Moorland Melton Wool Coat

So I've been wearing the same H&M mustard woolish fall/winter coat (I have a puffy for the really brutal Chicago winter months) since fall 2006 and while I should have retired that coat about 2 years after I purchased it I kept it around year after year. It was mustard (my favorite clothing color), it wore surprisingly well for a cheap coat, I couldn't afford a better quality coat and also, it was mustard. Did I mention that? Ha!

Anyway, finally a few days before I was scheduled to go to NYC Col. Mustard died hard and I was up you know what creek with only a jean jacket and a puffy, neither of which are fit for a week of 50's traipsing around another city trying to look presentable, etc. I had in mind the style of coat I wanted and figured it wouldn't be too hard to find something at H&M/Zara/Topshop that would be along those lines. While I did find a zillion imitations of the Isabel Marant Xavier coat, they were all either poly or cut horribly, neither of which warrants the $80-$150 price tags these babies were wearing. So I did what any totally normal insane person would do and for a couple of days, after working all day sewing orders for hound, stayed up till the wee hours making myself this lady.

Yikes this is a lot of photos...someone got a little carried away behind the camera and I am the worlds worst editor. Anyway the coat is based on a dreamy little coat by Rachel Comey that is about $700 out of my price range. It's made from grey heathered melton wool with royal blue bemberg lining, double breasted with welt pockets and rockin' lapels. The pattern was pretty easy to make plus I love how the notched lapel looks on paper so that made it even more fun. I really wanted to name it the Grimpen Mire coat after the Hound of the Baskervilles, but in an effort to be less creepy named it the Moorland Coat instead.

Back in the olden days before I was sewing all day every day, lining garments was my worst nightmare so I was hoping to do a tutorial with this jacket on how to bag a jacket (the technique used in most ready-to-wear clothing). Unfortunately my photographer left for New York a few days earlier and I was left with a camera body and no batteries. I've got a toggle coat next up in my project schedule so I can take some photos of that if anyone is interested.

Closing words...I am loving this new jacket, it's warm, fits my gigantic sweaters, hides pet hair with it's heathered-ness plus it's made out of quality materials. It's also a great way to show off my favorite mustard scarf and I can wear it with my mustard tights. They didn't get a lot of winter use before, I'm sure you can understand why.