DIY: Cecilie Bahnsen quilted coat
Quilted coats have such a soft and lush warmth, but when it comes to quilting in a custom design… ain’t nobody got time for that! Ever since I made a long coat out of a sleeping jacket I’ve been ruminating on how to further take advantage of existing batting and quilted patterns. Enter, the perfect thrift blanket for an easy $13.
I showed this plain briefly in the video, but this is where I made my notes on sizing and assessed how many fabric panels were needed. Drawing the design has also been a helpful way for me to observe details that I might not notice from looking at a photo, such as recognizing that every single seam needed a bias tape binding and that the coat was secured via two tied ribbons. I am no good at fashion drawings, so I use the dotted line fashion model stationary from Fashionary (discount code: WITHWENDY) as a guide and it always turns out nice. Here’s what all my numbers meant in case you’d like to replicate my size S/M coat!
Upper body (purple in my grid drawing): height of front and back panels (0.5 m), width of front and back panels (0.62 m)
Sleeves (pink in my grid drawing): height of sleeves (0.4 m), width of sleeves (0.76 m), final circumference of wrist opening (0.32 m)
Skirt (green in my grid drawing): height of skirt (0.55 m), width of skirt (1.5 m)
Bias tape (blue in my grid drawing): width of tape (5 cm), length of tape (roughly 24 m)
These are the steps I followed in my video:
Cut out the back piece and two front pieces
Sew them together at the shoulders, wrong sides together
Add bias binding along the shoulders
Cut out the two sleeves
Add a basting stitch to the sleeves top edge and gather
Sew sleeves to the armholes, wrong sides together
Add bias binding along the armholes
Cut out the three large skirt rectangles
Cut out four pocket pieces
Pair up the pocket pieces and sew RIGHT sides together
Sew pockets to the skirt fronts
Baste all the skirt pieces and gather along the top edge
Attach skirt pieces to the fronts and one back, wrong sides together
Add bias binding along the waist
Seal the left and right sides shut, wrong sides together, but take care to navigate the pockets
Trim the collar, bottom, and sleeves as needed
Add bias binding along the left and right side, skipping the back half of each pocket
Add extra bias binding to complete the back half of each pocket
Add bias binding along the entire perimeter
Gather the sleeve opening
Add bias binding along the sleeve opening
Sew 6 ribbons
Add ribbons to inside and outside for tying, one tie on the inside (2 ribbons), and two ties on the outside (4 ribbons)
Photos by Anthony Nusca:
