Challenge Accepted

Welcome back everyone! I'm back from my self imposed bloggers' maternity leave. I gave myself the intimidateing challenge of making a coat this month.

So here it is. It's not perfect but I overcame heaps of sewing fear to make it and I'm super excited to toss my old coat which literally (not figuratively) is ripping apart at the seams.

I came up with a list of must haves in my ideal winter coat and had a hard time finding a pattern to match everything. My coat needed to have:

• a hood
• front slant pockets
• thumb holes
• enough length to cover my bum
• a zipper
• stretch side panels
• be dark grey in color (This was surprisingly hard to find. There is a lot of black fabric in the coating world but I wanted to wear it with navy pants. Being my mother's daughter, I can not wear black and navy together.)

I knew if I was going to spend my precious time and money on making and not buying a coat I would need to check every "must-have" box. I went with the Jalie2795 hooded jacket pattern. The pattern calls for stretch fabric but I used non-stretch Polartech Windbloc fleece from Peak Fabrics for most of the exterior of the coat.  I also used their fleece for the soft interior of the jacket. *A note about Peak Fabrics. Their customer service is amazing! I spent half an hour on the phone deciding on fabrics while their rep texted me pictures of the fabrics in different color combos. They also sell Jalie patterns so they knew exactly what I was trying to accomplish. This is the type of individual attention that means the world to me!

Now, this pattern did not call for a lining so I added two sizes to account for the lack of stretch and the extra fluff of the fleece. I also added four inches in length to the front of the jacket and six inches in length to the back giving it a curved hem.

Here are a few of my inspirational photos from Athleta. I can proudly say I made my jacket for less than these would have cost and am so thrilled to have accepted my own challenge to make a winter coat.