a new coat

I finished my Built By You coat yesterday! I bought the wool about a year ago, but was too intimidated to make it then. I needed a new winter coat at the time, but wound up finding a cute, black, trapeze-style one on sale, and it served me well all winter. I intend to use that coat again, so when I decided to pull out this pattern recently, I chose the view with the short sleeves. It can be a late fall coat.

I am happy with it, although (of course!) there are many little mistakes. I used black satin for the lining and didn't do the best job of hemming it evenly. I also put the buttons on the wrong side, on purpose. The pattern itself didn't give me any major trouble. I wasn't too concerned about fit (the thing is completely shapeless, and that's the point), but I did chop off about seven inches around the bottom and three or four inches off the sleeves, because I suspect these Built By You patterns are graded for people who are very, very tall. Oh, I did have one issue: the collar seemed to be short and didn't line up at the centre front as I wanted it to. This did create a problem because after trying to line them up, I am now convinced the centre fronts are now completely crooked. I'm going to overlook it, because whatever! I made a coat!

In all, I think it took me about five or six evenings to make.

Oh hi I am the worst "model" ever

(these pictures were taken in a rush before I ran off, late, to work)

Making this would have been very difficult without my new-to-me sewing machine. Although I'd had my heart set on a Bernina, I recently bought a secondhand Husqvarna. It was a good investment, I think: I made this coat without a single broken needle.