Made by a Fabricista: A Rain Ready Coat

I made a navy trench coat a few years ago, and lost it! It was so perfect- the color was neutral and it was really waterproof. I left it at a meeting on one of those days that starts out rainy, but ends sunny, so you forget that you even wore a raincoat that day. Oh, the agony of losing that coat! So, ever since, I've been contemplating making a new one, but could never find the right fabric. Finding a truly waterproof fabric is not easy!

When I saw that Fabric Mart had some water repellent jacketing with a flannel backing, I was jumping for joy! And apparently, I'm not the only one- fellow Fabricistas Sue and Dina also chose one of these jacketings for their November projects! Amazingly, we all chose different colors and patterns, so all of our coats are really quite different.

So, what is so great about this fabric? Well first, it is truly waterproof. The water just beads up on the surface beautifully. I waited for a rainy day to take pictures, so you could see the water beads.

Second, it has a wool flannel backing, which makes it really warm. Being from the cold midwest, this won't cut it on really cold days, but it is perfect for 40-50 degree weather. Here's a close-up of what it looks like from the inside.

Third, it stretches! And not a little bit- a lot! Which means that you can make it a little closer fitting and still be comfortable.

It's funny, but a lot of ready to wear raincoats don't have hoods. I think that the presumption is the wearer will carry an umbrella. Which I never do- umbrellas are great in theory, but are really hard to hold on a windy day, especially if you are carrying groceries, or books, or anything else! So, I wanted this coat to be as practical as possible, and I chose McCalls 7058.

In addition to the hood, this coat has a button front, pockets, and a back walking vent. It's fully lined. To contrast the seriousness of the charcoal color, I chose a psychedelic polyester charmeuse with shades of plum and raspberry. I have a lot of these colors in my fall/winter wardrobe, so it will coordinate well with many things.

Lining the vent was the toughest part of this. Most vents are single, but this one had a double vent. I don't think that the pattern allowed for the "turn of cloth", so that there wasn't enough fabric. Luckily, I had just barely enough in the seam allowances to let out to make it work. Here's a close up of that section and how I pinned it in place.

And here is the back vent from the outside. The fabric looks streaked in these photos, but it isn't in real life. I think that is the camera capturing the rain. It was a challenge getting these photos as the camera lens kept getting wet. My husband was a little grumpy about this, but I insisted that you had to see the waterproof fabric in action. I take my job as a Fabricista seriously!

I want to show you a close-up of the buttons too. These were part of a special Fabric Mart puchase a few years ago. They have a hammered surface and a copper stripe down the middle:

So, I'm ready for the rain and so happy to have a new raincoat with a hood!

And you can bet, that I won't be losing this one anytime soon. I hope to wear this for a long, long time!

Happy Sewing!

Ann

SewBaby News

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