Ever thought you’d make your own quilted coat? Me neither! Never mind TWO! Yet here I am popping in to share my latest quilted coat in my Spring wardrobe with you!
While I’ve always been curious about stitching fashion, it’s always seemed like an entirely new complex and scary world to dive into, or is that just me?
I love fashion. I love seeing the clever designs fashion designers come up with, but knowing where to start was little daunting. Is a simple tank top a good place to start? What about a skirt? Definitely not a pair of pants – lol!
With my quilty confidence growing, I was intrigued by the idea of combining quilting and garment making. So I took it as kismet when Megan reached out to invite me to collaborate on her Hovea coat. It also sent me down a whole new sewing rabbit hole!
*This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, if you click through and make a purchase, I may receive a commission.
HOW MY SEWING OBSESSION STARTED
When Megan first reached out about sewing her Hovea Coat, I remember feeling nervous about taking on the sewing project. But I was curious about what the experience would be like to combine quilting with me-made fashion. I didn’t want to let Megan down, so I let her know that stitching garments was new to me, and that I would do my best to tap into my sewing prowess and stitch up a wearable garment!
It’s also how I came up with the idea to share my Top 10 Tips for Diving into Me-Made Fashion!
After giving myself a little pep talk to get over my nerves, I dove right in by first designing the patchwork motif I wanted to feature on the back and pockets of my Hovea coat.
QUILTED COAT VIRTUAL WORKSHOP
You might remember when I first shared the Etched Diamond Quilt x Hovea Coat Pattern Extension with you back in the Fall of 2021. I was blown away by your excitement for the design and your curiosity to make your very own quilted coat!
A common theme I noticed was your eagerness to make your own garments, but you were unsure and nervous about how to get started and knowing which steps to take.
Ask and you shall receive 😊 I pulled together the Virtual Quilted Coat Workshop as a way to help you dive into your own coat making journey while having me as a guide to steer you to a successful finish that fits!
I love being able to show you a technique, give you time to try it for yourself and be there to help you in real-time if any questions pop up!
The first 2-day session was such a success, that I’ve brought back two more workshops for you to choose from: Spring Workshop (sold out) and Fall Workshop.
Here’s what was I created in that session.
FABRIC PULL FOR THE QUILT COAT
WHY GRAY IS A STAPLE COLOUR IN MY WARDROBE
You might not know this about me, especially since my quilts tend to be so bright and colourful, but my favourite colour to wear is probably grey.
It was black. But then Pips (my cat, if you’re new around here 😉) came into our lives and, being a Ragdoll with long thin white hair that likes to STICK to everything, that quickly changed to gray!
Gray has great camouflage properties, and his hair tends to blend in when I wear gray. While it annoys me to know it’s there, it’s less annoying than seeing the very stark contrast between his white fur and my black pants.
So, gray is a staple in my wardrobe. I say this so you understand just how easy it was for me to pick my first quilted coat colourway. A medium tone gray linen. Easy.
Picking the colours wasn’t difficult either as I love a bold pink. I was surprised that I didn’t go with coral in my first coat. But I went with my instincts and those were the colours I was excited to stitch with.
For my second coat, I was 100% tempted to go with a lighter gray linen – ha! And I even had the entire fabric pull selected.
QUILTED COAT FABRIC PULL BASED ON MY WARDROBE COLOURS
I then thought about my wardrobe and my sewing journey, and I got to thinking that having a *beige linen coat might work better as a Spring quilted coat. My gray one would become my Fall go-to quilted coat. I loved this idea!
My next decision was picking the colours for my Etched Diamond patchwork. I’d just been stitching with these *soft coral and *peachy centric and *orange Ruby & Bee solids and I was really loving how they played off the beige linen. I took a chance on including the mushroom tone fabric*. Since it’s close in colour value to the beige linen, it was a gamble to see how well they’d actually play off one another in the finished patchwork.
As soon as I had the first block pieced, I was thrilled with my gamble!
QUILTED COAT LINING
My lining was a more spontaneous decision.
I had my patchwork pieces all done and I was ready to move on to basting my coat pieces. First, I needed to figure out my lining.
My first thought was to go matchy-matchy with the linen on the interior. I think this would have resulted in a super understated and classic outcome.
I happened to spot remnants of the apple print (sold out, but this *print would be cute too), which I originally featured on the back of my Shattered Star Quilt. If I didn’t use my Plus Infinity quilt so much, I’d 100% be using that quilt on the daily. The apples are just so joyful and happy to me, that I couldn’t resist pulling her out of my fabric cabinet. I just knew she’d make me happy!
And sure enough, as soon as I had the print next to my Etched Diamond patchwork it just made the perfect match.
The sleeve lining is a *geometric print in one of my favourite shades of pink. I love how it’s a print that doesn’t compete with the apples but still holds her own in the overall design. I love seeing the print peek out when I fold my cuffs back 😉
STRIPED BIAS BINDING – SURPRISE, SURPRISE!
You know I’m a sucker for stripes! I’m thrilled with how the *blue and white striped binding gives the coat a springtime vibe with a nautical feel. This coat would have come in handy back in the days when my dad took me sailing and the winds were cut to the bone chilly. I’ve discovered that quilted coats truly do provide the best comfort and warmth.
THE FINISHING TOUCHES
Straight line quilting about an inch apart helps to keep the coat nice and supple. I think this ups the cosy factor. I’d intended to use a 40wt Aurifil Thread for quilting and piecing the coat together (like I had last time). But I must have been on autopilot as I just dove right in with my *50wt thread in beige. It is a perfect match with the *linen, so no issues there!
The bias striped binding is always a hit with me. It’s such a classic that you can never go wrong with.
To add a little pop of colour and stand up to the brightness of the apple print in the interior, I went with an orange pearl cotton for the big stitch hand quilted binding (learn how to here!).
You know me and the details! It’s such a fun design element to play with and brings you even more joy when you spot them while wearing it! 😉
THINGS I LEARNED THE SECOND TIME MAKING THE QUILT COAT
It’s funny how you learn something new when you make it again!
To give you a better understanding of how things went down the second time around, I’ve noted some of my key takeaways to help you.
- Things go quicker the second time you make something – ha! Simply because you know what to expect and have gained some confidence from your first go.
- While you might know what to expect, you might be overconfident and forget some key things to look out for (I’m looking at you binding seam pressed the wrong way!). It was a reminder to take your time and be mindful of the making journey.
- The novelty of making something for yourself to wear hasn’t worn off! It’s still super thrilling to sew in the last binding stitch on your quilted coat and get to WEAR it! You know how much I love a good quilt snuggle and getting to physically wrap yourself in the cosiness of your own quilted garment is just so comforting and stylish.
- Beware, this may spark a whole new obsession that finally gets you to take the plunge and buy a serger (guilty! Read about that here!).
For more quilty inspiration, check out:
- Etched Diamond Quilt x Pantone Colour of the Year 2022
- Shattered Star Lumbar Pillow + Tutorial on Inserting a Metal Zipper
- Cloud Surfing Quilt
- Why Some Projects Stall and 3 Tips to Solve It
The Quilted Coat Course is available if you’d like some guidance as you stitch up your own quilted coat! 😊 Or get started immediately with the digital patterns 😉Either way, it’s sure to be a fun stitching journey!
Happy quilting!
xo
Shannon
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Isn’t it a great feeling to wear clothing that you will never see on anyone else! Beautiful coat.
Yes! It’s a wonderful feeling! I didn’t expect to feel so unique 😃
Love your quilted coat pattern – I live in the SW part of the US and right now the thought of making a quilted coat in 100 degree weather doesnt really appeal to me right now, but I feel like this would be a great project in the cooler future. How did you do the quilting on the jacket? As you pieced it together? I’m curious how you quilted it. Beautiful Joan
So thrilled you like this one, Joan! And I totally get wanting to wait until the weather is cooler to work on a quilted coat. In terms of the quilting, I machine quilted it before stitching it together. Worked like a charm!
Where do I go to sign up for your upcoming Zoom class on the Hovea Etched diamond quilt coat?
Hi Miriam, the next Zoom workshop I’m hosting will be in the Fall. You can see the details here: https://shannonfraserdesigns.com/products/quilted-coat-workshop-fall-2023
Where can I get the coat pattern?
Thank you for your note, Kelli! The base coat is called the Hovea and it’s a pattern on Megan’s site that comes in both original https://bit.ly/HoveaCoat and curves https://bit.ly/HoveaCurves . If you want to add the Etched Diamond patchwork, you’ll also need the Etched Diamond x Hovea Coat Pattern Extension, which you can find here: https://bit.ly/EtchedDQC.
If you need any guidance as you stitch your coat together, I also have the Quilted Coat Course, which walks you through the entire coat piecing journey. https://bit.ly/TQuiltedCoatCourse Let me know if any other questions pop up!
Do you offer any workshops on this coat in 2024/25? Or what about an online workshop on the how to’s??
Hi Michelle, I don’t have any workshops planned for 2024/2025, but there’s the video on demand course that walks you through the entire quilting and coat piecing adventure! You can find that here: https://bit.ly/TQuiltedCoatCourse Let me know if any questions pop up!