Bamboo Short Coat
After using Luffa jacket pattern by Waffle Patterns, I was in love with both the pattern and the company and couldn't wait to try another pattern from them. Luckily for me, I had some left over fabric after making a Luffa jacket, enough to make another jacket / coat so I decided to give Bamboo coat pattern a try!
Pattern: Bamboo Coat by Waffle Patterns
I chose the shorter length for bodice with full length sleeves with no collars. I've always wanted to make a simple collar-less coat!
Pattern alterations and adjustments:
Shortened bodice by 13cm from the short length version
Shortened sleeves by 3cm upper at sleeve, 3cm at lower sleeve, 6cm altogether from the full length version
Adjusted pockets, buttons, and vent placements
Rounded the bottom edge of pockets
I had to shortened the bodice because I didn't have enough fabric otherwise, but I actually like the length I made. Though I'd really love to make longer one too someday!
I really liked using Bamboo Coat pattern! Waffle Patterns is really a great indie pattern company. (Read my review)
One thing I didn’t do it right is the back vent. I shortened the bodice length and I didn’t consider that the vent would be shortened too. Totally my miss calculation and not the pattern's fault at all.
If you noticed the coat looks wrinkly on my dress form, it's partially because of the lack of my sewing skill and maybe I didn't use the best interfacing for this project (my local fabric stores don't have a great selection), and because the dress form is too small. It's actually a lot smaller than my size.
This dress form is actually for retail displays and not for sewing, pattern drafting and/or draping... I bought it a few years ago because it was way cheaper than dress forms used for sewing. But this form doesn't have a realistic human body shape either, basically it's a real life sized Barbie, haha. I might have to invest in an actual sewing dress form someday, the ones you can adjust to fit to your size!
The pattern comes with a lining pattern pieces which is great. Coats require slightly bigger lining patterns than the shell, which can be tricky but the instructions were well written and easy to understand.
My handmade coat may not look as pretty as the coats made by more experienced sewists, but I'm again amazed by how smoothly I was able to put together an outerwear! I highly recommend Waffle Patterns especially to those who are self-taught (like myself) and wanting to try sewing fully lined jackets and coats.
Feb 14, 2017
