaces where they will be inside the seam allowance. That way even if I can’t sew through the lace, so long as I reinforce the seam around the area, the lace won’t pull through.

Good point about them being easy to thread through the toggles Heidi – so long as you don’t cut the lengths first 😀 I suspect that being waxed it will stay fairly ‘together’ anyway.

I wish the shipping from the UK would hurry up – I’m making the coat all out of order now because I have to wait for the cord!! Mind you, my Spoonflower order is going to take forever anyway, and so far I’ve only ordered a sample.

[meleliza]

My school days coat is on its second owner and I haven’t actually had issues with the leather coming out. It is tricky for my son to fasten. Also, I didn’t use interfacing on the front facings on the coat and it hangs a little too limply. I don’t remember if I skipped it or whether the instructions didn’t call for it, but if I made another, I would use something like poplin or muslin in those front facing areas to help, especially behind the snaps and toggles. I might actually do regular buttonholes instead of the toggle loops because the loops gave both of my boys a hard time.

[Nicole]

I made a suede version for Tildy and used brass drizabone studs.

I washed that quite a few times in the machine (on a wool wash with shampoo and conditioner) and the suede is still in good repair.

[Anonymous]

Those look fantastic for toggle cords! I’ll be looking forward to seeing your finished coat. 🙂

I’ve used faux leather cord and cotton cord and both have held up very well. The “pleather” cord was in use daily for 2 seasons with no trouble.

[jay_1965vw]

I am still waiting for Spoonflower fabric (the swatch wasn’t the right colour, so I have made a swatch sampler to make sure I get it right next time). I’ve done as much as I can on Audrey’s coat, but forced myself to stop before I did too much and made it harder later!

I have finished Audrey’s doll Harriet’s coat though 🙂

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[needlewoman]

Oh this is just too sweet!! What a gorgeous doll! I love that she’s got brown eyes. F.

I used shoe laces that I found in Lincraft to thread thru a casing in a kidlet vest; the way the shoe lace is sealed at the end made it very easy to thread/tie the ‘toggle’ on the end, and it copes better with being washed becase hasn’t frayed – so far.

[jay_1965vw]

Thank you! She’s a screen printed doll that I designed about 15 years ago. I planned to make them to sell, but it’s not worth the time involved. One day when I have time I may turn them into a kit. For now, I make them for gifts, and Audrey has my prototype as her best friend. Harriet goes EVERYWHERE with us 🙂

I have done the toggles on Audrey’s coat, and as you say – the shoelace ends make threading through toggles very easy. I didn’t end up knotting them in the seam allowance – 1. they were too thick, and 2. they seemed pretty secure with just being stitched through a few times.

[Nicole]

Adorable doll.

[Frances Suzanne]

The one consistent request from our oldest niece is a RAINCOAT. She has mentioned it for months and now we are tickled that we have the fabric in hand and are ready to hit the ground running sewing! We are really wanting to use hot pink {red might even be okay} toggles. Does anyone have a good source for a set of these in a substance that wouldn’t crack?