Made by a Fabricista: A Wardrobe Staple for Spring - A Denim Coat

Hello Sewing Friends! It’s Sharon with Sharon Sews with my latest Fabricista make – a denim coat  for spring.  Denim is a wardrobe staple for many of us, and even more so this year with denim on denim looks coming back in style. 

The denim I used is a medium weight cotton/lycra blend with about a 20% stretch selvage to selvage.  Fabric Mart always does an amazing job photographing and describing their fabrics, yet I still gasped in delight when I opened the package containing my denim.  It was even better than I had anticipated.

This fabric would have worked well for a traditional denim jacket – one with button front closure, chest pockets with flaps, and a collar.   However, I have wanted to sew this open front coat with kimono inspired sleeves and big patch pockets since February 2021.  I saw it in that month’s  BurdaStyle Magazine, bookmarked the page, and promptly forgot about the coat.  It’s coat #105 if you’re interested in sewing one for yourself.

Fortunately, I went on an organizing binge in my sewing space, which included thinning out my vast collection of sewing patterns.  As I flipped through my Burda Style magazines deciding which would stay and which would go (spoiler alert – I kept them all!) my interest in sewing this coat was renewed.  Especially since they pictured one version in denim.

The lines of the coat would lead you to believe this would be a fairly quick sewing project, considering there are no buttons or buttonholes.  However, the topstitching takes extra time. 

I did not have a twin needle on hand, so every row of topstitching had to be sewn twice, taking extra care to keep an equal distance between each line of stitching. 

The pockets are stitched on at the very end with the stitches catching the wide front facing and holding it in place.  A nice little detail I liked, as it meant I didn’t have to topstitch, or hand sew the facing in place.   

Speaking of pockets.  Can we just pause for a moment to appreciate the size of these pockets?!?  They are huge and I absolutely adore them.  My little Maltese (who crossed the rainbow bridge years ago) would have fit nicely in one and a bottle of wine in the other 😊

On the back yoke I added a facing for my personalized label.  It’s a detail I discovered on a high-end men’s shirt and one that I now incorporate into many of my garments.  I used a colorful scrap of quilting cotton as I wanted a pop of color when I removed my coat.  By the way, I have a short tutorial on my YouTube channel if you’re interested in adding that detail to your make.

Each seam was finished with a three-thread serger stitch, pressed to one side, then topstitched.  I used matching blue thread (which Fabric Mart matched to the denim when I placed my order) and a contrasting gold thread for the topstitching to keep that traditional jean look.

I prewashed the denim and used a color catcher, which captured most of the blue dye that typically is released when you first wash denim.  I wish I had washed it a second time, as I discovered some of the blue dye on my fingertips as I was sewing the coat, and another wash cycle with a color catcher might have prevented that.

I know this is going to be a go-to piece this spring, as it pairs with jeans and a t-shirt, my workout  wear, as well as many of my dresses.  

Now if you’ve read my earlier Fabricista blog posts, you know that I have a big white dog that likes to be near me all the time - including when I try to take photos. But I also have another dog who decided to get in on the action this time so I'll end this post with a pic that includes both of them.

By the way, the denim is darker than shown in these photos as I lightened the color slightly so the details would be more visible.

Until next time, Happy Sewing!

SHARON  | @thesharonsews

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Unfortunately Fabric Mart Fabrics sell out quickly!
You can find similar fabrics by shopping the following categories DENIM.