Nothing like trying to tackle the last bit of #2017MakeNine in the last month of the year – but alas, here we are! And here is my Clare Coat from Closet Case Patterns!

The Pattern

The Clare Coat is a beautiful winter coat pattern from Closet Case Patterns. It comes with two views – View A hits at mid thigh, with a face-framing collar, princess sleeves, exposed asymmetrical zipper and welt pockets. View B is double breasted, it ends at the hip with inseam pockets, full length sleeves and a dramatic funnel collar.

The pattern drafts View B to have sew in snaps, but Heather sewed up a version with an exposed zipper and I decided to sew up a version similar to that for mine too.

I really love Heather’s style – I feel like her patterns really look good on everyone and this one is another great addition. The Clare Coat has a full sew along on the Closet Case Patterns blog which makes sewing up something a bit more challenging more appealing. I’ve said this before (I think) but sewing a coat is no more challenging than any other type of sewing – it just has lot of steps that you have to follow, but not one part of is it all that difficult.

The Coat

Gosh, I love this coat! I think it has a really fun vibe – I said in my #2017MakeNine last year that instead of buying a J.Crew coat this year, I wanted to wear a Clare Coat – and boom – it worked!

I am really happy I did the exposed zipper version – although I don’t think I did it 100% correctly. Heather’s blog post on the exposed zipper version didn’t have tons of details – and I didn’t really use my brain – so I ordered the same size zipper as used for View A, which was way too long. So my zipper goes all the way to the bottom of the jacket. Also, I think maybe the zipper needed to be a little bit more asymmetrical. But oh well!

The sewing of the coat went super well, up until the end – I had some issue with the hem that made it a little bit fiddly and funky at the bottom. I don’t think it’s a big deal, but I totally notice it. I tried to fix it a bunch and had to be okay with it at the end. Coat hems are funky with linings – but all in all, I think it turned out okay.

I sewed up my “normal” Closet Case top pattern size – size 8. I think it fits well everywhere except that the arms are a little tight. I can’t wear anything super heavy underneath it, which is totally fine. But other than that, I think it fits perfectly!

The Fabric

Ironically, I decided to sew this up while we were in Hawaii a couple weeks ago and bought all the things for it while I was there via the internet for delivery when I got home. I picked out a navy wool from Style Maker Fabrics – mainly because I love navy, and I wish I had made my Ellsworth Coat from a wool. Nothing says a winter coat than melton wool to me (thanks J.Crew for making that my favorite!)

Also, because why not, I chose to use a Liberty Tana Lawn as the lining. I have an unhealthy obsession with Liberty for linings – see previous Ellsworth, Chloe, Kelly, Lonetree, and Milano Cape….it’s my favorite!

In addition to the fabric, there were a bunch of notions that were needed for the coat. I used a different interfacing than I am used to and I also needed a jacket zipper. Something that would have been really helpful was clapper to get the seams to be really crisp. I think it’s also really helpful for jeans making so it might be on my soon to buy list!

CLARE COAT SUMMARY

Size Made: 8

View:  View B with exposed zipper

Fabric Used:  Melton Wool from Style Maker Fabrics + Liberty Tana Lawn for Lining

Notions Used: Interfacing and Jacket Zipper

Ease of Construction: All was going well till the hem then something went wrong, but the sewing along really helped!

Fit: Perfect!

Repeatable? I really love the way this coat turned out – I think I would make another for next Winter.

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