Yuzu Coat with Indiesew
This review is my honest opinion of a pattern I received free of charge from Indiesew
Hi all! This post is a double whammy because not only am I finally debuting the coat I made for the #coatmakingparty hosted by some wonderful gals on instagram, I'm also sharing my first blog post for Indiesew!
If you would've told me a few months ago that I would make a trench coat and a wool coat this winter season, I for sure wouldn't have believed you. In fact, before we moved in October I even considered making my winter coat, but told myself there's no way I'd have time to get something like that finished during a cross country move or in time to actually wear it before the weather warms up. I had completely written off sewing a winter coat until next year.
But thanks to a biological imperative for social inclusion, I decided to dive in to my 2018 sewing with the coat making party and give a wool coat a try. I immediately turned to Indiesew to source my coat pattern. I already have a lovely beige, Italian wool duffle coat so I knew I wanted to go with a completely different shape, and Indiesew had several unique and "off-the-beaten-path" coats from multiple designers in their pattern shop. I decided the Yuzu Coat by Waffle Patterns would be a great piece to round out my winter outerwear wardrobe.
The Yuzu Coat is a relaxed, slightly cocoon shaped coat with a double breasted front and a tall statement collar (or hood). It features a full lining and two different pocket styles, patch or welt, as well. I also love that it has a raglan sleeve which appealed to me because I was just feeling done with setting sleeves at the time.
I chose this black and grey boucle wool for my Yuzu Coat, the texture of which ended up being a big bonus because it hid little mistakes so perfectly. I love that its a darker neutral (another contrast to my lighter duffle coat) but still has the textured weave to add some interest. And if you know me, you know I'm going to use Rifle Paper Co. fabric whenever I can. I chose this painted roses rayon for my lining (with leftover peach lining from my trench coat for the sleeves) and I'm a tad obsessed with the secret pop of color it brings to my coat. This print isn't one I've seen used a lot but its seriously beautiful.
Some alterations I made:
1. I shortened the sleeves about 4.5". While I was fine with the length of the coat as-is, the sleeves were way too long for me.
2. I slimmed the entire sleeve and the top half of the coat by a total of 3" (1.5" on both the front and back) on each side. I find that a lot of times clothes fit well in the hips but are overwhelming on my top half. This fix helped to balance out the proportion of the coat.
3. I also took in each front raglan seam by about .5". Knowing I run a little warmer and don't often need to layer thick sweaters I decided to take out some of that ease which got rid of extra bunching I was having around my underarms.
4. I didn't think to do it this time but next time I would shorten the height of the collar. I have a very short neck so the collar is just a little awkward when fully buttoned--though I do love that I can tuck away when its really cold!
While the construction seems fairly simple once you've done it, the challenge came in "getting" the directions in the first place. My understanding is its translated from Dutch, and sometimes the instructions weren't as clear as I'd like and it took a little bit more trial and error to understand what I was supposed to be doing. I also found the steps a little confusing because of their layout with the images, making it difficult to discern which step to actually do first. But now that I've sewn through it, I think a subsequent make would go much more smoothly.
The actual coat though? Gorgeous! I wasn't sure how my short and curvy figure would wear a more relaxed coat, but I seriously love it. Its a flattering shape and beyond comfortable, which is huge for me because my biggest complaint with most coats is how restrictive they feel--a big distraction for me when I'm trying to do the simplest tasks like drive on a chilly morning or herd kids on and off the metro. Uncomfortable clothing is paralyzing so I appreciate how well this coat wears in real life. I think I'm definitely going to need a pink wool Yuzu coat next winter...
This is one of my favorite projects to date and I'm so glad I got to share it with you! Did you join the coat making party on Instagram? What coat/outerwear patterns are you eyeing?
