sweater duster

Okay, hands up everyone who remembers all the posts I made last year about fabric given to me at an “exit party” from my job? Not everyone? Ok, I’ll just give you a chance to check out the post about the giving of fabric here.

I’ve returned to that part of my fabric stash to make my second, or is it my third (does sleeveless count?) coat.

My friend and colleague Noel gave me a big chunk of charcoal grey fabric. I thought at first it was a blanket. It was, in fact, coat material. I put it away, thinking it would be quite a while before I would feel competent to sew a coat with such heavy fabric.

One (or maybe two) coats later I was ready. I pulled out the fabric and had a good look and feel. It turns out it’s not that heavy. And it’s not woven. It’s a kind of felted wool blend knit. Perfect, it seemed to me, for a long sweater-coat. To be fair to myself, the fabric is pretty deceptive. It’s very lofty.

Like it? There’s a chenille thread looped back and forth and sewn to the fabric on the two front panels. That ran up and down one of the selvedge edges, and I used it for the fronts. The back, sleeves and front facing are plain. It almost looks like fleece, actually, and is very, very soft.

This time I sewed a hair elastic into the seam joining the front and its facing, and put a button on the other side, so I can do the coat up. How … odd … that none of the three coats I’ve made has any form of fastening. I thought I could wear a leather belt with this coat, but when I tried it, I looked again like an old bag in a housecoat. I’m definitely not the tie wrap  kind of crone. I may add a snap at about waist height.

The sleeves fold or roll up. As a bonus for this project, I figured out how to use my sewing machine to finish raw edges almost like a serger. They look really good. Almost makes me wonder if I really do need to save up for a baby-lock.

I’ve always liked long, straight maxi coats. Dusters I call ’em. Not much difference between this and the pink coat, except it’s unlined, and fits closer to the body. I used Butterick 6251, which was really easy. An experienced sewist could whip this up in a day. Took me three. Maybe I should whip up a few more, one for every day of the week?