10 Jun 2015

The yellow coat that became the yellow jacket

by | posted in: WIP (work in progress) | 9

You may remember I am supposed to be making a yellow summer coat for my daughter, based on this one, from Zara.

Yellow coat from Zara
Shabby Zara Coat

The trouble is, while I have made up a passable pattern, I have not made the coat. All yellows I have found to date, when conferring with Esme, are either the “wrong yellow”, or the “wrong fabric”.

I admit my excitement was barely containable when I found a dusty remnant at Misan fabrics. I knew it wasn’t exactly the right yellow, but I fell for its softness –  it includes cashmere – so I bought it anyway. This piece was a funny shape (remember the dress with the hole, from the same establishment?) and  dirty from being the end of the roll, so a good discount was achieved.  It had a delicate wash, a careful dry and a gentle press.  I offered it to Esme but she didn’t warm to it – the yellow is too soft. I know what she means – it does look like a babies’ blanket, if I am honest.

Yellow wool with cashmere
Yellow wool offcut

That left me with the opportunity to make something for myself. “Make something in yellow” is one of my projects for the second half of the year so, when I was Kondo-ing my patterns I had a look for a suitable jacket.

What about this 1967 Vogue 7133 pattern? A nice simple cardigan jacket with the added twist of kimono sleeves, no buttons and a little bit of top stitching. I think a yellow jacket that just slips on to give an additional layer in summer is just what I need. Lemon yellow goes with just about everything I have.

I plan to do the top stitching by hand as I prefer this finish, but I will experiment with an offcut to see what it looks like first. I will underline with silk organza (currently in Simply Fabrics at £5 a metre), use cotton organdie as the interfacing, and lining with silk – maybe painted.

Vogue 7133 pattern
Vogue7133

I have already started thinking about making the adorable matching dress (and chain belt) too, but not in yellow wool.  I previously laid this pattern out on some nice lightweight blue/grey wool, but there wasn’t quite enough of it. Suggestions are welcome. And I actually have a pattern for a hat like that.

This weekend I made a start. It was such a relief to be working from a well cut pattern (as opposed to my own designs which are often a bit shoddy) with wonderful, old style instructions. In the background you can see Nick’s Test Match Hat.  It was scorching last weekend. We were luckily enough to watch Jonathan Price in Merchant of Venice at The Globe in the full Sunday afternoon sun. Maybe not the time to be sewing a wooly jacket.

9 Responses

  1. Mary Funt
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    Your yellow fabric looks so soft. It will be beautiful with hand picked stitching. I love the combination of soft yellow and grey. Enjoy the warm weather. We’re still waiting for summer in NY!

  5. Stephanie
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    Love the yoke and the colour of this, K. I wanted to mention that I saw a yellow summer coat at Massimo Dutti a few weeks ago that made me think of Esme’s older one for its relaxed, open style. It’s a bit shorter I think but has an interesting shape and kimono sleeves, although the colour is warmer than Esme’s I think (more of a golden yellow, but the fabric has mixed colours in it). For curiosity’s sake, here’s the coat: http://www.massimodutti.com/it/it/lookbook/women-maggio/look-8-c1373515p6064023.html

  7. Sheree
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    Your fabric with the hole reminded me of some fabric I bought from Goldhawk Road. It was off the roll and when I got home I found it had a similar sized hole. I was quite upset at the man that cut it. Surely he would have spotted it? Still love to go there though, as the choice is so good. Your yellow jacket looks promising. I also like that shade with grey.

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